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Aspects of anorexia nervosa
Annotated bibliography on anorexia
Eating disorders
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Recommended: Aspects of anorexia nervosa
The video published by the Pilsen Wellness Center features a medical student named Ms. Nehazia Shah who defines and describes two of the most well-known and majorly disruptive eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Ms. Shah characterizes individuals with anorexia as being extremely fearful of gaining weight, unwilling to eat to maintain a normal weight, and extremely critical of and insecure about their body weight and shape. She also delineates the two sub-types of the disorder: restriction type and binge/purge type. Bulimia nervosa is then defined, and those with this condition eat great quantities of food in regular binges and then induce themselves to vomit to “get rid of” it, and they will often abuse laxatives. Unlike anorexics, who are below 85% of the normal weight, bulimics are typically normal weight or overweight. Women are more susceptible for either disorder than men, especially when they have low self-esteem; anorexia is more common with those with higher socioeconomic status, while bulimia is more common in those with mood disorders. Finally, …show more content…
The disorder leads to massive deficiencies in nutrients, vitamins and minerals, and other essential elements one’s body needs to function properly, and this in turn leads to organ failure. Moreover, anorexia has a negative effect on mood and cognitive functioning; anorexia makes one irritable, sad, and fearful and makes one experience changes in brain chemistry and fainting spells. Lastly, anorexia dramatically affects one’s appearance by thinning the hail and nails and drying out and yellowing the
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
Out of all mental illnesses found throughout the world, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate. Anorexia nervosa is one of the more common eating disorders found in society, along with bulimia nervosa. Despite having many definitions, anorexia nervosa is simply defined as the refusal to maintain a normal body weight (Michel, 2003). Anorexia nervosa is derived from two Latin words meaning “nervous inability to eat” (Frey, 2002). Although anorexics, those suffering from anorexia, have this “nervous inability to eat,” it does not mean that they do not have an appetite—anorexics literally starve themselves. They feel that they cannot trust or believe their perceptions of hunger and satiation (Abraham, 2008). Anorexics lose at least 15 percent of normal weight for height (Michel, 2003). This amount of weight loss is significant enough to cause malnutrition with impairment of normal bodily functions and rational thinking (Lucas, 2004). Anorexics have an unrealistic view of their bodies—they believe that they are overweight, even if the mirror and friends or family say otherwise. They often weigh themselves because they possess an irrational fear of gaining weight or becoming obese (Abraham, 2008). Many anorexics derive their own self-esteem and self-worth from body weight, size, and shape (“Body Image and Disordered Eating,” 2000). Obsession with becoming increasingly thinner and limiting food intake compromises the health of individuals suffering from anorexia. No matter the amount of weight they lose or how much their health is in jeopardy, anorexics will never be satisfied with their body and will continue to lose more weight.
A variation of Anorexia, Bulimia ranges from excessive food intake, to an out of control compulsive cycle of binge eating where extraordinary amounts of any available food, usually of high carbohydrate content, may be consumed. Once having gorged, the victims are overcome with the urge to rd themselves of what they hate eaten by purging themselves, usually by vomiting, and sometimes by massive doses of laxatives. Between these obsessive bouts, most are able to accept some nutrition. Whereas the anorexic sufferer fears fatness from anticipated loss of eating control, and unlike the anorexic sufferer the typical bulimic individual is not emaciated, but usually maintains a normal body weight and appears to be fit and healthy.
Anorexia is a mental illness that can be identified by its victims starving themselves in order to drop weight to dangerous levels. Most often, anorexics will restrict their food or exercise excessively in order to decrease their body weight. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. This is mainly due to suicide and the complications that occur consequently from starvation. These complications include heart and kidney failure as well as osteoporosis and muscle atrophy. Females may also stop menstruating. The gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and endocrine systems may also be affected. Thus, Anorexia has detrimental effects on a person’s physical and mental health.
In From Psychiatric Syndrome To “Communicable” Disease: The Case of Anorexia Nervosa by Joan Jacobs Brumberg she argues that since 1950, anorexia has become a contagious disease. Brumberg defines contagion as the spread of affect or behavior from group member to a group member. In this case, the disease tends to spread because of societal norms. If one person in a group of friend is scared to get fat due to excessive eating than that person to revert to eating less, possibly to the point of starvation or bulimia nervosa. This trend then becomes popular from friend to friend. Brumberg also writes about beauty standards and images that are represented in the media. Images of very thin models. Brumberg goes on to write “the increasing thin beauty ideal plays a major role in promoting binging and purging.”
The three most commonly known eating disorders of today are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating. Anorexia nervosa is a disease connected with abnormal eating; it is not brought on by excitement, delusions, overactivity or a bad habit, it is a mental illness. Development of anorexia usually starts in the early teenage years, however it can go undiagnosed for thirty to even forty plus years. Another eating disorder is bulimia, people who are bulimic have no time to think about daily life; all that is on there mind is their next meal. Someone who has bulimia often l...
Anorexia has many negative effects as well. According to the University of Maryland Medical Centers article Eating Disorders, “Anorexia nervosa can increase the risk for serious health problems such as: hormonal changes including reproductive, thyroid, stress, and growth hormones, heart problems such as abnormal heart rhythm, electrolyte imbalance, fertility problems, bone density loss, anemia, and neurological problems.” Anorexia can severely affect a person internally. The continuous lack of nutrients can leave an anorexic person extremely frail. The heart in particular can grow so weak, that heart failure occurs. Eating disorders can lead too permanent health damages can stay with a person for the rest of their life.
