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Psychology essay on a case study anorexia
What are the effects of anorexia
Psychology essay on a case study anorexia
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Effects of anorexia are mostly seen on the outside of the victim’s body, but do not be fooled. This detrimental eating disorder affects one’s mind just as much as it would the body. What Anorexia does to the mind is that it distorts the way one views their body. Victims of anorexia become fixated on their body image and overly critical about their flaws and weight. Even being obviously underweight, Anorexics will continuously deny that they have a problem and continue with their fatal practices. One will continue to diet and take weight loss medication to get as thin as they see fit. The chemistry of the brain changes completely; your memory becomes bad, the brain’s ability to think is off, and extreme mood swings are prevalent. (Smith, Melinda, M.A., and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D., "Anorexia Nervosa." : Signs, Symptoms, Causes, And Treatment.) Usually any activity involving food or the consumption of food terrifies an Anorexic. One’s brain is rewired to see food as the enemy, as something your body despises instead of needs. (Maloney, Michael, and Rachel Kranz 52) While anorexia drastically affects one’s mind, the physical effects are quick to appear. These effects are seen throughout the victim’s entire body. On the surface, it’s easy to see anorexia. One of the most obvious symptoms would be the weight of the sufferer. Anorexic’s are usually very thin and obviously underweight. Many of their bones are easy to see, such as ribs, shoulder blades, and the spine. One who suffers from anorexia nervosa begins to lose their hair, because of a lack of nutrients. The hair on their head thins and becomes extremely brittle, making it likely to fall out during bathing. An Anorexic does not eat, so one lacks the necessary nutrients to aid in the... ... middle of paper ... ...Image. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 1999. Print. "Osteoporosis Center: Symptoms, Treatments, Causes, Prevention, and Diet and Exercise Recommendations."WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. Rocha, Toni L. Understanding Recovery from Eating Disorders. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 1999. Print. Segal, Jeanne, Ph.D., and Melinda Smith, M.A. "Eating Disorder Treatment and Recovery."Eating Disorder Treatment and Recovery. Helpguide, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. Smith, Melinda, M.A., and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D. "Anorexia Nervosa." : Signs, Symptoms, Causes, And Treatment. Helpguide, n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. "Society and Eating Disorders." RSS 20. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2014. Stanley, Debbie. Understanding Sports and Eating Disorders. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 2000. Print. Tattersall, Clare. Understanding Food and Your Family. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 1999. Print.
The National Institute of Mental Health: Eating Disorders: Facts About Eating Disorders and the Search for Solutions. Pub No. 01-4901. Accessed Feb. 2002.
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
Smith, M. Segal, R. Segal, J. ((2012, February) 2014, February). Binge eating disorder. Retrieved from http://www.helpguide.org/mental/binge_eating_disorder.htm
Voltaire once said, “Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.” This quote makes me remember that as much pleasure food may bring us, we should never forget that we need it to survive. I guessed most of us don’t, but once again, I remembered there are some people that do. If we were to look the world as a whole, we would realize that from every 100 teenage girls, 1 to 5 suffers from anorexia.
Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder with the highest mortality rate of any other mental disorder. The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders characterizes the disorder as “a relentless pursuit of thinness and unwillingness to maintain a normal or healthy body weight”. (2014) Individuals also experience a “distortion of body image, intense fear of gaining weight and extremely disturbed eating behavior.” (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Related Disorders, 2014) As a result, they experience complications physically, mentally and socially. About 80% of individuals with eating disorders suffer from cardiac complications with death due to arrhythmias being the most common cause. This paper will focus on the connection between AN and cardiovascular rhythm disturbances. Individuals with this disorder have an increased chance of sudden death due to cardiovascular abnormalities like bradycardia, myocardial modification including atrophy and refeeding syndrome. (Casiero & Frishman, 2006)
Eating Disorders." Current Issues: Macmillian Social Science Library. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Anorexic behavior is complex because it is all about the need for control. Someone suffering from anorexia has a distorted body image of himself or herself. He/she believes to be overweight, even though twenty percent of the time he/she is not (Yancey 59). The image of being overweight causes a low self-esteem. Symptoms of low self-esteem are loneliness, inadequacy in talents, a lack of trust in people and themselves, insecurity, identification with a specific peer group, and sadness. The media displays the ideal human body as thin and beautiful. Anorexic’s lives are full of confusion and lack of control. To the anorexic, to be thin is to be in control. The state of control to the anorexic is the ideal life without confusion and difficulties. In most cases, the anorexic is intelligent; popular among his/her peers, athletic, talented, and viewed as a role model to most people he/she comes in contact with. In reality, the issues in daily living are too difficult for the anorexic resulting in a lack of control in his/her life. The anorexic’s answer to a confusing life is to starve the body. The behavioral symptoms of the anorexia are counting calories, eating little food, baking treats for everyone and giving them away in hope of controlling not only the anorexic’s intake of his/her food, but also others. “Playing” with food at meal times is common behavior of the anorexic. When the meal is complete, the anorexic has disguised food intake by pushing the food around on the plate and hiding food in napkins. To dress in layers to hide the distinct weight loss and to avoid social activities where eating is involved are common behavioral symptoms. Behavioral symptoms of the anorexic can go unnoticed by most people. These symptoms are very secretive and oblivious to outsiders because the behavior is not out of the ordinary. Although the behavioral symptoms of the anore...
Many people are insecure about their bodies and take desperate measures to get that model like body. People that are fit or well underweight constantly see themselves as fat. They repeatedly weigh themselves, obsessively exercise, portion their food, and eat very small amounts of food in order to lose a few pounds; this is called anorexia (Eating Disorders). Anorexia can be a very critical health problem in the long run because you are starving yourself without realizing it and it can also cause several other issues throughout your body. Some might say that those who are anorexic have skeletal-like bodies; nearly every bone in their body is visible with only a thin layer of skin protecting them. This is very damaging, but anorexia is just one of many eating disorders.
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.
In civilized societies, there are continuous prizing of thinness than ever before. Occasionally, almost everyone is watchful of their weight. Individuals with an eating disorder take extreme measures to concern where they ultimately shift their mode of eating, this abnormal eating pattern threatens their lives and their well-being. According to Reel (2013), eating disorders are continually misapprehended as all about food and eating. However, there is more to that as the dysfunction bears from emotion concealing a flawed relationship with food, physical exercise and oneself. Persons with eating disorders convey fault-finding, poor self- esteem and intense body discontent. This can lead to extreme distress of gaining weight,
"How Much Physical Activity Do Adults Need?" Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 01 Dec. 2011. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
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).
Matthews, John R. Library in a Book: Eating Disorders. New York: Facts on File Inc. 1991
Of the three eating disorders, anorexia gets the most attention and has the highest mortality rate of six percent out of any mental illness. According to the International Journal of Eating Disorders, half of the deaths caused by anorexia are suicide. Anorexia is when an individual feels that his or her body is distorted. Anorexia is also when an individual starves himself or herself because of the fear of being overweight (Elkins 44). If an individual suffers from anorexia they will loose anywhere from fifteen to sixty percent of their body weight by starving his or herself. Some of the symptoms of anorexia are heart problems, anemia, and fertility problems (“Eating Disorders”). Another horrible eating disorder is bulimia, which is when a person over eats, feels guilty, and then purges, take...
Anorexia nervosa is a new disorder affecting the state of mind, and it is characterized by the actions taken to lose weight for the sake of a better physical appearance. The disorder is strictly psychological and aims to achieve self-acceptance, and pleasing oneself with a thin body image that is indeed unhealthy and dangerous to ones life. People affected with this disease have such a distorted perception of themselves that they cannot help but see their body as fat when in reality they are not. The perception of oneself as fat, leads people with anorexia nervosa to lose as much weight as they can, by limiting the intake of the food. This psychological condition is so strong that ...