Eating Disorders: Their Dark Sides

897 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Psychological perspectives and anorexia

"Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder on an overwhelming dread of becoming fat. The result of this unfounded fear is self-starvation and major weight loss. In addition, the undernourishment may cause hormonal disturbances, anemia, heart problems, brittle bones and many other problems, some of which are life-threatening ("Anorexia Nervosa," 1). Bulimia is an eating disorder that is psychological in origin and can have dire physical consequences. While anorexics starve themselves, bulimics binge on food and then purge by self-induced vomiting. Bulimics also frequently use diet pills, laxatives, and diuretics to reduce their weight. The purging may serve two purposes: preventing weight gain and also temporarily relieving depression and other negative feelings ("Bulimia," 1)." These eating disorders are a major issue in society today due to society’s stereotypical view of women and young teenage girls, in, but many cases’ men are affected too.First, an eating disorder is an illness that affects several of the United States population because society has driven many people to be self-conscience about their appearance. For example, eight million people in the United States suffer from eating disorders ("The Secret Language of Eating Disorders," 1). Furthermore, 3% of all young women suffer from anorexia and 3-4% suffer from bulimia ("The Secret Language of Eating Disorders," 1). This proves that many women and teenage girls are affected because many are afraid of becoming fat and "unacceptable" to society’s view on women in general. In addition, 1% of boys and young men suffer from eating disorders, and their cases are becoming more common ("The Secret Language of Eating Disorders," 1). Also, it is a disorder that crosses racial and economical lines, those who succumb to compulsive starving or binge eating are males (Lang, 1). This shows that today’s society has also affected men’s stereo-typical view of their appearance and weight. Thus, eating disorders not only affect women, they also affect men, in which we are seeing more cases of every day.Second, victims of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia have many warning signs which help people notice the signs of these eating disorders. For instance, anorexia nervosa has the following symptoms: significant weight loss, excessive dieting and exercising, and constipation ("Anorexia Nervosa", 2). Also, bulimia nervosa has the following symptoms: makes excuses to go to the bathroom after meals, and eats large amounts of food on the spur of the moment ("Bulimia Nervosa", 2).

Show More
Related

  • Annotated Bibliography Eating Disorders

    587 Words  | 2 Pages

    Research, 2016. Bordo implicated popular culture as having a serious negative role in how women of America view their bodies. These images have led to drastic increase change in life altering female disorders and eating. Not only does these images affect Americans but young men and women too which they should be fighting against it, not for

    Read More

  • Contrasting Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa

    1477 Words  | 3 Pages

    Bulimia and anorexia Nervosa, the two most common eating disorders in the world, and neither of them are at all healthy. Even Though bulimia and anorexia are quite similar, they have many differences that set them apart. The main difference between the two is that bulimia is where a person eating an excessive amount of food in a short period of time, followed by purging all of the food out of guilt. Anorexia is where you barely eat, have a strict diet, and workout excessively. Just with a brief description, this just barely scratches the surface of this whole topic of bulimia and anorexia. We will begin by looking at the similarities of bulimia and anorexia.

    Read More

  • Anorexia and Bulimia

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    As many as 20% of females in their teenage and young adult years suffer from anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa (Alexander-Mott, 4). Males are also afflicted by these eating disorders, but at a much lower rate, with a female to male ratio of six to one. Those with anorexia nervosa refuse to maintain a normal body weight by not eating and have an intense fear of gaining weight. People with bulimia nervosa go through periods of binge eating and then purging (vomiting), or sometimes not purging but instead refraining from eating at all for days. Both of these disorders wreak havoc on a person's body and mental state, forcing them to become emaciated and often depressed.

    Read More

  • Binge Eating Disorder Essay

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    1. Eating disorders in our present society can be viewed as a multi-determined disorder for various reasons. The current definition of a multi-determined disorder is when there is more than one factor with a wide range of causes that creates the disorder to form. Negative influences from family members, friends, the western culture, or even a specific cultural may harshly impact a person and influence how he or she should live their life. Anorexia and Bulimia are both to be considered as a multi-determined disorder that is influenced greatly by socio-cultural, biological and psychological factors. Subcultures create large pressures and restraints to diet and become thin. For instance, the Asian culture, if a person is overweight, they are frowned upon and considered almost as a disgrace to the community. Studies have also proven that family histories that have a weight loss disorder are more likely to also develop depression and anxiety disorders and are more likely found in women. Daily habits in a household also greatly impact the way a child is raised. Factors such as being over protective or having excessive control may also lead to forming an eating disorder, which anorexia becomes more susceptible for children. Psychological factors are most commonly formed when other views and living habits become more influential than our own. The way others perceive a person is defined as a schema. Once schemas are formed they may store in a person’s long-term memory and create self-schemas. Negative self-schemas will change an individual’s personality to become unstable and believe they are constantly being judged. Self-concept then forms leading to more harmful disorders such as poor self-esteem, depression and inability ...

