Anorexia nervosa is one of many types of eating disorders that is influenced by the media, dieting programs, low-carb and fat free foods, and by the obsession to be thin. These influences make the person insecure, tense, and narrow-minded.
Anorexia nervosa is when a person demonstrates abnormal eating pattern and loses severe weight, usually fifteen percent of his or her body weight. It is also a complicated mixture of emotional, psychological, and physical changes, it is often referred to as “ the starvation sickness” or “the dieter’s disease” (Kirkpatrick).
The disease is not a newly discovered medical problem. The basic of the illness were documented at least three years ago by an English physician named Thomas Morton. According to Morton, he considered the disease “nervous consumption” and believed that it was caused by “sadness and care”. He used the term “consumption” to describe the marked weight, and he called it “nervous” because he could not explain the severe weight loss (Kirkpatrick).
To be diagnosis with the illness anorexia nervosa the person weight must be at least fifteen percent lower than normal for his or her height and age. The person has a great fear of becoming overweight and the person has an image that his or her body is overweight when it’s in fact underweight and/or the person refuse to admit the weight loss is a serious problem. And an important medical criteria for females in diagnosing the illness, is the absence of at least three or more consecutive menstrual periods (Kirkpatrick).
The beginning of the illness often follows some stressful life events that have occurred in the person life. Low self-esteem is often the cause of these stresses. Most of the peoples who are anorexic began with some form of diet to lose weight. When the weight loss becomes visible to their own eyes, and to the eyes of others he or she begin to enjoy his or her special ability to master his or her hunger and control his or her life by continuing to diet without realizing the emotional an physical changes it’s causing to his or her body and mind. And that is how the majority of peoples who are diagnosis with the illness became anorexic (American).
The facts about anorexia nervosa and dieting are that full-blown anorexia nervosa is a rare disease and only about ten percent of the cases occur in men. It’s limited to the developed world because in the developing world anorexia is mainly unheard of.
Anorexia Nervosa may be described directly as an eating disease classified by a deficit in weight, not being able to maintain weight appropriate for one’s height. Anorexia means loss of appetite while Anorexia Nervosa means a lack of appetite from nervous causes. Before the 1970s, most people never heard of Anorexia Nervosa. It was identified and named in the 1870s, before then people lived with this mental illness, not knowing what it was, or that they were even sick. It is a mental disorder, which distorts an individual’s perception of how they look. Looking in the mirror, they may see someone overweight
“Fighting Anorexia” and “cookie monster” are two different articles based on research by some group of psychiatrists that focuses on eating disorder, which in psychology is referred to as a mental illness. Anorexia nervosa is a mental condition that describes a person’s obsession with food and the acute anxiety over weight gain (Newsweek cover, 2005). This disorder is categorized by an individual’s phobia on what to eat and what not to eat; as a result, the person begins to starve his or her self just to avoid adding more weight. The article published on the “Cookie Monster” expatiate on a research that describes how food is being used by some individuals to change their mood (McCarthy, 2001). This research shows that individuals especially college students try to subdue their emotions through the use of sweets and cookies. To further understand of these two experimental research in both articles, some important questions will be answered below.
To be diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, an individual must have a significantly low body weight due to food restriction as well as an unjustifiably acute fear weight gain. The patient must also possess a warped perception of their body, place a high value on weight or shape, or are in denial about their unhealthy condition (Comer, 2013).
The DSM-IV outlines four criteria for anorexia nervosa (APA, 1994). One, a refusal to maintain body weight over a minimal normal weight for age and height (i.e., weight loss leading to maintenance of body weight less than 85% of that expected). Two, an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight. Three, a disturbance in the way in which one’s body weight, size, or shape is experienced (i.e., denial of the seriousness of current low body weight, or undue influence of body shape and weight on self-evaluation). Four, in post-menarcheal, amenorrhea (the absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles). Two types of anorexia nervosa are defined. The binge eating/purging subtype means that the individual engages in recurrent ep...
Anorexic and bulimic people are often perfectionists, with unrealistically high expectations. They frequently lack self-esteem, with their feelings of ineffectiveness and a strong need for other peoples’ approval. Causes There is at present no generally accepted view of the causes of anorexia or bulimia. Most authorities believe the problem to be psychologically based, possibly stemming from family and social pressures, or other forms of stress in our modern environment. Where a high value is placed on slim-ness, women are most likely to be judged on their appearance, against a heavy background of high carbohydrate junk food promotion.
Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder with the highest mortality rate of any other mental disorder. The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders characterizes the disorder as “a relentless pursuit of thinness and unwillingness to maintain a normal or healthy body weight”. (2014) Individuals also experience a “distortion of body image, intense fear of gaining weight and extremely disturbed eating behavior.” (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Related Disorders, 2014) As a result, they experience complications physically, mentally and socially. About 80% of individuals with eating disorders suffer from cardiac complications with death due to arrhythmias being the most common cause. This paper will focus on the connection between AN and cardiovascular rhythm disturbances. Individuals with this disorder have an increased chance of sudden death due to cardiovascular abnormalities like bradycardia, myocardial modification including atrophy and refeeding syndrome. (Casiero & Frishman, 2006)
Anorexia nervosa is a life threatening eating disorder defined by a refusal to maintain fifteen percent of a normal body weight through self-starvation (NAMI 1). Ninety-five percent of anorexics are women between the ages of twelve and eighteen, however, “…in the past twenty years, this disorder has become a growing threat to high school and college students”(Maloney and Kranz 60). Anorexia produces a multitude of symptoms, and if not treated, anorexia can lead to permanent physical damage or death.
Anorexia is not a choice to be made. It is brought on by many pressures to be thin and it clouds one’s ability to see herself/himself as she/he really is, which is usually dangerously thin. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder. Sufferers starve themselves and have extreme weight loss. When starving themselves, anorexics may suffer from terrible hunger pains, but feel rewarded when they can make it through a certain time period, usually a day, then work up to two days and so on.
Anorexia nervosa is a disorder typically shown in the media as a teenage girl whose bones show through her skin, picking and prodding at her body in the mirror. This is the image that comes to mind for most people when they think of anorexia. However, this image only scratches the surface of a disorder as complex as anorexia. Anorexia can be understood by looking at a few different things: its definition, its causes and prevalence, its resulting complications, and its treatment.
Anorexia nervosa, more commonly known as anorexia- an emotional and medical disorder, generally is the lack of food consumption due to a constant fear of gaining weight, an objection to preserve or control a healthy body weight, and a mentally distorted body image. This primarily begins with ones misery with their body. You start to block out everything in your life (school, work, friends, and hobbies) and mainly focus on meals and what should or shouldn’t be consumed. The thing that mainly diagnoses one as anorexic is the simple fact that "... No matter how skinny you become, it's never enough." People diagnosed with this eating order are often in denial and see no wrong doings when they could potentially reach a state of health the body cannot maintain and die.
According to Laura Shapiro, a notable researcher on eating disorders, the medical condition of anorexia consists of several elements. By definition, anorexia nervosa is a condition characterized by intense fear of gaining weight or becoming obese, as well as a distorted body image, and a feeling of loss of control (Shapiro 69).
Eating disorders are quite serious and can often lead to extreme disruption of normal eating behaviors. It wasn’t considered an illness till 1980, when a singer named Karen Carpenter died from complications due to anorexia. If left untreated a person can put significant stress on their body; causing the body to begin to shut down. Often the organs will begin to fail, the persons hair will start to fall out and the person whom you once knew will become completely unrecognizable. Researchers have found many reasons that can be the cause of eating disorders. If we consider Demi Lovato a once happy go lucky Disney star who started acting different from her usual self. We can see that she was struggling from some kind of internal complex. When
Another reason that an eating disorder can develop is that of other opinions. People can give an opinion thinking that it won’t affect that person. Some people might even say it to make someone feel bad about themselves. People with a low self-esteem feel obliged to listen to people with this mean opinions. For example, your coach
Anorexia Nervosa has three Diagnostic Criteria. One is refusal to maintain body weight at or above normal. The other is, intense fear of becoming fat, even though under average weight. The last one is, Disturbance in the way in which one’s body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self- evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of low body weight (Long 15).
There are many reasons that can contribute to the cause of eating disorders. One of the main reasons seems to be the obsession over every little pound a person is wearing. Sometimes low self-esteem or depression from any number of causes can usher in the eating disorder. Other times compulsive exercising can help shed the pounds but leave the enthused unhealthy looking.