The history of bulimia is ancient. Even in ancient Rome, people used to vomit up the food they ate in the festival period. They even had special places for it called “vomitorium”. There are many memories about these events in the books of ancient Rome. The Roman emperors Claudius and Vitellius were bulimic.
Some other cultures, such as the ancient Egyptians, purged themselves every month for three days in a row, using emetics and clisters to preserve health. They thought that human diseases come from food.
In Europe, in the Middle Ages, the purge was used as a remedy for many diseases and was defended by the doctors of the Middle Ages.
In ancient Greece and Arabia there were also descriptions in the texts of binging and purging.
But all these ancient practices of binging and purging are similar but not the same as what we now call “bulimia.” There was no evidence of a drive for thinness which is the obvious trait in all modern bulimics; in fact, thin women did not have the normal shape of women.
From the evidence that has been reported it is obvious that bulimia nervosa as it now presents was an unknown disease until the late 20th century.
In the 1970s, cases were described in the medical literature of three patients in whom overfeeding alternated with underfeeding and it was classified as anorexia nervosa. One patient vomited and the other two took a lot of laxatives to get rid of the food.
The first description of modern bulimia nervosa was published in 1979 by Dr. Russell. He claimed in his research result that overeating and self-induced vomiting may have been common practices among normal female students attending American universities. He mentioned that the condition was always more relevant to women.
There is no doubt that incidents of bulimia increased significantly in the 1980s, eventually exceeding incidences of anorexia nervosa.
There are still many questions about bulimia nervosa.
Questions like, is bulimia nervosa a new disease or is it the same disease that has been known for centuries, but manifests itself in a different version? And what made bulimia increase so significantly in the last decades? Was it the modern pressure to be skinny or more like inherited personality traits or both?
To conclude, bulimia as simple overeating has been known since ancient times. But the term “bulimia nervosa” cannot be applied to cases recorded in histories that were published before 1979. Simply because the reasons for overeating and then purging in the past were different than today and the psychological aspects were different as well. they were different.
The modern term “bulimia nervosa” means not just the simple practice of binging and purging, there are now certain personality traits behind the term. These traits include addictive tendencies, impulse control problems, obsession with weight and general appearance, and certain personality disorders may be associated with the term bulimia nervosa.
So my own opinion is that bulimia nervosa is a new disease of our time that has arisen due to the intense pressure to look thin. Also the fact that many patients use them as a coping mechanism for the extra stress we have in our lives today.
Modern medicine has put all its trust in cognitive behavioral therapy to treat bulimia. Although there was some initial success, it has now become apparent that it is failing for most patients as the disease continues to evolve.
The new way forward in treating disease is to remove subconscious blocks that have been shown to hinder and stop a person’s recovery. As more and more is known about how the mind works, medicine has to move with the flow of discovery and not rely on outdated methodology.
But sadly, throughout history, medicine has never moved at a fast pace, so many patients who don’t learn about the newer methods will have to suffer needlessly until medicine catches up.
Learn more at http://www.bulimia-cure.com