Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Psychological theoretical perspective on anorexia nervosa
Impact of anorexia on person
How is bulimia similar to anorexia
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Eating disorders are extremely harmful and rising in prevalence. . The two most common eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. In this essay, I will compare and contrast these two disorders. This essay will also assess the symptoms, causes, health affects and the most prevalent characteristics of people diagnosed with these two eating disorders. “Anorexia Nervosa is characterized by self-starvation to avoid obesity. People with this disorder believe they are overweight, even when their bodies become grotesquely distorted by malnourishment.” (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia) Symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa include: heart muscle damage, heartbeat irregularities, low blood pressure, kidney damage, kidney failure, convulsions or seizures, loss of menstrual period in women, loss of bone density and fertility problems. (Schulherr) Anorexia Nervosa not only has physical symptoms but psychological symptoms as well. The psychological symptoms include strange behaviors, such as, only eating certain foods based primarily on caloric intake. Along with strange eating rituals, Anorexia Nervosa impairs your ability to think clearly.. (Schullherr) The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th Edition classifies Anorexia Nervosa as the refusal to maintain a minimum body weight. Individuals with Anorexia Nervosa have a phobia of becoming obese or gaining weight. Individuals that suffer from Anorexia Nervosa have a negative body image. Individuals that suffer from Anorexia Nervosa are over critical of self-image and they feel like their weight is a measure of their self worth. (Schullherr, Eating Disorders For Dummies) These individuals often deny that they are too thin. In females, they will quit h... ... middle of paper ... ...t) In closing, Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa both have severe repercussions on the affected individual’s health and psychological well being. These two eating disorders not only affect their physical health, but also have severe, long-term psychological effects. If individuals that are suffering from either eating disorder go without treatment, the disease can become detrimental to their health. Works Cited Austin, S. Bryn, et al. "Eating Disorder Symptoms and Obesity at the Intersections of Gender, Ethnicity, and Sexual Orientation in US High School Students." American Journel of Public Health 103.2 (2013): 16-22. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. 6th. —. Eating Disorders. 6th. Moura, Sophia Banay. "Starvation Nation." Marie Claire ( US ) July 2011: 98-172. Schulherr, Susan. Eating Disorders For Dummies. 2008. —. Eating Disorders For Dummies. 2008.
The National Institute of Mental Health: Eating Disorders: Facts About Eating Disorders and the Search for Solutions. Pub No. 01-4901. Accessed Feb. 2002.
“Anorexia Nervosa, AN, the most visible eating disorder, is a serious psychiatric illness characterized by an inability to maintain a normal body weight or, in individuals still growing, failure to make expected increases in weight (and often height) and bone density.” (cite textbook) The behaviors and cognitions of individuals with AN adamantly defend low body weight.
Body image dissatisfaction in anorexia nervosa is separated into three subcategories: dissatisfaction with one's body; overestimation of own body size; and self-worth influences one’s perception of body weight (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Past research indicates that that the overestimation found in patients with anorexia nervosa is restricted to their own body. A person with anorexia nervosa can accurately perceive other people’s body weight, but not their own body weight (Urgesi et al. 2012). Other research suggests that memory is more vulnerable than perception to patients (Magnussen, 2004). In other past research, participants overestimated their body size significantly more in the perception than memory condition, but this experiment will look at memory and direct perception more thoroughly.
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 considering the relationship between gender and eating disorders, more than 90 percent of t...
As defined by the National Eating Disorders Association, “Anorexia Nervosa is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss.” (NEDA). The term “Anorexia Nervosa” literally means “neurotic loss of appetite”, and could be more generally defined as the result of a prolonged self-starvation and an unhealthy relationship regarding food and self-image. It is characterized by “resistance to maintaining body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height”, “intense fear of weight gain or being “fat”, even though underweight”, “disturbance in the experience of body weight or shape, undue influence of weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of low body weight”, and “loss of menstrual periods in girls and women post-puberty.”(NEDA) Among women on a range of 15 to 24 years old, AN has been proved to have 12 times the annual mortality rate of all death causes, and from premature deaths of anorexic patients, 1 in every 5 is caused by suicide, which gives a rise of 20% for suicide probability. (EDV)
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.
All Eating Disorders lead to various health complications and may ultimately result in the death of the sufferer. For instance, Anorexia Nervosa has the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric disorders, as 5 to 9% of Anorexics will die from it (Nolen-Hoeksema, Susan. (2013). Abnormal psychology (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.). Anorexia Nervosa and Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS) in its restrictive/subtreshold Anorexia subtype may cause severe organ dysfunction due to extreme malnourishment. These problems include, but are not limited to, cardiac, hepatic, renal, and neurological failure.
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.
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).?
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.
O’Dwyer, Michael P. Student Eating Disorders : Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia. Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, 2005.