Most of you probably already know what anorexia is, however in case you don't anorexia is basically a disease involving self-starvation. Anorexia victims have a very low "ideal" weight. It might begin as a normal diet carried to extremes, reducing their food intake to a bare minimum. Rules are made of how much food they can eat in one day and how much exercise is required after eating certain amounts of food. With anorexia, there is a strong almost overwhelming fear of putting on weight and they are preoccupied with the way that their bodies look. Anorexia sometimes involves use of laxatives, diet pills, or self-induced vomiting to lose or to keep weight off (http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/anorexianervosa.htm). Anorexics may show symptoms such as extreme weight loss for no medical reason. Also, many deny their hunger, chew excessively, choosing low calorie foods and exercising excessively (http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health).
In 1978, Brunch called anorexia nervosa a 'new disease' and noted that the condition seemed to overtake ?the daughters of the well-to-do, educated and successful families.? Today it is acknowledged and accepted that anorexia affects more than just one gender or socio-economic class; however, much of the current research is focused on the female gender. ?Anorexia nervosa is characterized by extreme dieting, intense fear of gaining weight, and obsessive exercising. The weight loss eventually produces a variety of physical symptoms associated with starvation: sleep disturbance, cessation of menstruation, insensitivity to pain, loss of hair on the head, low blood pressure, a variety of cardiovascular problems and reduced body temperature. Between 10% and 15% of anorexics literally starve themselves to death; others die because of some type of cardiovascular dysfunction (Bee and Boyd, 2001).?
Bulimia nervosa, more commonly known simply as bulimia or binge and purge disorder, is an eating disorder that affects 1 in 4 college-aged women in America, or 1 in 10,000 Americans. The most common misconception concerning bulimia is that it is simply a physical or mental problem. Many people do not understand that bulimia is a disease that affects both the mind and the body, and in its course can destroy both aspects of the diseased individual.
Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa are described as psychological eating disorders (Keel and Levitt, 1). They are both characterized by an over-evaluation of weight. Despite being primarily an eating disorder, the manifestations of bulimia and anorexia are different. They both present a very conspicuous example of dangerous psychological disorders, as according to the South Carolina Department of Health, “Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness” (Eating Order Statistics, 1). While Bulimia and anorexia are both psychological disorders primarily prevalent in women, anorexia tends to have different diagnostic complexities, symptoms and physiological effects as compared to bulimia.
Anorexia may not be noticed in early stages. The Anorexic usually chooses to wear layered and baggy clothes to hide the “ugly fat body” .An Anorexic may have ritualistic eating patterns such as cutting food into little tiny pieces and weighing themselves. These can be found in people who are on a healthy diet, but in Anorexics these behaviors are extremely exaggerated. Other warnings are deliberate self-starvation with weight loss, fear of gaining weight, refusal to eat, denial of hunger, constant exercising, sensitivity to cold, absent or irregular periods, loss of scalp perception of being fat when the person is really to this. Some other associated features are depressed mood, somatic sexual dysfunction, and ...
Of the three eating disorders, anorexia gets the most attention and has the highest mortality rate of six percent out of any mental illness. According to the International Journal of Eating Disorders, half of the deaths caused by anorexia are suicide. Anorexia is when an individual feels that his or her body is distorted. Anorexia is also when an individual starves himself or herself because of the fear of being overweight (Elkins 44). If an individual suffers from anorexia they will loose anywhere from fifteen to sixty percent of their body weight by starving his or herself. Some of the symptoms of anorexia are heart problems, anemia, and fertility problems (“Eating Disorders”). Another horrible eating disorder is bulimia, which is when a person over eats, feels guilty, and then purges, take...
Eating disorders are a serious health problem. Personal Counseling & Resources says that eating disorders "are characterized by a focus on body shape, weight, fat, food, and perfectionism and by feelings of powerlessness and low self-esteem." Three of the most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating or compulsive eating disorder. According to Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, a person with anorexia "refuses to maintain normal body weight for age and height" and "weighs 85 percent or less than what is what is expected for age and height." A person diagnosed with bulimia has several ways of getting rid of the calories such as binge eating, vomiting, laxative misuse, exercising, or fasting. The person might have a normal weight for their age and height unless anorexia is present. The signs of a compulsive eater include eating meals frequently, rapidly, and secretly. This person might also snack and nibble all day long. The compulsive eater tends to have a history of diet failures and may be depressed or obese (Anred.com).
Anorexia is a type of eating disorder who has an intense fear of gaining weight. They severely limit the amount of food they eat and can become dangerously thin (1). Anorexia affects both the mind and body and can even become deadly. Anorexia usually starts in the teen years and can go into adult hood. Untreated anorexia can lead to starvation and serious health problems, such as osteoporosis, kidney damage, and heart problems. Some people die from these problems (1). The cause of anorexia is not fully understood. It is thought to be from a mix of physical, emotional,, and social triggers (2). Extreme dieting changes how the brain and metabolism work, and it stresses the body. Genetics play a big part in anorexia. A combination of certain personality traits such as low self-confidence along with perfectionism and cultural and social pressures can play a big part in anorexia. For some teens, anorexia can be a way of coping with stressful events, such as moving, divorce, or the death of a love one (2).