Eating Disorders : Anorexia Nervosa

To be diagnosed with eating disorder, someone must meet certain criteria. The criterion for diagnosis slightly varies depending on if you are referring to people who (A) fear gaining weight, and have significant weight loss,(B) eating a huge amount of food , then use laxative to remove the binged food, (C) the use of excessive exercise and fasting in order to remove or to reduce the amount of calories consumed, and (D) distorted body image, no matter how thin they become, they still see themselves as fat, or not thin enough. The onset of of symptoms begins usually in early adolescence with the diagnostic of disturbed Body image.

Eating disorder is a term used to describe several psychological disorders characterized by abnormal eating habits. Some of the most common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. Anorexia nervosa is probably the most well-known of these. A person suffering from anorexia nervosa will obsess over weight gain and show unusual anxiety related to weight gain. Depending upon the type (binge-eating/purging type or restricting type) a person will either consume food and then attempt to “purge”, a term used to describe a method of forced removal of food from the body such as self-induced vomiting, or they will restrict the amount of food consumed. In most cases the person will be under healthy weight and often see themselves as average weight or even overweight. In bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorders the affected person will eat excessive amounts of food. People suffering from these diseases report feeling out of control during their binge eating episodes. In bulimia nervosa binge eating episodes are followed by some method of purging whereas in binge eating disorder they are not, although the person normally expresses feelings of guilt or embarrassment afterwards. People suffering from bulimia nervosa are usually average weight which can make detection difficult. Those with binge eating disorder are normally

For this scenario, the term anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by an overwhelming, irrational fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, compulsive dieting to the point of self-starvation, and excessive weight loss (Wood, Wood & Boyd, 2012 pg. 343). Tiffany is one of the best gymnast on her gymnastics team. Tiffany knows she is the best but is constantly wishing she were thinner like her favorite Olympic gymnasts. Lately, Tiffany’s friends have noticed a drastic change in her behavior and appearance. She constantly complains that she is too fat and ugly. Tiffany has begun a stringent set of routines, which involves more than two hours of rigorous training. Her friends have noticed she is always tired and that she fainted on

It is highly likely that you personally know or know of someone who has been affected by this disorder. The specific disorder that is being referred to in this paper, an eating disorder, is Anorexia Nervosa, the restricting type. An eating disorder “involve[s] disordered eating behaviors and maladaptive ways of controlling body weight” (Nevid, Rathus, & Greene, 2014, p. 335). Another well-known eating disorder is Bulimia Nervosa which is characterized by binging and purging (Nevid, Rathus, & Greene, 2014, p. 338). Bulimia is different than anorexia since victims of bulimia are often normal weight while anorexia victims are well below the average weight.

Anorexia Nervosa is currently viewed by society as an extremely complicated disorder, misunderstood, over looked, and misjudged based on the stigmas of society. People who suffer from eating disorders like Anorexia do not always report the fact they are in living with the disorder because they are ashamed or scared of what might happen to them or what people will say. An individual may also feel that they do not met the exact criteria of Anorexia Nervosa in the DSM 5. An example of the DSM 5 criteria for Anorexia Nervosa is an individual purposely takes too little nourishment, has below average body weight, fearful of gaining weight, refusal to keep a normal weight, distorted body perception

I have always been intrigued with eating disorders, particularly Anorexia Nervosa. When I was 18 years of age, my mother questioned whether or not I was Anorexic and she took me to the family practitioner, who then informed me that I was three pounds shy from being considered underweight. I knew I was thin, but I was really thin, but also really proud of my size. In an African American urban environment being thin was related to illness and drug abuse. I was often teased about how thin and fragile I looked. I embraced the attention I received from being thin, and did little to change my restrictive eating habit. I wouldn’t consider myself Anorexic, but I was accustomed to eating unhealthy high calorie snacks as a meal replacement. My family practitioner recommended that I see a psychiatrist; I refused and reminded my mother how thin she was in her youth. My mother agreed that she was thin, and decided that she may have been over reacting. I never saw a psychiatrist and remained extremely thin for several years thereafter afraid to ever “get fat”. I do wonder if a psychiatrist would have diagnosed me with Anorexia Nervosa Restrictive type NOS, below is my teen profile.

