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Similarities between bulimia and anorexia
Stress as determinant of health
Causes and effects of eating disorder
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Recommended: Similarities between bulimia and anorexia
Eat to live – don’t live to eat (or not to). This is very hard for a person with an eating disorder to understand since food is their tool for handling the stress and anxiety in their lives. Eating disorders affect millions of Americans each year (Eating Disorders 1). The most common eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Compulsive Overeating. These disorders are serious, and, when taken to extremes, can be life threatening as well.
All eating disorders arise from a combination of long-standing psychological, interpersonal, and social conditions (Gurze 24). Several other factors such as family and personal problems, a low self-esteem, and the desire for the “ideal” body may also contribute to the development of an eating disorder.
Eating disorders have reached epidemic levels. Over seven million women and one million men, children and adolescents have an eating disorder. Eighty-six percent report onset of illness by age 20, and seventy-seven percent report duration of illness from one to fifteen years. Only fifty percent report being cured. The cost of treating an eating disorder is often extremely expensive with the potential to extend over $100,000 (Ratner 17). Once an eating disorder has begun, it becomes a long-term (sometimes lifetime-long) cycle of dieting, bingeing and purging, or excessive eating. A person with an eating disorder becomes trapped in this endless cycle and needs professional physiological and psychological help to break through the chains.
Eating disorders, just as any other addiction, are a reaction to a low self- esteem and a negative means of coping with life and stress. Others may use alcohol, drugs, and even compulsive gambling as a way to cope with their problems. To someone with an eating disorder, their illness is a means of incorporating control into their lives.
Anorexia Nervosa, a disorder of self- starvation, manifests itself in a complete refusal of food and can cause psychological, endocrine, and gynecological problems. An anorexic person will turn to obsessive dieting and starvation as a way to control not only their weight, but also their feelings and actions regarding the emotions attached (Definition of Anorexia Nervosa 1). Some physiological characteristics of Anorexia Nervo...
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...abuse. Clinical depression can also lead to an eating disorder. But, no matter how much research is done, never will a person without an eating disorder understand why a person with an eating disorder thinks and acts the way they do. All in all, eating disorders are very complex emotional issues. Though they may seem to be nothing more than a dangerously obsessive weight concern on the surface, for those suffering with eating disorders there are deeper emotional conflicts to be resolved.
Works Cited
“Definition of Anorexia Nervosa.” Something Fishy. http://something-fishy.org/anox.htm. 25 Apr. 2000: 1.
“Definition of Bulimia Nervosa.” Something Fishy. http://www.something-fishy.org/bul.htm. 25 Apr. 2000: 1.
“Eating Disorders.” Mental Health Net. http://www.eatingdisorders.cmhc.com. 22 Apr. 2000: 1.
“Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa.” Mental Health Net. http://www.cmhc.com/factsfam/anorexia.htm. 22 Apr. 2000: 1.
Gurze 2000 Eating Disorders Resource Catalogue, The. 28 Apr. 2000: 24. Ratner, Kathryn M.S.W., L.S.W. “Eating Disorders.” 21 Apr. 2000: 6,7,17.
The National Institute of Mental Health: Eating Disorders: Facts About Eating Disorders and the Search for Solutions. Pub No. 01-4901. Accessed Feb. 2002.
One possible factor is biology. A person might inherit a gene from their parents that predisposes them to a susceptibility to eating disorders. While that may not be enough on its own, it certainly starts that person off on the wrong foot and if combined with other factors it can lead to an eating disorder. For example, an individual could inherit a slow metabolism causing them to put on weight faster than others, which in turn could cause them to develop an eating disorder to counteract the weight gain.
Eating disorders are not caused by a single source, such as control, but are due to an accumulation of factors including genetics, upbringing, culture, and personality.
