What is the outlook

Developing an eating disorder need not be a lifetime sentence. For some sufferers, it is a brief episode which lasts just a few months or even weeks. They then move on without many lasting or harmful effects. They tend not to seek help and do not appear in medical accounts of the disorders. Yet they certainly exist. What makes them so fortunate is not at all clear.

For a very few others, eating disorders prove fatal. Some studies have indicated that as many as 10 or even 20 per cent of people with anorexia nervosa die of the disorder. These figures are taken from follow-up studies of some of the very severe cases first seen many years ago. They are a gross overestimate of the death rate from eating disorders.

However, people do die from both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, either through the physical effects of the disorders or through suicide. It is difficult to be certain of the exact size of the problem. Perhaps one sufferer in 100 will die from the disorders.

And having one of these disorders greatly increases the risk of a young woman dying prematurely.
In between these two extremes are most of those who suffer, for whom an eating disorder is an unpleasant and limiting fact of life. It can continue for months or, more usually, for years. A proportion of people with anorexia nervosa, perhaps one in 10, develop a truly chronic illness which lasts for many years and from which some may never recover. This is probably also true of bulimia nervosa although the evidence is not so clear.

Some people in this position struggle to lead their lives as normally as they can. They are limited by their illness and may be dominated by it but somehow they get by. Others are so overwhelmed by their condition that it affects all aspects of their lives. Nevertheless, people can and do make progress or even recover completely even after many years. There is always a chance of getting better.