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Studies on anorexia nervosa
Eating disorders research paper
Eating disorders research paper
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Recommended: Studies on anorexia nervosa
Anorexia Nervosa What exactly is Anorexia Nervosa (A.N.)? Anorexia Nervosa is a serious eating disorder that can affect, mostly, teens and people in their early twenties. When there is someone you know struggling from A.N., you should know that there is a lot going on with his or her life. There are hardships and a very long recovery on the way. There are some pretty basic facts about A.N.; some facts are actually very interesting. Just about 90-95% of A.N. sufferers are girls and women. Anorexia mainly affects teenage girls and only affects about .5-1% of women. A.N. has one of the highest death rates out of any mental health condition. Some minor examples of Anorexia are: • Intense fear of gaining weight • Inadequate food intake to lose weight • …show more content…
Self esteem is overly related to the self-image As you can see, A.N.
is a very serious disorder and it isn’t the easiest thing to deal with in a family. There are some short definitions and a long definition. Like it is stated in paragraph two, some short definitions are: • Fear of weight gain • Very little food intake, leading to a low weight • Self esteem revolves around body image The long definition is very scientific, but here it is anyways: • “Anorexia Nervosa is a serious eating disorder, primarily of young women in their teens and early twenties, that is categorized especially by a pathological fear of weight gain, leading to faulty eating patterns, malnutrition, and usually excessive weight loss.” ("Anorexia Nervosa") Also, some warning signs are: • Dramatic weight loss • Denial of hunger • Spending a lot of time with weight, food intake, calories etc. • Anxiety about weight gain • Development of food
disorders Hopefully, this paragraph helped you learn a little more about A.N. There are two different types of anorexia nervosa, binge/purging type and restrictive type. The restrictive type of anorexia nervosa is when people limit their food intake, they spend a lot of their time worrying about food, and they have a bad fear of gaining weight. Now, the binge/purging type is VERY different from the restrictive type. They don’t eat for a VERY LONG period of time and then they feel guilty and throw it up and its just one big cycle. There are probably a lot of other types but nobody has time for that, so I just wrote down the top two types. As you could tell, anorexia is a very difficult thing to deal with. It’s hard for family and friends to watch the person they love and care about go through something this bad. If you want to lose weight, set up a diet plan with your doctor. Anorexia puts parents through a lot. This article is very informational so if someone is going to study A.N., or if they’re just curious, show them this!
Anorexia Nervosa placed third behind asthma and type 1 diabetes as the most chronic disease which affects young people. It is estimated that teens and young adults betwixt the ages 15 and 24 who suffer from Anorexia have 10 times the chance of dying when compared to those of similar age. Of individuals with anorexia, only .25% are males which is why most times its after death males are identified as being anorexic. About 10% individuals die from complications of the disease. That number duplicates to about 20% if combined with the patients who have anorexia and who suicide, thus making it the most life-threatening and fatal mental disease in
Anorexia nervosa is characterized by a distorted body image. The individual is severely underweight and thinks they are fat or has a fear of becoming fat (Comer, 2013).
When an individual refuses to eat enough food to maintain a healthy body weight, he or she is dealing with a serious illness known as anorexia nervosa. People with this illness maintain strict control over food intake. About ninety percent of anorexia nervosa cases are women, particularly teenagers. (Alters & Schiff, 2003, p.37). For every one in one hundred that develops this illness, it most commonly evolves in their high school years. The symptoms of anorexia nervosa are:
Anorexia is a psychiatric disorder that is most common in young women. Those who suffer with anorexia have a fear of gaining weight and have an inaccurate portrayal of their own bodies. They see themselves as being fat, even though they are already thin to begin with. They are willing to go to extreme measures to lose weight, but the only outcome is a severely unhealthy body weight. To achieve the weight they want they will either starve themselves or do a tremendous amount of exercise.
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)
These conditions are commonly seen as only affecting females ranging from the middle- to upper-class, and we often imagine sufferers as extremely thin and frail. However, this is an enormous misconception. Although the most common Eating Disorders, Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and Bulimia Nervosa (BN) mostly affect females, an estimated 10 to 15%, or 1-2 in every 100 Anorexics and/or Bulimics are males, and Binge Eating Disorder affects both males and females equally (National Eating Disorders Association).
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 a disorder that goes much deeper than the trite image pushed by the media. Anorexia occurs most often in young, adolescent females, can be caused by biological, socio-cultural, and psycho-developmental factors, causes considerable damage to the body and the heart, and treatment is not often attained and is long and difficult for the patient when it is.
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).?
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).
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.
I will begin this paper by reciting some of the definitions that I did find.
Everyone has something about them they wish they could change. To some people, they’re never thin enough. Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder in which you excessively lose weight by self- starvation. This disorder typically affects girls and women but can also affect boys and men too. It is typically caused when an un-realistic body structure is viewed as what they should look like. Ads, commercials, magazines, and others who call a person ‘fat’, can all influence a person to become anorexic. Anorexia can be very damaging to your health. Because you’re not eating, your body is not getting any nutrients. Anorexia Nervosa is damaging to your health because you decrease bone strength, lose muscle mass, and damage the heart.
Allan and Burridge (1991, p. 11) provide a definition which goes along the following lines:
This definition given by Michael Hammer and James Champy tells us in simple words what the