Anorexia & Bulimia: Why Are American Teens Starving Themselves?

1) Colleen Thompson, an expert on eating disorders, explains, “Many teenagers need a role model and someone to look up to. Unfortunately, too many of them choose fashion models or actresses as role models, they paste picture of them all over their rooms, and some will resort to dangerous methods of weight control to try and look like their idols.” (J1)

Some of the side effects are: Loss of appetite, Nausea and vomiting, weakness and fatigue, weight gain, premature menopause and hair loss.

Disordered eating can consist of anorexia, nervosa and bulimia. The images of being thin portrayed by media can result in teenagers feeling depressed, anxious and incline in self-worth. These feelings can then lead to depression, low self-esteem and anxiety, causing teenagers to lose self-worth.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), as many as 60 percent of children between ages 6 and 12 worry about weight gain, and half American teens think they’re overweight. (Turner, 2014) Girls want to lose huge amounts of weight because they think they will feel prettier when all there doing is damaging the inside of their body. Among adolescent girls, 1% to 3% have bulimia and 1% have anorexia. Only 5% to 15% of all people with anorexia or bulimia are male. (Harris, 2004) Most young females and males go through some type of eating disorder. A study in the Archives of General Psychiatry found that more than half a million teens have an eating disorder. (Turner, 2014)

Along with the unrealistic body images on social media it drags along obsession with dieting, food, and appearance in young adolescents creating eating disorders. “Adolescents diagnosed with serious eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia often report that their symptoms can be linked to the bullying they received from their age peers as well as the unrealistic media images presented as an ideal for them to follow.”(www.phycologytoday.com) The unrealistic body ideal that they feel they need to follow has a big impact on the way teens look at what they are eating, and their weight and shape which can lead to serious eating disorders. “Adolescent females who are unable to conform to the ideal being put forward by movie, television find themselves taking extreme measures to be more like their role models.” (www.phycologytoday.com) Teens feel that it is important to become like their role models that they see on social media and go to extreme measures to become the ideal weight and shape

There is a lot of misunderstood stigmas regarding eating disorders that can delay someone from getting the treatment that they need. Most people only notice a person has a problem if they have bulimia or anorexia that causes them to slowly take on a skeletal form from not getting enough nutrition. But there are many other eating disorders that cause the opposite to happen, such as Binge Eating Disorder. The age that a person can begin to have symptoms can also vary well past the teenage years. Many adults suffer needlessly because no one notices what is happening to them. It is the people who are the closest to the person with the eating disorder that can see that something is definitely wrong, though. And because of this, they can help fight the disease in several different ways.

Many teens center a large part of their self-image on the way their body looks, a negative self-image may be linked to depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, and mental health problems. People with eating disorders generally have a negative body image and social media doesn't help because they are constantly comparing themselves to other people. In American society, messages about what the perfect body looks like are constantly delivered by the mass media. Television, movies, magazines, the Internet, and advertisements show us what society views as a perfect body—the ideal we should strive for. In the 1920’s two major changes happened in women’s lives the first thing was they got the right to vote and there was a mass production of clothes. With these changes no one was alike anymore and that’s when self-image came about. As the years went on self-image became more important and fashion models set standards of how people were supposed to look. For example Twiggy was 5’7 and weighed 91 pounds, many teenage girls tried to achieve the “Twiggy look” by dieting and that made many people have a negative body-image. Today’s models haven’t changed much they still are trying to achieve the “Twiggy look” but now their body-image is more positive and models take positive and negative criticisms

can last from 5-7 years to get recovered from this mental illness. Anorexia, in the end, leads to serious

As many as 20 percent of those who suffer from anorexia will die early from complications related to their eating disorder, including suicide and heart problems. While there are many possible causes and triggers for these disorders, the media’s influence on body image cannot be overlooked. "My problem is the top of my legs and my bottom, which sticks out. I would like a smaller bottom because I find it difficult to fit into some jeans." Harriet’s obsession with her body scares her mother, sadly Harriet is not the only one who faces this problem daily. 40% of girls aged between 6 and 12 want to change their appearance. Don’t you think this is wrong? Kids who should be worried more about spelling words and math problems are being wrapped into the Medias image of a perfect body. Teens are more afraid of gaining weight than they are of cancer, nuclear war, or losing a parent.

Eating Disorder is a condition that affects many women and even men, but it is more prominent among teenage girls. There are various types of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. Over the year people have become more accustomed to this new world online. Social media is growing every day and we can find out any new information on the spot. As social media grows As social media grows, people are more exposed to different views. Sometimes some of this views can give a false image and make some people believe that is right and only way to go. Some of this views pertain to body image and this is conversation that has been going on for a while. Everyone's views on body image varies, but there are people out there who do not have the mental

Today, more than ever, teenagers and adolescents have many concerns about their weight, shape, size, and body image. Studies have suggested that eating disorders among adolescent girls have increased over the past fifty years. Approximately 1% to 5% of young girls meet the criteria for bulimia nervosa (Johnson, Chandra). Although the media’s emphasis on diet and fitness was designed to help people become healthier, it influences bad eating habits, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorders.

There are a number of warning signs that can be associated with any eating disorder such as: “body dissatisfaction, thin-ideal internalization, dieting, low self-esteem, maladaptive coping, reading teen fashion magazines, social pressure for thinness, social withdrawal, negative comments about eating, history of psychiatric disorders”(NEDA). With all these predetermined risk factors, it is easy to see why so many suffer from these disorders today. Anorexia can be described as the fixation of an individual's Body Mass Index (BMI); it is defined in the dictionary as “an emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat”(Johnson). The National Eating Disorder Association cites a list of possible risk factors that were identified in a number of studies; among the list is perfectionism. Bulimia Nervosa also defined as an “emotional disorder involving distortion of body image and an obsessive desire to lose weight” is differentiated by its “bouts of extreme overeating are followed by depression and self-induced vomiting, purging, or fasting.”(Johnson). These disorders are rooted in mental and emotional health and are not confined to females or teenagers. Modern media has done a very good job of perpetuating a desirable body type for people of all sexes and ages. People who suffer from a number of the aforementioned risk factors may be more heavily influenced to abuse or neglect their bodies in efforts to achieve this sought after

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

Eating disorders are subjective to each individual’s personal experiences, with that said; there are common influences which may contribute to the disorder. The transition into adolescents can be a confusing time for the individual, both physically and mentally. As the adolescent’s body begins to rapidly change during puberty, this physical transformation can lower self-esteem and raise self-consciousness. Adding to this confusing time for the adolescent is pressure from society. Adolescents are exposed to various media outlets where the ideal body image is promoted and often times reflect a thin or smaller appearance. This exposure leads to the adolescent comparing their changing physically appearance to the standard set in the media.

Eating disorders are not a consequence of only one source, they are caused by different factors. Physiological, psychological, social and cultural circumstances are the main sources of these diseases. Anorexia and bulimia are the most common diseases among teenagers. Anorexia is the needless loss of weight; it is more commonly presented in teenage girls. On the other hand, Bulimia can be described as the action of binge eating followed by purging. Bulimia is a severe issue among society due to the reason that it affects a big portion of the adolescent population of the world. The effects of bulimia range from physical to mental issues.