Each year millions of people in the United States develop serious and often fatal eating disorders. More than ninety percent of those are adolescent and young women. The consequences of eating disorders are often severe--one in ten end in death from either starvation, cardiac arrest, or suicide. Due to the recent awareness of this topic, much time and money has been attributed to eating disorders. Many measures have been taken to discover leading causes and eventual treatment for those suffering from anorexia. (http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource ...er.html#Causes of Eating Disorders) )
Shapiro, C. M. (2012). Eating disorders: Causes, diagnosis, and treatments [Ebrary version]. Retrieved from http://libproxy.utdallas.edu/login?url=http://site.ebrary.com/lib/utdallas/Doc?id=10683384&ppg=3
Eating Disorders." Current Issues: Macmillian Social Science Library. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Eating Disorders (EDs) are a series of often life-threatening mental health disorders which are commonly used as coping mechanisms or as ways to mask one’s problems. The causes of these illnesses are still being researched, and the effects they have on a person’s physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing can often be as long as the sufferer’s life.
Warbick, Caroline. Just the Facts: Eating Disorders. Reed Educational and Professional Publishing, Chicago, IL. 2003.
An eating disorder is a way of using food to work out emotional problems. These illnesses develop because of emotional and/or psychological problems. Eating disorders are the way some people deal with stress. In today’s society, teenagers are pressured into thinking that bring thin is the same thing as being happy. Chemical balances in the brain that may also result in depression, obsessive compulsive disorders, and bi-polar disorders may also cause some eating disorders. Other causes may be emotional events, illnesses, marital or family problems, manic depression, or ending a relationship. Over eight million Americans suffer from eating disorders. Over 80% of girls under age thirteen admit to dieting, one of the main factors linked to eating disorders. Although eating disorders are mainly found in middle- to upper class, highly educated, Caucasian, female adolescents, no culture or age group is immune to them (EDA HP, n.p.). The three major eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and compulsive over-eating or binge-eating.
An eating disorder is characterized when eating, exercise and body image become an obsession that preoccupies someone’s life. There are a variety of eating disorders that can affect a person and are associated with different characteristics and causes. Most cases can be linked to low self esteem and an attempt to, “deal with underlying psychological issues through an unhealthy relationship with food” (“Eating Disorders and Adolescence,” 2013). Eating disorders typically develop during adolescence or early adulthood, with females being most vulner...
Yancey, Diane. Eating Disorders. Brookfield, Connecticut: Twenty-First Century Books A Division of The Millbrook Press, Inc., 1999.
An eating disorder is a serious health condition involving extremely unhealthy dietary habits. There are a number of accepted eating disorder treatments that depend on the symptoms and severity of the illness. The most effective treatments involve both psychological as well as physical issues with the ultimate goal being a healthy dietary lifestyle. The team approach to treatment involves professionals with experience in eating disorders that usually includes a medical provider, mental health workers, registered dieticians and case managers. These individuals work together in hopes of avoiding a life threatening situation.
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).?
Eating disorders can be altered by many things including bullying. One way that an eating disorder can come about into someone's life if is low self-esteem. Negative body images can make someone want to become skinnier. When someone has a low self-esteem it means a person who has a very low image of themselves. They think that they are nothing and aren’t worthy of life. When someone thinks this they could exercise excessively thinking that it will make them skinnier.
Eating disorders are a serious health problem. Personal Counseling & Resources says that eating disorders "are characterized by a focus on body shape, weight, fat, food, and perfectionism and by feelings of powerlessness and low self-esteem." Three of the most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating or compulsive eating disorder. According to Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, a person with anorexia "refuses to maintain normal body weight for age and height" and "weighs 85 percent or less than what is what is expected for age and height." A person diagnosed with bulimia has several ways of getting rid of the calories such as binge eating, vomiting, laxative misuse, exercising, or fasting. The person might have a normal weight for their age and height unless anorexia is present. The signs of a compulsive eater include eating meals frequently, rapidly, and secretly. This person might also snack and nibble all day long. The compulsive eater tends to have a history of diet failures and may be depressed or obese (Anred.com).