HISTORY OF

BULIMIA NERVOSA

ETYMOLOGY
The term bulimia
comes from Greek
ravenous hunger
Literally, the scientific
name of the disorder,
bulimia nervosa,
translate to nervous
ravenous hunger.

BEFORE THE 20th CENTURY

Bulimia nervosa did not appear until 1979 where
evidence suggests that binging and purging were
popular in certain ancient cultures.
The first documented account of behavior resembling
bulimia nervosa was recorded in Xenophons Anabasis
around 370 B.C, in which Greek soldiers purged
themselves in the mountains of Asia Minor.
Egypt: physicians recommended purging once a month
for three days in order to preserve health. This practice
stemmed from the belief that human diseases were
caused by food itself.
Rome: elite society members would vomit in order to
make room in their stomachs for more food at all day
banquets.
Emperors Claudius and vitellius both were gluttonous
and obese, and they often resorted to habitual purging.
While the psychological disorder bulimia nervosa is
relatively new, the word bulimia, signifying overeating,
has been present for centuries.
The BabylonTalmudreferenced practices of bulimia,
yet scholars believe that this simply referred to
overeating without the purging or the psychological
implications bulimia nervosa.
In fact, a search for evidence of bulimia nervosa from
the 17th to late 19th century revealed that only a
quarter of the overeating cases they examined actually
vomited after the binges. There was no evidence of
deliberate vomiting or an attempt to control weight.

20th CENTURY
At the turn of the century, bulimia (overeating)
was described as a clinical symptom, but rarely in
the context of weight control.Purging, however,
was seen in anorexic patients and attributed to
gastric pain rather than another method of
weight control.
In 1930, admissions of anorexia nervosa patients
to theMayo Clinic from 1917 to 1929 were
compiled. Fifty-five to sixty-five percent of these
patients were reported to be voluntarily vomiting
in order to relieve weight anxiety.Records show
that purging for weight control continued
throughout the mid-1900s. Several case studies
from this era reveal patients suffering from the
modern description of bulimia nervosa.
An explanation for the increased instances of
bulimic symptoms may be due to the 20th
centurys new ideals of thinness.The shame of
being fat emerged in the 1940s, when teasing
remarks about weight became more common. The
1950s, however, truly introduced the trend of an
aspiration for thinness.
In 1980, bulimia nervosa first appeared in
theDSM-III.
After its appearance in the DSM-III, there was a
sudden rise in the documented incidences of
bulimia nervosa. In the early 1980s, incidences of
the disorder rose to about 40 in every 100,000
people.This decreased to about 27 in every
100,000 people at the end of the 1980s/early
1990s.However, bulimia nervosas prevalence

THE END