Anorexia Nervosa Paper

With Anorexia Nervosa, there is a strong fear of weight gain and a preoccupation with body image. Those diagnosed may show a resistance in maintaining body weight or denial of their illness. Additionally, anorexics may deny their hunger, have eating rituals such as excessive chewing and arranging food on a plate, and seek privacy when they are eating. For women, they go through immediate body changes from abnormal to no menstruation periods and develop lanugo all over their bodies. Characteristics of an anorexic individual also consist of extreme exercise patterns, loosely worn clothing, and maintain very private lives. Socially, to avoid criticism or concern from others, they may distant themselves from friends and activities they once enjoyed. Instead, their primary concerns revolve around weight loss, calorie intake, and dieting. In regards to health, many will have an abnormal slow heart rate and low blood pressure, some can develop osteoporosis, severe dehydration which can result in kidney failure, and overall feel weak (Robbins, 27-29). It has been reported that Anorexia Nervosa has one of the highest death rates in any mental health condition in America (www.NationalEatingDisorders.org).

Anorexia nervosa, otherwise stated as anorexia, is an eating disorder that occurs when an individual restricts themselves from necessary energy intake which leads to significantly low body weight. Other characteristics of this disorder include: intense fear of becoming fat or gaining weight, persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain, and disturbances of perception and experience of their own body weight and shape (DSM V, 2013). Effective treatments are still trying to be researched for this disorder, as there is not a “one size fits all” for people of all age groups, living situations, etc. Since adolescents with anorexia are such a vulnerable population,

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that consists of self-regulated food restriction in which the person strives for thinness and also involves distortion of the way the person sees his or her own body. An anorexic person weighs less than 85% of their ideal body weight. The prevalence of eating disorders is between .5-1% of women aged 15-40 and about 1/20 of this number occurs in men. Anorexia affects all aspects of an affected person's life including emotional health, physical health, and relationships with others (Shekter-Wolfson et al 5-6). A study completed in 1996 showed that anorexics also tend to possess traits that are obsessive in nature and carry heavy emotional

Before treatment can begin, anorexic clients must undergo assessments that ensure they are physically capable of outpatient treatment. If these individuals are not ready for outpatient treatment, they must undergo hospitalization to stabilize their condition. For those clients who pass medical examinations, and are good candidates for outpatient care, it remains necessary for a physician and dietitian to be involved with treatment (Bowers, 2002). This ensures the client is cared for in a holistic manner by addressing “nutritional rehabilitation, possibly medical stabilization, and psychological interventions” (Bowers, 2002, p. 249). This multidimensional approach ensures the client’s physical wellbeing is addressed, in

Eating Disorders can be a real problem for some people. However people also need to realize that there is hope. “The inner voices of anorexia

Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder found in both male and female, and it ranges in all age groups. Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder in which one starves themselves for different reasons. Anorexia is found in models that are influenced by the media thinking that stick thin is the only way to be attractive. Anorexia is found in teens that fear weight gain, have struggled with a large weight, have the fear of throwing up, etc. Anorexia is even found in older adults for the same reasons as teens. Once one recovers from anorexia the rest of his or her life is an uphill battle. The thought of gaining weight and the slightest bit of weight gain can cause an immediate relapse. Anorexia is a serious condition

Anorexia is more than twice as common in female girls (Morris & Twaddle,2007). Anorexia Nervosa affects every one out of a 100 high school and college girls in the United States (Silverman,2005). Eighty to 90 percent of anorexia patients are females (Morris & Twaddle,2007). Teenage years are the worst for girls because between the ages of 12 to 18 as many as one in 250 girls may develop anorexia (Romeo,1984). Anorexia is most likely to develop when a girl is in middle school (Romeo,1984). What most girls do not know at this time is that their body is going through a growing stage during their teenage years and they need to be gaining weight not losing it. Magazines, advertising, and social media give girls an ideal body type and this causes eating disorders

Anorexia is a rising disorder which deserves attention however, the doctor’s themselves are not willing to help. According to the book Treating and Overcoming Anorexia Nervosa, it states “ These patients are time-consuming and demanding, and classic psychotherapy often does not work. The doctors are saying even if a patient is looking for help they aren’t going to help them because there is no hope of saving them and that therapy does not work on them. Moreover, “Anorexia Nervosa is a formidable disease of epidemic proportions currently affecting over 3 percent of our female college population.” In this quote, it is saying that anorexia is a widespread disease that is affecting colleges because the people are now handed a responsibility to

