According to the DSM-5, “Anorexia Nervosa is characterized by distorted body image and excessive dieting that leads to severe weight loss with a pathological fear of becoming fat”. It is a mental condition which affect’s one’s both physical and mental health. Anorexia Nervosa is a condition that causes an individual to starve themselves even if they are already underweight because they fear they will become overweight and have a distorted body image. It is more common than woman than men, especially woman that are age of 15-35. There have been anorexia cases as young as age 7 and as old as age 80. Several warning signs to look for when trying to decide if someone you know has anorexia nervosa are refusal to eat. When they see food they will not eat or make excuses not to eat. They are highly restrictive to eating, or are always dieting. They always go to the gym even if they don’t need to and exercise constantly. The individual seems to lose weight abnormally and can never seem to maintain a specific weight. And they have intense fear of losing weight are signs of this disorder. Several other signs that one wouldn’t assume to be signs of such a serious disorder are great sensitivity to cold, hair loss, or excessive facial and body hair all over the body. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders some symptoms are as listed, weight, intense fear of gaining weight, body image problems, and Amenorrhea or absence of ministration. If one is 15% below their ideal body weight and have a refusal to eat is considered anorexic. Next, the intense fear of gaining weight is a symptom. If one is always thinking about food, and have questions like how many calories, how many grams of fat, and how much... ... middle of paper ... ...to a healthy state. Although no one I know has had or has been anorexic before, I had recently watched Dr. Phil and he was interviewing a woman who was anorexic and had someone on that show who was anorexic at one point in her life and because of being anorexic she had convulsions and seizures and had severe brain damage and became mentally challenged. She was a beautiful young lady and because of her obsession with her body her mother will have to change her and take care of her for the rest of her life. If anyone I knew or if anyone knew someone in which they thought had signs on anorexia nervosa I would extremely advise them to watch that Dr. Phil episode or show them that episode as it could change their life forever. It was extremely sad watching that and knowing that people do go through that and can very seriously harm their health and even kill themselves.
The book Stick Figure A Diary Of My Former Self is a personal journal written by Lori Gottlieb when she was 11 years old suffering from anorexia nervosa. “Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that causes people to obsess about their weight and the food they eat.” (mayclinic.com) Most eating disorders are physiological due to friends and family, stress, and the social media. Anorexia nervosa, like all other eating disorders, is extremely dangerous and unhealthy for the human body to endure. Although eating disorders are destructive to one's life, is there explainable reasoning behind why a person may have one?
Anorexia Nervosa may be described directly as an eating disease classified by a deficit in weight, not being able to maintain weight appropriate for one’s height. Anorexia means loss of appetite while Anorexia Nervosa means a lack of appetite from nervous causes. Before the 1970s, most people never heard of Anorexia Nervosa. It was identified and named in the 1870s, before then people lived with this mental illness, not knowing what it was, or that they were even sick. It is a mental disorder, which distorts an individual’s perception of how they look. Looking in the mirror, they may see someone overweight
Body image disturbance is a core feature of anorexia nervosa. Often people who suffer from anorexia refuse to eat more than is absolutely necessary to maintain a minimal weight for their height. Øverås, M., Kapstad, H., Brunborg, C., Landrø, N. I., and Lask, B. (2014) experiment analyzed body size estimation on perception and memory, in patients with anorexia nervosa by comparing results with a healthy control group. They had a particular interest on how anxiety may have influence on anorexia nervosa patient’s perception of their body image. Øverås et al. suggested patients, who suffer from anorexia nervosa, would overestimate their body size more than the healthy control group. They also proposed that patients would overestimate their body size more in the perception of their body than basing off their views from memory.
To be diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, an individual must have a significantly low body weight due to food restriction as well as an unjustifiably acute fear weight gain. The patient must also possess a warped perception of their body, place a high value on weight or shape, or are in denial about their unhealthy condition (Comer, 2013).
Anorexia nervosa is a psychosociological disease which affects young women. Anorexia is mainly a female's disease which has been evident for centuries-however, in the past twenty years, the incidence of this disorder has risen to horrifying proportions. It is characterized by the refusal to maintain body wight over a minimal normal weight for age and height; intense fear of gaining weight; a distorted body image; and, amenorrhea. (http://www.pgi.edu/hagopian.htm) This disorder becomes a disease when the mind starts to cause problems with one's physical well-being. A connection has been found between sociocultural pressures to achieve, familial characteristics, and individual personality traits.
