The dangers of two different yet similar eating disorders People around the world experience mental and eating disorders, some of us are just lucky to not have any type of disorder. We walk by a numberless amount of people, mainly young adolescent women that are suffering from eating disorders. Yet no one notices due to the fact that Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are not easily noticeable on a person. When will being skinny be too skinny? Anorexia Nervosa is a psychiatric disorder characterized by an unrealistic fear or weight gain, self-starvation, and conspicuous distortion of body image. The individual is obsessed with becoming increasingly thinner and limits food intake to the point of their health is highly at risk. (Gillard, 18). Any eating disorder does not only affect women, there are rare cases that do show that men as well, do suffer from anorexia. Although there is no exact reason that causes this eating disorder, there are a lot of influences that cause young women to fall under anorexia. The individual suffering from anorexia biologically has biochemical disturbances in the brain that leads to their inability to maintain normal weight (Christopher, Repovich, 153). The existences of abnormal amount of brain neurotransmitters are chemical messengers in the brain that transmits nerve impulses between nerve cells (153). Our environment and culture also plays a big role by the media portraying thin models, celebrities in Hollywood have beautiful faces, beautiful bodies. “In addition… correlation between athletic activities that emphasizes the physique, such as track, tennis, gymnastics, cheerleading, and dance” (P. Brown, 162). It’s not so hard to understand why women are suffering from anorexia; the ide... ... middle of paper ... ... movement. Also the use of dieting pills and not eating and eating very little are a couple of methods (anorexia fact sheet). Methods used for bulimics seem a bit more complex. Bulimia is harder to identify on a person due to the fact that’s they are at normal weight or overweight… they hide their habit of binge eating followed by purging, vomiting or misuse of laxatives (K. Lee, 1429). Bulimics are aware of their abnormal patterns… many of them suffer from depression. Although they know their behaviors are abnormal they set aside times and places to carry out their secrete habits (1429). During binging, the individual crave high carbohydrate foods, such as “doughnuts, candy, ice-cream, soft drinks”… They tend to eat this all quickly as possible to later self-vomit or misuse laxatives. Fasting and binging occur on an average, at least twice a week for three months. (
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
Anorexia nervosa is a psychosociological disease which affects young women. Anorexia is mainly a female's disease which has been evident for centuries-however, in the past twenty years, the incidence of this disorder has risen to horrifying proportions. It is characterized by the refusal to maintain body wight over a minimal normal weight for age and height; intense fear of gaining weight; a distorted body image; and, amenorrhea. (http://www.pgi.edu/hagopian.htm) This disorder becomes a disease when the mind starts to cause problems with one's physical well-being. A connection has been found between sociocultural pressures to achieve, familial characteristics, and individual personality traits.
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)
Over the years the rise in body image dissatisfaction has grown as both male and female progress to adulthood. This factor can be contributed to societal standards that the media presents to the public daily. These standards continue to rise making the body image more difficult to attain. With these standards comes the push to seek the “perfect body”. This myth of true beauty commonly found in today’s society, is the price that adolescents buy into often sacrificing their health. The perfect body can often present a distorted view of one-self leading to unhealthy methods of weight reduction. The most common methods for weight reduction are the diseases Anorexia and Bulimia. The similarities and differences between Anorexia and Bulimia will be used to prove that the society’s pressure to fit a certain mold contribute to the onset of the disease.
Look in the mirror. Do you like what you see? Most of us have come to appreciate ourselves for who we are. While other’s struggle to achieve the perfect body. They strive to be what is depicted in fashion magazines and movies. The never ending obsession to be the perfect size zero. This inevitably can lead to eating disorders. Eating disorders can cause someone to have an unhealthy image of themselves and food is the enemy. In a national survey at the Mclean Hospital in Massachusetts it was estimated that over 9 million people suffer with eating disorders. They can struggle with anorexia, bulimia or binge eating. A study conducted by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders states that most of these diseases start before the age of twenty. Another growing problem in the United States is obesity. Over 60 million Americans suffer from this disease, this according to the American Obesity Association (gale opposing viewpoints: eating disorders 2010).
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.
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.
intro- Ninety percent of teenage girls have been on a diet. Some take it too far and starve themselves to be thin. Over one million people in just the US are afflicted with anorexia. If what is on the inside matters, then why are does society and the media constantly promote being thin? The influence of society’s promotion of a thin body plays a significant role in the development of such eating disorders as anorexia.
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.
Bulimia nervosa is a slightly less serious version of anorexia, but can lead to some of the same horrible results. Bulimia involves an intense concern about weight (which is generally inaccurate) combined with frequent cycles of binge eating followed by purging, through self-induced vomiting, unwarranted use of laxatives, or excessive exercising. Most bulimics are of normal body weight, but they are preoccupied with their weight, feel extreme shame about their abnormal behavior, and often experience significant depression. The occurrence of bulimia has increased in many Western countries over the past few decades. Numbers are difficult to establish due to the shame of reporting incidences to health care providers (Bee and Boyd, 2001).
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).
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.
Bulimia is marked by significant cycles in eating habits. Bulimics will often starve themselves (calorie/food/fat intake restriction -- sometimes with the help of diet pills or supplements) for extended periods of time prior to a massive binge, during which they consume abnormal amounts of food in a short period of time. These binges are followed by purging, which generally is constituted by self-induced vomiting. Other methods of purging the body include the use of diuretics, laxatives, and excessive exercising. Bulimics are generally within what is considered to be a "normal" weight range, but see themselves as being overly fat, or suffer from an intense fear of gaining weight. They often do realize that they have a problem, but by that point the cycle has become an obsession. Bulimics usually weigh themselves frequently, even several times daily.
Both bulimics and anorexics are motivated by a desire to lose weight. Anorexia is explained in Eating Disorders as: “Anorexia nervosa is a condition in which a person starves him or herself. The key feature of this disorder is the refusal to eat enough food, resulting in a body weight that is far below a healthy level” (Keel and Levitt, 3). Bulimia is explained as: “Bulimia is characterized by episodes of binge eating in which an individual feels a loss of control over food consumption and eats very large amounts of food in single sittings” (Keel and Levitt, 7). From this, it is obvious that patients with both diseases resort to measures of losing weight.