The Dangers of Eating Disorders
How a person perceives their body is influenced by what it looks like to them and what it looks like to others. Our society teaches us through media and social pressure that body image is important. Feeling attractive is an important part of self worth and for many, feeling attractive means matching a certain ideal appearance. Most of us will never be able to look like this ideal, but the message we get is that we risk social failure if we do not try hard enough. When we believe this message we may feel incompetent and depressed and have low self-esteem because we cant meet impossible standards of appearance.
The two main types of eating disorders Anorexia Nervosa, and Bulimia Nervosa, also known as binge eating. There are many health and mental complications that go along with these two problems. The major complications of binge eating disorder are the diseases that accompany obesity. These include diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, gallbladder disease, heart disease, and certain types of cancer. People with binge eating disorder are extremely distressed by their binge eating. Most have tried to control it on their own but have not succeeded for very long. Some people miss work, school, or social activities to binge eat. Obese people with binge eating disorder often feel bad about themselves, are preoccupied with their appearance, and may avoid social gatherings.
Most feel ashamed and try to hide their problem. Often they are so successful that close family members and friends don't know they binge eat. Things that can cause binge eating are still unknown, but half the people with an eating disorder have a history of depression. Whether depression is a cause...
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...oblem too, and you cant just rush right into it and expect to get rid of it. Anorexia can be very devastating to a persons health physically and mentally.
Women and men need to develop personal skills that will help them feel good about themselves without placing an emphasis on physical appearance. No one should rely on dieting, excersize, and dressing to determine one's self worth.
Bibliography:
References
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Study Group on Anorexia Nervosa. (1995) Journal of Eating Disorders ,17, 235-241.
Rastem, M. and Gillberg, C. (1991) Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolscent Psychiatry,30, 238-239.
Stober, M. (1991) Journal of Clinical Psychiatry,52,9-12.
Sullican, P. S.(1995) American Journal of Psychiatry, 125,1073-1078.
Some of the symptoms associated with Binge Eating Disorder are frequent episodes of consuming large amounts of food in a short period of time. A person uses the food to fill an empty void that they have and even though the food being consumed temporarily elevates them; Afterwards, a binger feels a sense of guilt, shame, or embarrassment. Due to consuming large amounts, a binger will eat in a secretive location away from others so they don’t feel judged by others. Sometimes a binger feels out-of-control or on auto-pilot when they begin there episode and also may not feel satisfied after bingeing. Binge Eating Disorder usually affects somebody who is overweight or obese, but people of regular weight can also be affected. (Smith, Segal, and J. Segal; February 2014)
Binge eating gets confused with obesity but only one fourth of obese people are binge eating. Binge eating is a result from psychological problems, while obesity is a physical problem. Only about 1 to 5 percent is affected in the United States. “About 60 percent of sufferers are women, and 40 percent men” (Ambrose, 38). This disorder can result in diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and death.
Many citizens in the United States and other parts of the world fight with weight and body image issues. Most exercise and eat healthy to help their problems. Some take a more unhealthy and sometimes deadly route. An estimated five million people are affected by eating disorders each year (Alters & Schiff, 2003, p.36). Eating disorders are more common among females. At least three percent of women have some type of an eating disorder (Alters & Schiff, 2003, p.36). Eating disorders are classified as persistent, abnormal eating patterns that can threaten a person?s health and well being. There are three major types of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and compulsive overeating.
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...
The way a person see’s oneself and imagines what they look like is one’s body image. One can either have a positive or negative connotation regarding their own body appearance. A positive body image means that most of the time one is comfortable and satisfied about the way they appear. In a sense, that means they feel good about the way they see themselves in mirrors or pictures. Having a negative body image is a common struggle for individuals. This means they are unhappy with their physical appearance and constantly want to change something about him or herself. Negative body image leads to serious mental problems such as anorexia or bulimia. Not only do we have a personal view on our body image, but society also has an input. Society
There are countless health problems that an eating disorder can lead to. However; if caught in time, professional assistance can help a person to overcome a disorder. I personally feel invested in this topic because my best friend developed an eating disorder. It was hard for me to see how much she hated the way she looked. I watched her weight drop to an unhealthy size in a matter of months. Thankfully, with the help of therapy, she has since moved past it. Learning the signs and characteristics of an eating disorder can aid in identifying individuals at risk. If you are suspicious that someone you know could have an eating disorder, it is important you talk to them about it. The results of eating disorders being caught early on could be the difference between life and death.