Out of all mental illnesses found throughout the world, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate. Anorexia nervosa is one of the more common eating disorders found in society, along with bulimia nervosa. Despite having many definitions, anorexia nervosa is simply defined as the refusal to maintain a normal body weight (Michel, 2003). Anorexia nervosa is derived from two Latin words meaning “nervous inability to eat” (Frey, 2002). Although anorexics, those suffering from anorexia, have this “nervous inability to eat,” it does not mean that they do not have an appetite—anorexics literally starve themselves. They feel that they cannot trust or believe their perceptions of hunger and satiation (Abraham, 2008). Anorexics lose at least 15 percent of normal weight for height (Michel, 2003). This amount of weight loss is significant enough to cause malnutrition with impairment of normal bodily functions and rational thinking (Lucas, 2004). Anorexics have an unrealistic view of their bodies—they believe that they are overweight, even if the mirror and friends or family say otherwise. They often weigh themselves because they possess an irrational fear of gaining weight or becoming obese (Abraham, 2008). Many anorexics derive their own self-esteem and self-worth from body weight, size, and shape (“Body Image and Disordered Eating,” 2000). Obsession with becoming increasingly thinner and limiting food intake compromises the health of individuals suffering from anorexia. No matter the amount of weight they lose or how much their health is in jeopardy, anorexics will never be satisfied with their body and will continue to lose more weight.
The DSM-IV outlines four criteria for anorexia nervosa (APA, 1994). One, a refusal to maintain body weight over a minimal normal weight for age and height (i.e., weight loss leading to maintenance of body weight less than 85% of that expected). Two, an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight. Three, a disturbance in the way in which one’s body weight, size, or shape is experienced (i.e., denial of the seriousness of current low body weight, or undue influence of body shape and weight on self-evaluation). Four, in post-menarcheal, amenorrhea (the absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles). Two types of anorexia nervosa are defined. The binge eating/purging subtype means that the individual engages in recurrent ep...
Anorexia Nervosa (AN) was the first eating disorder to be classified, with some specific diagnostic criteria developed in the 1970s (Fairburn & Brownell, 2002). AN is a serious psychiatric disorder in terms of aetiology and epidemiology. 0.48% of prevalence of AN is estimated in girls who fall under the 15-19 age group (Lock et al., 2012). In AN, pathological thoughts and behaviours concerning food and weight, as well as emotions about appearance, eating and food co-occur (Lock et al., 2012). These thoughts, feelings and behaviours lead to changes in body composition and functions that are the direct results of starvation (Lock et al., 2012). The illness in adolescents causes severe affects physically and emotionally, and affects the social development of the individual. The causes of AN are not known but most of the researchers and clinicians agree that AN has multiple determinants (Garner et al., 1982) that emerge in a developmental sequence. Many physiological symptoms, common to semi-starvation irrespective of causes such as depressed mood, irritability, social withdrawal, loss of sexual libido, preoccupation with food, obsessional ruminations and rituals, as well as reduced alertness and concentration are also associated with Anorexia nervosa (Fairburn & Brownell, 2002). The illness is also associated with premorbid perfectionism, introversion, poor peer relations, and low self-esteem (Fairburn & Brownell, 2002). Patients suffering from AN, are also known to suffer from other physical consequences of starvation and other weight losing behaviours. The body’s response to starvation includes bone marrow suppression with increased susceptibility to overwhelming infection, which in the longer term may lead to health consequences s...
When an individual refuses to eat enough food to maintain a healthy body weight, he or she is dealing with a serious illness known as anorexia nervosa. People with this illness maintain strict control over food intake. About ninety percent of anorexia nervosa cases are women, particularly teenagers. (Alters & Schiff, 2003, p.37). For every one in one hundred that develops this illness, it most commonly evolves in their high school years. The symptoms of anorexia nervosa are:
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)
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.
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).
According to Laura Shapiro, a notable researcher on eating disorders, the medical condition of anorexia consists of several elements. By definition, anorexia nervosa is a condition characterized by intense fear of gaining weight or becoming obese, as well as a distorted body image, and a feeling of loss of control (Shapiro 69).
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).?
Anorexia Nervosa has three Diagnostic Criteria. One is refusal to maintain body weight at or above normal. The other is, intense fear of becoming fat, even though under average weight. The last one is, Disturbance in the way in which one’s body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self- evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of low body weight (Long 15).