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Eating disorders cultural factors
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Recommended: Eating disorders cultural factors
Description of Problem
Overall, eating disorders are considered the third common illness for adolescent girls (Weber, Davis & McPhie, 2006). Anorexia Nervosa, anorexia, is an eating disorder that affects the way a person sees themselves and results in a person having a powerful fear of gaining weight (Scott, Hanstock & Patterson-Kane, Individuals that typically suffer from anorexia limits the amount of food that they eat and view themselves as overweight. Anorexia is characterized by emaciation, distorted body image and no menses. Despite their constant thoughts about food, an individual with anorexia has a small body weight for their height. People with anorexia have a tendency to believe that they are fat and develop bad eating habits. For example, some people with anorexia skip meals, do not eat in front of others or abuse laxatives to lose weight. Significant weight loss over a short period of time causes horrendous health conditions. Damage to vital organs can lead to death. According to Womenshealth.gov, the average length of someone with anorexia nervosa is five to seven years (2009). In a world that is obsessed to be thin, toxic environments and thoughts must be examined and challenged.
Demographics
According to Womenshealth.gov, anorexia affects 85-95 percent of females and one in ten males (2009). Women in the Western industrialized countries are typically associated with anorexia (Scott, Hanstock, Patterson-Kane, 2013).There is not a single specific factor that contributes to anorexia, but it can be influenced by culture, societal pressures, and family or life changes. Anorexia is predominant in adolescent girls but can seriously run rampant around the ages of 20-45 (Duckworth & Freedman, 2013). Anorexia also affe...
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...r own realities. If a social worker is not familiar with a reality that their client and family presents, it creates a deficit in the services that should be provided to the client. Narrative therapy highly discourages the use of labels because it is viewed as a form of oppression. Being aware of label is helpful in providing appropriate treatment for a client. When working with an anorexic client, in order to ensure that damage is not done to the therapist and client relationship. Knowledge of a client’s diagnose, helps the practitioner to pick interventions that are best suited for that individual. Narrative therapy lacks structure and that may not be productive for some clients. Narrative therapy actively critizes and frees people from assumptions placed on them and works towards reducing totalizing views that can lead to the problem (Brown, Weber & Ali, 2008).
Anorexia Nervosa has been a problematic disease many women suffer from. The article “The Slender Trap” was composed by Trina Rys who is a stay at home mother with a husband and one daughter. Rys writes the main reasons a woman may develop anorexia from. She states that the psychological pressures, expectations of friends and family and influences of the media all are factors when a woman is inflicted with the disease. I strongly agree with Rys persuading argument that anorexia could be caused by an unknown identity and the overall main focus of the ideal image of a woman. Although, I believe Rys requires a stronger argument on whether food restrictions executed by parents are a major step to developing the harmful illness. She seems to put emphasize on mainly women but does not shine any light on men.
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
Many causes are attributed to anorexia, and scientists have studied the personalities, genetics, environments, and biochemistry of people suffering from this disorder. Women most often share various traits--although the more that is learned, the more complex each individual case becomes--low self-esteem, feelings of helplessness, and a fear ...
Christy Greenleaf, assistant professor of kinesiology, health promotion and recreation at University of North Texas, stated, “Girls and women, in our society are socialized to value physical appearance and an ultra-thin beauty that rarely occurs naturally and to pursue that ultra-thin physique at any cost.” Anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among young women. Furthermore, one in every ten people with anorexia will die from a complication brought on by the disorder. Although Anorexia is a mental illness, it is most common in teenage females because it is incited by the media through the fashion industry and pro-anorexia websites.
Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by severe restriction of food, an intense fear of gaining weight, a distorted body image and a body mass index of less than 18.5 (Kring, Johnson, Davison, Neale, 2013). There are two subtypes of anorexia, Restricting and Binge Eating/Purging. An individual who falls under the Restricting subtype severely restricts food intake, while an individual who falls under the Bing Eating/Purging subtype regularly engages in binge eating and purging. Anorexia typically begins in adolescence and primarily affects women. The disorder is more common in women than in men mainly because of the cultural emphasis that is placed on women’s beauty. Individuals with anorexia generally have a low self-esteem, a very critical self-evaluation and a belief that they can never be too thin. Due to the seriousness of the disorder, the issue of whether or not an individual should have the right the refuse life-sustaining treatment is highly debated.