    Read More

  • Anorexia and Bulimia

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Anorexia And Bulimia Essay

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Anorexia Nervosa

    2328 Words  | 5 Pages

    eating disorder symptoms and weight changes in a large population of males undergoing treatment for eating disorders. Best Practice In Mental Health, 3(1), 52-65. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.memphis.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ofm&AN=510735329&site=ehost-live

    Read More

  • Eating Disorders: A Life Threatening Mental Illness

    1760 Words  | 4 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Eating Disorders in the Untied States

    1507 Words  | 4 Pages

    Eating Disorders are on a rapid rise in the United States today, they sweep the halls of Junior High School, High Schools, College Campuses and even Elementary Schools. These disorders are often referred to by professionals as the “Deadly Diet,” however you may know them as Anorexia or Bulimia. Eating disorder effect more than 20% of young females and males in today’s society. Ranging in age from thirteen to forty. It is very rare for a child of a young age to not know someone who is suffering from an eating disorder or symptoms that are associated with one. Statistically it has been proven that one out of every five young woman suffer from serious issues dealing with eating and or weight. (Bruch, 25)

    Read More

  • Eating Disorders : Eating Disorder

    1323 Words  | 3 Pages

    Eating disorders are described as an illness involving eating habits that are irregular and an extreme concern with body image or weight. Eating disorders tend to appear during teenage years, but can develop at any age. Although more common in women, eating disorders can affect any age, gender or race. In the United States, over 20 million women and 10 million men are personally affected by eating disorders. There are many different causes of eating disorders such as low self esteem, societal pressures, sexual abuse and the victims perception of food. Eating disorders are unique to the sufferer and often, their perception of themselves is so skewed, they may not be aware they have an eating disorder. Media, for quite some time now, has played a significant part in eating disorders. Magazines with headlines ‘Summer Body’, or ‘Drop LB’s Fast!’ attract the attention of girls who may be insecure with themselves. Television productions such as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show or American’s Next Top Model, show airbrushed and photoshopped women who have body types that may be unachievable. Those who are suffering from eating disorders can suffer dangerous consequences, and it is important to seek help.

    Read More

  • Eating Disorders in Males

    1370 Words  | 3 Pages

    Eating disorders are largely considered to be a "female disease". Statistics seem to validate this perception – of the estimated five million-plus adults in the United States who have an eating disorder, only ten percent are thought to be male ((1)). Many professionals, however, hold the opinion that these numbers are incorrect – it is impossible to base the statistics on anything other than the number of adults diagnosed with eating disorders, and men are much less likely than women to seek help for such a problem ((2)). This means that the male population probably suffers more from eating disorders than the numbers show.

    Read More

  • Adolescent Eating Disorders

    1663 Words  | 4 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Understanding Eating Disorders

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness; 24 million people of all ages and genders suffer from eating disorders and only 1 in 10 of those 24 million are treated (ANAD). Eating disorders do not discriminate; all ages, genders, ethnicities and races can be victim to this mental illness. It’s important to be aware of the impact eating disorders have on societies across the globe and how the media plays a role if we want to fight the source and promote prevention and/or rehabilitation. I’ve known many people in my life who have some sort of eating disorder, whether it’s anorexia(not eating enough), binge eating(eating large amounts of food rapidly), bulimia (throwing up their food) or just struggling with an unsatisfying self-image. Becoming aware of eating disorders and how they are developed is important to me because in a perfect world, I would like to see this illness become less common or diminished completely among those that I love and anyone else in today’s society. Eating disorders hit home for many people, including myself. Raising awareness may decrease the rate of eating disorders by informing the population of the harm this illness causes and hopefully promote prevention and/or rehabilitation. With the 3 theoretical approaches used by sociologists, Eating disorders can be understood which will better inform society on how to raise awareness, prevent this illness and help those who suffer from eating disorders.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Similarities and Differences Between Anorexia and Bulimia

    1014 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 eating disorders, 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 both psychological disorders primarily prevalent in women, anorexia tend to have different diagnostic complexities, symptoms and physiological effects as compared to bulimia.

    Read More

  • The Factors of Eating Disorders

    1806 Words  | 4 Pages

    In modern culture, women and men are becoming less satisfied with their body shape. According to a report that was done by the Federal Trade Commission, seventy percent of Americans are either trying not to maintain their weight or are trying to lose weight (Kittleson 75). To compensate for being over weight, an individual will develop an eating disorder. According to Mark Kittleson, eating disorders are when an individual eats way too much or way too little (1). There are three different types of eating disorders, anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. According to Jessica Bennett, twenty-five million people in the United States suffer from binge eating disorder and ten million women and one million men suffer from either anorexia or bulimia. Studies have proven that bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating are set off by social, psychological, relationship or genetic factors; social factors, however, have the greatest impact on men and women.

    Read More

More about Eating Disorders: Their Dark Sides

Open Document