One harmful eating disorder is binge eating. Binge eating disorder is a disorder in which a person eats a large amount of food in a short period of time and they feel a large amount of guilt along with a loss of self-control that causes them to not be able to stop. Many people eat large amounts of food on special occasions such as holidays or celebrations but this is not an eating disorder unless the overeating becomes an everyday occurrence. This...
No human is perfect and because of this it is no secret that there are things that humans one way or another want to change or fix about themselves. However, some take this to an extreme. When an obsession over being thin starts to rule your life, eating proportions or habits, and thoughts- you might be in the beginning stages of an eating disorder. Eating Disorders are circumstances where there are strange or peculiar eating routine where there is too much or too little food intake for the lack of benefit to the person’s mental and physical health. Linked from Anorexia are some of the most common types of eating disorders such as Bulimia, anorexia, and binging. All of these eating disorders fall back onto excessive obsessing over weight and food related situations. Once often becomes brain washed into only focusing on the main goal, which is usually to be slim and thin.
Anorexia Nervosa or just Anorexia, is characterized by an extreme and intense fear of gaining weight, which leads the person to pursue continuous weight loss. Sometimes, a diet can begin innocently, but anorexics don't stop at a rational point. They keep going until their lives may be threatened. Anorexics may use many methods of weight loss along with dieting and fasting. They use excessive exercise, diet pills, laxatives, diuretics, or vomiting as ways of feeling thinner or controlling calories, but whatever the method, the primary goal is thinness. One may wonder why anorexics don't stop dieting once they become skinny. The reason is that a major characteristic of anorexia is a problem called distorted body image. This means that anorexics look at their bodies very differently than other people do. When they look in the mirror, they never see themselves as being too thin. They "feel fat" And usually overestimate their weight. If an anorexic is told she is too skinny, she is more likely to be happy than upset. Many times, anorexics don't believe that they have a problem. Using weight reduction is just a way of coping with other pressures.
Today, America is plagued with eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Compulsive Eating Disorders. Each has its own characteristics that distinguish the illness yet there are some similarities that they also share. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, as with most mental illnesses, eating disorders are not caused by just one factor but by a combination of behavioral, biological, emotional, psychological, interpersonal and social factors. Shockingly, they also report that in the United States, there are as many as 10 million females and 1 million males that are battling with eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia. Additionally, another 25 million are struggling with binge eating disorders (www.NationalEatingDisorders.org). Typically, psychological factors such as depression and low self-esteem contribute to eating disorders...
The exact cause of eating disorders is unknown. As with other mental illnesses, there may be many causes, such as:
According to the National Eating Disorder Association or NEDA, an eating disorder consists of extreme emotions, attitudes, and behaviors surrounding weight and food issues. There are three major types of eating disorders: Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge Eating Disorder (BED). Anorexia Nervosa is characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss. Bulimia Nervosa is characterized by a cycle of bingeing and compensatory behaviors such as self-induced vomiting designed to undo or compensate for the effects of binge eating. Binge Eating Disorder is characterized by recurrent binge eating without the regular use of compensatory measures to counter the binge eating.
Having a lack of self acceptance can cause men and women to spend a meaningless amount of time loathing on their imperfections, which can also degrade their self-perception on their bodies. Women who have a hard time looking at themselves in the mirror are in a constant battle with their inner demons, telling themselves that they are not beautiful enough. For example, in the article, "Out-of-Body Image" by Caroline Heldman, she says how, "[Women] are more likely to engage in "habitual body monitoring"-constantly thinking about how their bodies appear to the outside world . . ." (65). Women can spend a futile amount of time feeding negative comments to themselves about their appearance, which can heighten their chances of becoming bulimic and anorexic. Once women start to over-analyze their bodies, it can become difficult to reverse their mindset to generate positive feedback about themselves. Likewise, when men lose their confidence in their self-image, their self-perception can get misconstrued and suddenly they can only recognize their flaws. For example, in the article, "How Men Really Feel About Their Bodies," the author mentions how in general, men are in a constant competition against other males to improve their bodies so that they can survive in the male society ( Spiker, 73). Men are always under intense scrutiny regarding their bodies because they are engendered to be physically strong and built, and that is where the stigma begins in the male society. In order to sustain in the male domination, men are constantly trying to rebuild their bodies to match perfection. When men see others that are more built, their self-perception slowly starts to degrade their confidence, and that is when they have the difficulty of accepting themselves. As a result, men and women who lack self acceptance start to obsess over their
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...
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.