Becoming healthy should lead to happiness; however an unhealthy lifestyle and attitude can lead to depression. Anorexia Nervosa is a life-threatening disorder that not only affects the body, but it affects the mind. It is a mental disorder that creates an unhealthy obsession with someone’s weight and body image, leading to people who look nothing more than skin and bones. Television, magazines and the internet seem to criticize people’s looks and body types, however could they be representing a small population? There are a large amount of people who have fallen into obesity – perhaps the media are simply promoting a healthier diet and lifestyle. Without this push to become healthy, the amount of people becoming obese will increase drastically.
Bizarre, devastating, and baffling are three words that describe the anorexia nervosa disease. By definition, anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which a normal-weight person diets and becomes significantly underweight, yet, still feeling fat, continue to starve themselves. The term "anorexia nervosa" literally means nervous lose of appetite. People with the disorder are suppressing a strong desire to eat, because they are afraid of becoming fat. Anorexia is characterized by extreme starvation that leads to a disastrous loss of weight. Anorexia nervosa affects a large number of people today in the world, and does not discriminate against anybody. Its victims can be overweight, thin, young, old, or either sex although, its primary victims are young girls between the age of thirteen and nineteen. This disorder has become more and more common around the world today. It has populated many college campuses, and it is spreading. Recent studies show that almost 20% of college women suffer from anorexia or bulimia (bulimia is a eating disorder similar to anorexia), and the statistic increases to about 50% when so called "fad" bulimics and anorexics are included (Baker 9). This disease takes ordinary, often very beautiful people and drives them to starvation for no apparent reason whatsoever. They do not even seem to realize the extreme danger that comes with not eating a balanced diet. These young people lose so much
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.
Binge-eating disorder is defined as an eating disorder in which a person frequently consumes large amounts of food while feeling out of control and unable to stop. Almost everyone overeats every once in a while but for some people overeating crosses the line to binge-eating disorder and it becomes a regular occurrence. Many people who have this disorder may feel embarrassed about eating large amounts of food in front of others however the urge and compulsiveness of this disorder continues to affect their eating habits. Binge-eating disorder is estimated to affect approximately 1-5% of the general population and also tends to affect women slightly more often than men. Binge-eating disorder is often associated with symptoms of depression and people diagnosed with this may often express distress, shame, and guilt over their eating behaviors.
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).?
There may be murmurs about that girl who only fixes herself a salad with only vinegar at dining services or suspicious glances at someone who spends 45 minutes on the treadmill and then switches to the stair stepper at the rec. On-campus eating disorders are talked about everywhere and yet are not really talked about at all. There is observation, concern, and gossip, but hushed conversation and larger scale efforts to help and change never seem to earn public attention.
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.
Narrative Therapy was developed to help people separate themselves from their problems. The idea is that this will help the person use the skills that they already possess to minimize the problems that exist in their everyday lives. The Narrative Therapy approach was developed by Social Workers Michael White (Australia) and David Epston (New Zealand) during the 1970s-1980s. “White proclaimed is work to be exclusively that of ‘rich story development’ “(Gallant).
Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, fear of gaining weight, and a strong desire to be thin, resulting in food restriction. Many people with anorexia see themselves as overweight even though they are in fact underweight.
Diagnostic Criteria for Anorexia Nervosa from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder. fifth edition (DSM-V) is a restriction of energy intake relative to requirement, leading to a significantly low body weight in the context of age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health According to my Abnormal Psychology textbook Anorexia is describe as an eating disorder in which a person is obsessed by thoughts of an unattainable image of “Perfect” thinness. This occurs by starvation and or excessive exercise which can result in death for some people if not treated. It can also cause damage to numerous of our vital organs like our heart. Anorexia Nervosa has the highest mortality rate of all mental disorders. People