Eating disorders are a mental disease. Anorexia and Bulimia are serious illnesses. They can affect any gender, age, and race. Anorexia is when someone stops eating to become thinner. Some studies suggest that a person with Anorexia also want to disappear. Bulimia is binge eating then self-induced vomiting also known as purging or some people will use laxatives. Both of these illnesses are destroy not only to the patient’s body, but also their mental health and self-image. They affect the patients loved ones as well. Although both have to do with self-image and losing weight they differ in the incentive the patients have when having these illnesses. The symptoms and the consequences of their behavior also differ. Both are very dangerous to the …show more content…
The motivations behind the victims vary. Some is the incapability to form attachments. Anorexia has been said to be a complex condition. Anorexia has the highest death rate when it comes to psychiatric disorders. There is a 10% rate of those diagnosed who die from causes related to the mental disease. People who have anorexia find themselves unattractive. They feel as if they need to lose weight because they don’t meet the crazy body image of today’s world. Individual’s that suffer from Anorexia have an over exaggerated perception level when it comes to their body. Meaning that a patient could have a BMI at 15% but when looking in the mirror he/she seems themselves at 40% or something to that level. People who suffer with Anorexia have been found to have high level traits of obsession and perfectionism. Most people with Anorexia suffer other mental illnesses as well. These can be depression, OCD or anxiety. Treatment for anorexia involves a lot of counseling. Depending on the damage done to the body there could be hospitalization or in-house treatment. Some people have to have feeding tubes inserted. Patients have to maintain a healthy diet. If not treated there can be severe consequences. Physical problems include kidney failure and heart problems or worse case death. The organs don’t receive enough nutrition to function …show more content…
People with bulimia will frequently binge eat. After binging most have emotional distress of being out of control. To compensate for their impulsiveness they purge. Getting rid of everything they have just eaten. Some even use large amounts of laxatives. According to the DSM-IV people have to binge twice a week for at least three months before being diagnosed. Bulimia is associated to a psychological matter of feeling out of control. When on a binge those with bulimia will consume an close estimate to 20,000 calories within a few hours. Most with bulimia like Anorexia have low self-esteem. OCD is more common in people who have Bulimia than those who don’t. There is of course anxiety disorders associated with the illness. Bulimics maintain a healthier weight then Anorexics. Bulimia worsens the esophagus and causes dental problems. When purging the acids in the stomach eat away at the esophagus and teeth. The treatment of Bulimia differs from that of anorexia. They tend to stick with behavior therapy and cognitive therapy. They have to learn to control their eating habits. Bulimics do better if they have specific goals to reach. One being changing their eating habits and sticking to them. Bulimics have a bit of an easier time overcoming their illness then those with
Eating disorders are mental disorders that can have a serious physical complications. There are two main types of eating disorders anorexia and bulimia. These are complex disorders focusing on issues of eating, body weight, body shape. People who intentially starve themselves suffer from an eating disorder called anorexia this disorder usually begins in young people around the time of puberty, involves extreme weight loss due to starving themselves . People with bulimia consume large amounts of food and then rid there bodies of the excess calories by vomiting abusing laxatives, taking enemas or over exercising.
In “Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia: The Development of Deviant Identities", which was published in 1987, the researchers utilized the labeling theory in their study on anorexics and bulimic victims. The current appearance norms in society demand thinness for women and muscularity in men. Social and Individual factors were considered in the studies which were conducted by the authors, Penelope A. McLorg and Diane E. Taub. Advertising has become the primary agent of socialization which promotes the slimness of both genders in our society. The researchers noted conformity in the behavior of the anorexics' and bulimics' families tend to conform to the norms by making close relations. In the study, the researchers found that parent’s opinions on
Anorexia is an eating disorder that struggles with the fear of gaining weight and refuses to be healthy. Another eating disorder is Bulimia, which is when you overeat followed by forced vomiting and excessive exercise. Binge Eating is one of the most common eating disorders along with Anorexia and Bulimia, Binge eating is when you lose control over one’s eating. All of these common eating disorders all suffer from guilt or depression. “Individuals with bulimia and binge eating eat large amounts of food to reduce stress” (CEDC). They also could have risky behaviors, such as dealing with drugs or alcohol or even death. People with Anorexia or Bulimia are very concerned with being overweight or in other words fat.
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
Even if some girls were not classified as having an eating disorder 44% of adolescent girls believed they were heavy and 60% were exercising excessively trying to lose weight. (Katzman et al. Pg. 287). Anorexia and Bulimia nervosa are deemed as medical illnesses or used to describe a psychological disorder by of self-induced starvation in order to become thin. People that have either of these illnesses have an excessive fear of gaining weight although they differ in their causation. Anorexia is when the person starves themselves for days without eating and Bulimia is recurrent binge eating, followed by vomiting, purging, fasting, the use of laxatives, diuretics, and over exercising. Sadly they both cause great harm to the human body.