Anorexia is a kind of eating disorder disease. It makes people lose more weight than normal. The people with these disease see themselves as overweight, even when they are not. The most people evicted by this disorder are females. Also, it is one of the most common psychiatric diagnoses in young women. Furthermore, these sickness scored the highest death rates of any mental health. In addition, it has two subtypes, and both subtypes are very dangers illnesses that need help from professional people. The first type is restricting. The people with the first type there behaviors usually be like skip meals, fasting, and count the calories in unnatural way. The second type is purging. It is similar to the first type. But it

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,

One perspective on eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa places the blame on society’s obsession with dieting and the pressure for thinness among women. A Gallup Poll showed that 31% of women and 21% of men are trying to lose weight (Wilke, 2014). Between 40%-60% of girls in elementary school are concerned with their weight (Smolak, 2011). Society’s image of the ideal women is an extremely thin form, really without shape. Barbie dolls and other toy models display unrealistic body shapes. “The standards for thinness have grown increasingly strict and have become more unrealistic over time” (Helgeson, 2017). The media normalizes dieting and excessive thinness and also encourages individuals to evaluate their bodies and to use extreme measures

There are three common eating disorders; one of the eating disorders is anorexia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa is commonly described as someone that is starving their body so they can either be or retain a “skinny” body. What they don’t realize is while they may have a thin body they are not giving their body the nutrients it needs and the result could be an “upset in the normal functions of hormones. For girls, this means the body is unable to produce enough of the female hormone estrogen because it does not have enough fat. This will cause an absence of menstrual cycles, called amenorrhea. For boys, anorexia causes a decrease in the production of the male hormone testosterone, which results in a loss of sexual interest.”

Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder consist of emotions, attitudes, and behaviors surrounding weight and food issues. Up to 24 million people of all ages and genders suffer from an eating disorder in the U.S (ANAD, n.d.) bulimia nervosa as well as the other eating disorders are considered to be a female eating disorder, a disorder that only affects women which limits males to seek treatment let alone make aware to other that they suffer from bulimia nervosa. Individuals who suffer from bulimia nervosa tend to eat big amounts of food which experience a lack of control of over eating. They tend to undertake improper purging behaviors such as vomiting, laxative use, excessive exercise and/or starvation. Individuals with bulimia nervosa display their unsuitable adaptive eating patterns a minimum of two times per week for three months and are excessively sensitive to weight gain (Ray, 2004).

There are three main types of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. They all involve serious disturbances in weight regulation and eating habits, accompanied by adverse effects on social, psychological and physical aspects of one’s life (‘Eating disorders: About more than food’, n.d.). This essay will specifically be focusing on bulimia nervosa, as research shows a higher level of stigma associated with it, compared to other eating disorders (Roehrig & McLean, 2009).

Anorexia Nervosa is one of several subtypes descending from feeding and eating disorders. It is a crippling life-threatening condition marked by a patient placing restriction on energy intake relative to needed energy requirements, resulting in a relentless pursuit of low body weight in the context of age, sex, development and physical health. According to American Psychiatric Publishing of diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5) “Anorexia Nervosa, often times have an early-onset which primarily affects adolescent girls and young women, is characterized by distorted body image and excessive dieting that leads to severe weight loss with a pathological fear of becoming fat” (APA). Anorexia is a condition more common amongst younger patients that causes a disruption in the normal growth process, because they fail to achieve ideal weight and height expectancy. Psychologist are able to determine if an individual meets anorexia weight cutoff requirement by measuring how thin their patients are by calculating body mass index (BMI)

Our bodies are naturally designed to maintain a normal body weight. Three examples of an eating disorder are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. Anorexia nervosa is a lack or loss of appetite for food; an emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat. Anorexia was identified and named in the 1870’s, when it appeared among affluent adolescent girls. A too-fat body image underlies anorexia. Bulimia nervosa is insatiable overeating as a medical condition, in particular. It is an emotional disorder involving distortion of body image and an obsessive desire to lose weight, in which bouts of extreme overeating followed by depression and self-induced vomiting, purging, or

In today’s generation, many females have a fear of gaining weight especially ranked upon young women who turn to food because of long-term depression, stress, emotional issues, physiological, and even social factors. Their main concern tends to focus on the amount of weight but yet gorge on varieties of unhealthy high calorie products (silverthorne1). In consequence females start to have Anorexia Nervosa or even Bulimia Nervosa. Even though both disorders are dangerous similarity Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia have common symptoms on an individual’s health and can even lead to termination of their life.