Understanding Anorexia Nervosa: Causes and Consequences

1734 Words4 Pages

In 2001, the American Anorexia and Bulimia Association found that of those who develop eating disorders, about 150,000 die of anorexia. It has the highest death rate for any psychiatric disorder (White 219). Eating disorders are complex conditions that can arise from a variety of potential causes. People with anorexia nervosa have a real fear of weight gain and a distorted view of their body size and shape. As a result, teens with anorexia restrict their food intake by dieting, fasting, or excessive exercise. Others with anorexia may start binge eating and purging — eating a lot of food and then trying to get rid of the calories by forcing themselves to vomit, using laxatives, or exercising excessively, or some combination of these, which also leads to bulimia. People with anorexia nervosa have true fears in gaining weight and what body size or shape category they fit in. As a result, these individuals with anorexia nervosa limit how much food they eat in different way such as; dieting, fasting, or exuberant exercise. This disorder can also lead to binge eating and purging, which means eating copious amounts of food at one sitting and then self-inducing their bodies to regurgitate the food. This leads to problems with bulimia. Accordingly, anorexia nervosa develops from the multi-faceted problems in lack of education of; interpersonal, psychological, and social factors. The education of these factors will increase awareness, which in turn will decrease the development of anorexia nervosa. The lack of education on the interpersonal factors relating to anorexia nervosa has been a driving force towards not recognizing the ample causes of anorexia. People who have anorexia often have problematic personal relations. As said by Michael... ... middle of paper ... .... This standard of beauty has pressured everyone to look like these unachievable, fake individuals. Because society deems not knowing any better and thinking that these images are normal, the human body must somehow contort to this fashion. The denseness of the world keeps letting these harmful pictures broadcast when, in actuality, there needs to be a true voice in society saying that there is nothing wrong with the way that someone looks. To conclude, within the realm of eating disorders, the complexity of anorexia nervosa that arises comes from multiple reasons. Anorexia nervosa has stemmed from these and has transformed into a critical issue in society. Without education in each of the factors, interpersonal, psychological, and social factors, anorexia will remain a prevalent problem that continues a self-perpetuating cycle of physical and emotional destruction.

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