Anorexia is a very serious eating disorder that causes your mind and your body to be completely obsessive about staying thin; also there have been a few cases where patients have taken self-starvation so far that it becomes life threating. There are many signs and symptoms to anorexia, a few include but are not limited to, “the refusal to eat, the denial of hunger, social withdrawal, unhealthy thin appearance, and lack of emotions” (Eating Disorders). Bulimia eating disorder is
Bulimia has many symptoms. Bulimics have a preoccupation with food and are usually secretive about their addiction to food. A bulimic’s self-evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight. Bulimics suffer from internal bleeding, including gastric ulcers due to trauma from forceful vomiting. Bulimics have tooth and gum decay caused by stomach acids. They also have swollen salivary glands, and broken blood vessels in their eyes, as a result of self-induced vomiting. Bulimics are typically high achievers.
According to NEDA anorexia is the “intense fear of weight gain,” which leads to starving oneself to the point of malnutrition ("Types & Symptoms of Eating Disorders”). Bulimia is when a person continually consumes large amounts of food, followed by purging or excessive working out to eliminate the chance of weight gain. Binge eating is similar to bulimia, both consume large amounts, but binge eaters do this and then eat nothing for a while. Their eating patterns go from enormous amounts of food to nothing and back again (“Types & Symptoms of Eating Disorders”). Public awareness about all these eating disorders has been spread, some doctors preach eating right and working out, but few people listen to or act on the doctors words. Eating disorders have become a major problem in American and we need a solution soon.
While anorexia exhibits a lack of consumption, bulimia is characterized by a period of minimal consumption followed by a period of binge eating, or severe overeating. Furthermore, bulimics tend to relieve themselves of the consumed food through purging. Vomiting, taking laxatives, and using diuretics are common methods of purging. Bulimia has major effects on all parts of the body. For example, bulimics experience an immense fear of weight gain, difficulties thinking and remembering, mood swings, fainting, and alterations in brain chemistry. They can also exhibit heart failure and a slow heart rate as well as anemia and other blood related issues. Muscles start to weaken and joints tend to swell in bulimics. They also can experience kidney failure and have a multitude of kidney stones. Body fluids start to lose magnesium, sodium, and potassium, and bulimics can suffer from constipation and bloating of the intestine. Bulimia can cause major changes in one’s hormones, resulting in the discontinuation of menstruation and difficulties with pregnancies in women and growth complications. Finally, bulimia can cause skin to yellow, an increase in hair growth around the body, skin to bruise easily, and the victim to easily feel cold. (it’d be interesting to add here how the stomach acid can start destroying your esophagus, and stomach
Anorexia is a loss or a lack of appetite for food. Bulimia is over eating and can follow with vomiting or fasting. Bulimia comes with a lot of emotional issues too. Some people refer to Anorexia and bulimia as “women diseases.” These two medical conditions are more commonly seen in women, but that does not mean men do not suffer greatly. Research was taken and they found these cases affected seven million women and only one million men. It is actually a fact it is more dangerous for men to develop an eating disorder than women. The reason for this is because men will get down to the lowest weight and begin to lose valuable muscle and tissues. This is different than just losing fat.
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
Although some characteristics may exist in both disorders, there is certain criterion that makes them distinct. The huge distinction between the two is the inappropriate compensatory behavior that Bulimics exhibit (DSM-V, 2013). In other words, people who binge eat don’t necessarily result in getting rid of the food afterward. Another differential diagnosis would be someone who is Anorexia nervosa, binge eating /purging types. As stated in the DSM-V (2013), “these types of behaviors can look similar to one who is bulimic in the beginning stage of someone who is anorexic” (p.
Eating disorders are extremely harmful and rising in prevalence. . The two most common eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. In this essay, I will compare and contrast these two disorders. This essay will also assess the symptoms, causes, health affects and the most prevalent characteristics of people diagnosed with these two eating disorders.
In-patients with anorexia, starvation can damage vital organs such as the heart and brain. To protect itself, the body shifts into " slow gear ": monthly menstrual periods stop, breathing, pulse and, blood pressure rates drop, and thyroid function slows. Nails and hair become brittle, the skin dries, yellows, and becomes covered with soft hair called lanugo. Excessive thirst and frequent urination may occur. Dehydration contributes to constipation, and reduced body fat leads to lowered body temperature and inability to with stand cold. Mild anemia, swollen joints, reduced muscles mass, and light headedness also commonly occur in anorexia. If the disorder becomes severe, patients may lose calcium from their bones, making them brittle and prone to breakage. Scientists from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have also found that patients suffer from other psychiatric illnesses. They may suffer from anxiety, personality or substance abuse disorders, and many are at a risk for suicide. Obsessive compulsive disorder, an illness characterized by repetitive thoughts and behaviors, can also accompany anorexia.