Although it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between normal eating behaviors and eating disorders, there are various warning signs that can identify the severity of an individual’s eating habits. Three commonly known eating disorders that will be discussed in this research paper are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge Eating Disorder. An individual with Anorexia Nervosa is often not provided with sufficient nutrients and suffers from severe weight loss due to starving themselves. Anorexic individuals suffer from immediate effects such as brittle bones, severe dehydration, weakness and fatigue, and dry skin and hair. A person with Bulimia Nervosa is an individual that binges, or eats a large amount of food in one sitting, and

Among the mental illnesses, eating disorders have one of the highest mortality rates. This is why knowledge and awareness on the subject must be spread. This research paper discusses one eating disorder in particular called anorexia nervosa. The paper begins with an examination of the diagnostic criteria required for anorexia as well as the two sub-groups associated with the diagnosis. After discussing the many effects, symptoms and addictive behaviors, treatment options are explored. This includes different types of therapy along with ethics in counseling eating disorders. The research concludes with a look at anorexia nervosa recovery from a

This five-day treatment is broken into two phases, where phase one is for individuals 18 years and above with a history of anorexia and phase two is a follow up program.(4) The phase one part of treatment has the individual and supporters learn about the disorder in a biological perspective and the treatment team make it their goal to explain every detail of the disorder in order to create a motivation in the client to become healthier.(4) This treatment approach saw great success as 92% of clients supported it and 97% of clients saw improvements in their understanding of Anorexia Nervosa through the neurobiological exercises.(4) When an individual is better able to understand the disorder they have they tend to want to find ways to help their situation as they know more about it, but when they are misinformed or do not know a lot about their current situation they tend to now want to improve or do not attempt to

Although not all treatments may help the patient immediately, the goal of these treatments is to restore the patient back to a healthy weight and to produce healthy eating habits so that hopefully the individual will not relapse (Grohol, 2015). Although treatments have been found and created to aid in the recovery process of those who have developed anorexia nervosa, treatment can be extensive and very difficult because many times patients are in “denial”. This is, they deny even having a problem, even if their bodyweight is severely low (Grohol, 2015). The most common treatment for anorexia nervosa is psychotherapy (Grohol, 2015). In this type of treatment, emotional health and well-being are addressed in addition to the individual’s eating disorder. Often times when patients engage in this type of therapy, it is to reveal an underlying cause(s) that may have pushed the patient to develop this disorder and work through ways to overcome this trauma so that the patient will be able to see that what they are doing to their bodies is not acceptable (Grohol, 2015). Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is also used for the treatment of anorexia nervosa. In CBT, therapy “will often focus on identifying and altering dysfunctional thought patterns, attitudes and beliefs, which may trigger and perpetuate the person’s restrictive eating” (Grohol, 2015). “Among anorexia nervosa patient populations, at least one-half no longer suffered from anorexia nervosa at follow up [after cognitive-behavioral therapy treatment], but many continued to have other eating disorders; mortality was significantly higher than would be expected in the population” (Grohol, 2015). Aside from psychotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy, family therapy is also available to aid in treating patients with anorexia nervosa. Family therapy is

Anorexia nervosa is a disease where someone is obsessed with food, body, and being thin, sometimes to the point of deadly self-starvation. This condition may cause them to exercise excessively or simply not consume enough food to meet their daily calorie needs. Symptoms may include Underweight, even emaciated appearance with protruding bones or a sunken appearance to the face, fatigue, dizziness or fainting, brittle nails, hair that thins or falls out, menstrual irregularities.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders 5th edition defines anorexia nervosa as an eating disorder characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss; it is a serious and potentially life-threatening disorder. According to the DSM 5, the typical diagnostic symptoms of anorexia nervosa are: dramatic weight loss leading to significant low body weight for the individuals age, sex, and health; preoccupation with weight; restriction of food, calories and fat; constant dieting; feeling “fat” or overweight despite weight loss and fear about gaining weight or being “fat.” Many individuals with anorexia nervosa deny feeling hungry and often avoid eating meals with others, resulting in withdrawal from usual friends and activities

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a visible, psychological illness that is detrimental to both the physical and mental well-being of an individual (Bulik et al., 2005). It is an eating disorder that is characterized by not only an unwillingness to gain weight, but a fear of gaining weight. Individuals suffering from anorexia are often perfectionists, who are neurotic, obsessive, and retain a low sense of self-esteem (Kaye et al., 2008; Bulik et al., 2005). These individuals tend to prioritize their physical image over their health, and as a result, AN has retained the highest mortality rate over any other psychiatric illness, occurring at a prevalence of 5% per