Description Anorexia is firstly, not a physical disease, nor is it a lifestyle choice, Anorexia is in fact a mental disorder whereby the sufferer sees themselves as much larger than they actually are. This will lead to them having an obsession over what they eat and how much they eat. Their aim is to have as low a body weight as possible, and in order to do so they will often starve themselves, or exercise excessively. To many, body weight is inversely proportional to self-worth, meaning that the lower their body weight the higher their self-worth. Causes There is currently no clear cause of Anorexia, and it is thought to be due to multiple things, such as psychological, environmental, and biological factors. Psychological factors are things that …show more content…
Puberty is a factor that is extremely common, due to the changes in your body, the stress of high school, being up to the social standards of your peers, and deciding on your future. Media is also a big factor, due to them setting unrealistic ideals of beauty, that are often impossible to imitate, as well as pointing out the smallest flaws in celebrities, that most non-celebrity people also have, and making them seem as if you have those flaws, you aren’t beautiful. Other factors include bullying, jobs that have an ideal idea of perfection, emotional stress in life that makes you feel as if you are not in control, and unhealthy relationships that could include emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. Biological factors are thought to be the changing hormones levels in your body or your brain functions. This can lead to a lack of appetite, or guilty feelings after eating, which when meals are skipped, you no longer have. It’s suggested that people who have a family history of eating disorders and depression, may be more likely to develop an eating disorder
Most people with anorexia have a distorted image of their body. An anorexic will look into the mirror and see fat, even if they are sickly thin. Most commonly, anorexia begins in the teen years. This may be related to the common self-image problems that many teens suffer from. Anorexia tends to be more common in females than in males, and early intervention seems to be the key when dealing with this disorder. When left untreated, anorexia can lead to a whole slew of physical problems. Health problems related to anorexia include osteoporosis, kidney damage or failure, heart problems, and even death. Anorexia also affects the brain, as a person starves themself their metabolism changes. This change in the body causes a person not to think clearly or make good decisions. As anorexia progresses, a person will begin to have irrational behavior. For example, a person suffering from anorexia will often make rules about the amount of food they are “allowed” to consume. Others may start to purge themselves after eating even the tiniest bit of food, which is known as Bulimia. Anorexia can also bring on another psychological disorder; Depression. Depression is a mental illness that causes a person to feel sad and hopeless most of the time. People that suffer from depression will lose interest in things that they previously enjoyed, speak slower than normal, have trouble concentrating and remembering things, and be preoccupied by death
Anorexia is a serious mental health condition. It is an eating disorder where people try to keep their body weight as low as possible. DSM5 outlines the key diagnostic features for anorexia. Firstly, people with anorexia will restrict behaviours that promote healthy body weight. This could mean that they are consequentially underweight and this can be due to dieting, exercising and purging. There will also be a significant fear of weight gain, but this fear will not be relieved by weight loss. There will be a persistent fear that interferes with weight gain. Lastly, there will be a disturbed perception of ones weight and/or shape and denial of underweight status and its seriousness. Anorexia accounts for 10% of eating disorders in the UK and has
When a person have anorexia they deprive themselves from food to lose weight or look thin. In addition to this, they will typically over exercise, where they burn a lot more calories than they consume. Consequently, they will keep on losing weight every day, even though they may already be very slim. People with anorexia also as an intense fear of gaining weight, therefore eating can be a very
There are many different biological approaches that explain the reasons for eating disorders they all have some validity behind them to a certain extent. An eating disorder is a psychological dysfunction that causes a person to change their eating habits to eating less, or more etc.
b. The causing of an eating disorders aren't entirely clear. However, a combination of psychological, genetic, social, and family factors are thought to be involved. People with anorexia or bulimia often have an intense fear of gaining weight or being overweight and think they look bigger than they actually are.
“Refusal to eat, Denial of hunger, Fear of gaining weight, Lying about how much food has been eaten, Flat mood (lack of emotion), Social withdrawal, Irritability, Reduced interest in sex, Depressed mood, Thoughts of suicide”("Anorexia Nervosa")
There are many causes behind why people suffer from anorexia. The first one would be that it is genetics that involves the risk for some sort of eating disorder. This would make a person more vulnerable to having this mental illness more than someone without these genetic factors. Another common cause is that someone in a person's family suffers from anorexia. This allows a person to become adjusted to this mental illness, thinking of it as a social norm. They don't understand the risk factors involving anorexia. Although social media does have an effect on some types of eating disorders, it has been proven that anorexia is indeed a biological illness, and the best treatment that can come from this is a biological approach.
Eating disorders are severe disturbances in eating behaviors, such as eating too little or eating too much. “Anorexia nervosa affects nearly one in 200 Americans in their lives (three-quarters of them female)” (Treating anorexia nervosa). Anorexia, when translated into Greek means “without appetite” which is not true for all suffering from anorexia most people with this disorder have not lost their appetite they simply have to ignore it. People with anorexia have an intense fear of gaining weight and have convinced themselves that they are overweight even if they are the opposite of overweight. Since the way that they view themselves is in a negative light they starve themselves and put their lives at risk. “In the most severe
It is important to note that once a person begins to starve or purge, those behaviors in and of themselves have the power to alter brain chemistry and prolong the disorder. For example: both under eating and overeating can activate brain chemicals that produce feelings of peace and euphoria, thereby temporarily dispelling anxiety and depression. Some researchers believe that people with eating disorders may be using food to self-medicate painful feelings and distressing moods (Siegel, Brisman & Weinshel, 2002).
Anorexia and bulimia are caused through psychological issues. Eating disorders are known by an unusual attitude towards food that causes someone to change their eating habits and behaviour and also their image. An individual with an eating disorder will
There are 4 major causes of Eating Disorders. Depression is a feeling that everyone mostly had because how someone loved one passed away and they could go into Depression etc. No one would think that
Eating disorders stem from a combination of psychological, biological, and social factors. Feelings of depression and anxiety along with daily stressors can contribute to
There is no one factor that is responsible for eating disorders, but rather several. A loss of self identity, poor self esteem, perfectionism, maturity fears, personality, genetics, and family dynamics are all factors that can play a role in contributing to these disorders(Lackstrom, 2014). Whether one feels as if they are always dependent on someone, has a failure to form an identity, or possesses a need for being perfect, this can lead to an eating disorder. It is these factors, alone or in combination, influenced by western culture that can shape an individual 's vulnerability or predisposition to such illnesses.
As researchers have developed a profile of eating disorders, they have found out that there is no one cause to an eating disorder and each story is different. This means that various problems could pile up in a person's life, like a bad family life and mental health problems, causing that person to lose weight. Media also plays a big role in eating disorders. They have converted public opinion to believe that in order to be beautiful or successful you must be thin.
There is no single cause for eating disorders. A number of factors, including cultural and family pressures, chemical imbalances, and emotional and personality disorders collaborate to produce both anorexia and bulimia, although each disorder is determined by different combinations of these influences. Genetics may also play a small role.