Anorexia Nervosa Anorexia Nervosa, AN, is an eating disorder that affects mostly females in their teenage years. The number of people that suffer from this disorder has increase in the recent decades making it a disorder that causes more deaths compare to any other psychological disorder. AN can have an effect on someone’s social life as well as physically and psychologically. It’s a disorder that can be treated with proper treatment, but identifying the symptoms is the first step. According to the present clinical literature, anorexia nervosa entails refusal to uphold health weight range as well as body image distortion. The most common symptoms of AN that can be identified include fear of gaining weight or/and becoming fat; refusing to maintain a healthy weight according to the height and age; failing to make anticipated weight growths at times of physical development and growth; loss of the menstrual cycle in females. (DSM –IV-TR,2000). Anorexia nervosa is portrayed by relentless hunt of thinness, emaciation, deep fear of gaining weight and distortion of body image. People with anorexia initially start dieting in order to lose weight which over time, the weight loss develops into a sign of control and mastery. The force to become slim is in reality secondary to concerns regarding control or/and fears involving one’s body. An individual carries on the cycle of limited eating, frequently accompanied by behaviors like overuse of diet pills, excessive exercising and laxatives to achieve weight loss. Eventually the body is driven to a point near starvation. There is obviously a strong connection between body image and eating disorders. With the media constantly feeding the idea of what the perfect body should be ... ... middle of paper ... ... References American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association. Birmingham, C. L., & Treasure, J. (2010). Medical management of eating disorders. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Boyd, M. (2005). Psychiatric nursing: Contemporary practice. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. DeAngelis, T. (2002). Promising treatments for anorexia and bulimia. Monitor on Psychology, 33, 38. Dziegielewski, S. F. (2010). DSM-IV-TR in action. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Gay, K. (2003). Eating Disorders- Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge Eating. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers Inc. Lock, J. (2001). Treatment manual for anorexia nervosa: A family-based approach. New York: Guilford Press. http://www.medicinenet.com/anorexia_nervosa/article.htm
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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)
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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.
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Fourth Edition. Arlington : American Psychiatric Association.
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).?
Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV-TR. (4th ed.). (2000). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
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