Anorexia Nervos A Severe Mental Illness

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).

Eating disorders affect millions of men and women every day. Bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge eating disorder are three main types of eating disorders that can have detrimental consequences on the human body. These eating disorders not only deteriorate one’s body, but also eradicate the mind. “Inherent to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are a plethora of medical complications which correlate with the severity of weight loss or the frequency and mode of purging” (Mehler, 2015).

Anorexia Nervosa is the condition when an individual abstains from food in order to lose weight or prevent more weight gain. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV(DSM-IV) there are four aspects of criteria to be diagnosed with anorexia: a refusal to maintain weight above what is minimally normal for one’s age and height, and extreme fear of weight gain, distorted body image, and (in females) having amenorrhea(missing three or more consecutive menstrual cycles.)(DSM-IV, 2000:589) Anorexia not only affects weight, but also alters bone growth, neurotransmitters and hormones in the brain, and electrolytes.

There are many symptoms that go along with the anorexia nervosa disorder. It might be hard to notice the signs at first because people living with the

Anorexia Nervosa Eating illnesses such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating sickness; contain life-threatening feelings, attitudes, and actions surrounding heaviness and diet problems. Eating ailments are severe expressive and physical difficulties that can have lethal penalties for females and males. Anorexia nervosa comprise of insufficient food consumption leading to a heaviness that is evidently too little, Strong terror of weight expansion, fixation with weight and determined performance to stop weight gain, Confidence excessively connected to body appearance, and incapability to appreciate the harshness of the condition.

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

Eating disorders are characterized by a serious disturbance of behavior of food: eating too much or too little, as well as a great concern regarding the size and shape of her body. This short paper is on anorexia nervosa, mental bulimia and the binge eating.Eating disorders are not a function of will but are rather modes unhealthy supply which empower. The voluntary eating of smaller portions or larger than usual is common, but for some people, it becomes a compulsion and eating behaviors become outraged.People suffering from anorexia nervosa refuse to maintain a body weight minimally normal fear many of take the weight and have a distorted perception the shape and the size of their body. Mental bulimia sufferers feed excessively and then use the methods compensatory to prevent the socket weight, for example, by vomiting, in practicing excessive exercise or abuse of laxatives. They give also an excessive importance to the shape and weight of body. To diagnose mental bulimia, the binge eating disorder and behaviors compensatory must occur in average, at least twice a week for 3 months.

Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by four criteria. The four criteria are weight is fifteen percent or more below average, the person has a distorted body image, the person fears being fat, and there is a loss of three or more periods (Nevid, Rathus, & Greene, 2014, p. 337). The subtype that will be discussed in this paper is the restricting subtype. Restricting subtype anorexia victims usually “rigidly, even obsessively, control their diet and appearance” (Nevid, Rathus, & Greene, 2014, p. 337). The other subtype is the exerciser subtype. Someone who suffers from Anorexia Nervosa, the exerciser type, tends to eat a little and then compensate for eating by overly exercising (Nevid, Rathus, & Greene, 2014, p. 337). Anorexia begins to affect those around the ages twelve to eighteen, marking the transition

“Anorexia nervosa is a self-induced starvation resulting from a fear of fatness, even though the patient is underweight.” (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2016, p. 1238) This disorder is most commonly seen in adolescent girls and women but can be seen in boys and men. Care for patients with anorexia nervosa can be quite complicated but is essential for their recovery. If these patients do not receive proper care they can deteriorate quickly and death will then be inevitable. “Approximately 15% of all patients suffering from anorexia nervosa die from the disorder: two-thirds from malnutrition, one-third as a result of suicide.” (Bakker, et al., 2011, pp. 16-22) Care plans for these patients will need to include physical, emotional, and psychological goals and interventions.

?Anorexia nervosa, as we know, is a psychological disorder that is defined as the “loss of appetite”. Although the disease is rare and dramatic, in 2007 it was only “affecting about 1% of women and 0.3% of men”(Cacioppo and Freberg, 2013, p.302). Those percentages are low but can equate to a large number of Americans. The biological dangers of anorexia can be very large, including the possibility of death. The disorder carries many symptoms such as low body weight, dry and yellow skin, increased sensitivity to cold, a distorted image of oneself, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal problems.

Today in society it is founded that Anorexia Nervosa is of most common disorders that affect multiples of women and men across the country. The DSM-V at 307.1 (F50.01) (F50.02) finds Anorexia Nervosa to be a persistent restriction of energy intake leading to significantly low body weight, as related to minimally expected for age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health. The DSM-V also finds the criteria of Anorexia Nervosa to be an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain, the disturbance in the way one’s body weight or shape is experienced, the undue influence of body shape and weight of self-evaluation, or persistent lack of recognition of the seriousness of the current

According to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual Anorexia is when a person goes through extreme measures to starve themselves in order to fulfill an unwanted psychological need in order to maintain control of an uncontrollable factor in their life (Diagnostic, 2000). Some of the symptoms of a person with an Anorexic Disorder may include: “a refusal to maintain [proper] body weight, [an] intense fear of gaining weight,” although they have already undergone serious weight loss, and any “disturbing” changes to their body which one believes should not be present. (Diagnostic, 2000). These symptoms are also connected with many health issues which can lead to a decline

Anorexia nervosa is associated with physical and psychosocial morbidity. The medical complications mostly result from caloric restriction and weight loss and affect most major organ system. The following are some of anorexia nervosa’s most common physical signs and symptoms: bradycardia (<60 beats per minute); orthostatic hypotension, loss of subcutaneous fat tissue, hypothermia, hair loss, disturbance of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, secondary amenorrhea, neurological symptoms and osteoporosis

Self-esteem is reliant upon body shape and weight. Physical implications may include disruption of the menstrual cycle also known as amenorrhea, signs of starvation, thinning of hair or hair loss, bloated, yellowish palms/soles of feet, dry and pasty skin. The risks that people take while indulging in anorexia can also become physiologically and mentally damaging. There are several effective treatments. One of which is hospitalization, this occurs when the weight loss is greater than 30% in 3 months time. Some other effects to be taken into consideration when hospitalizing a patient are the risk of suicide and depression, severe binging and purging, and serious metabolic disturbance. Therapy and counseling is used to help the patients with depression and family complications that may have led to the state they’re in. Clinical studies have not yet identified a medication that could improve the core symptoms of anorexia.

What is anorexia? According to Merriam-Webster, anorexia is defined as, “A serious physical and emotional illness in which an abnormal fear of being fat leads to very poor eating habits and dangerous weight loss” (Anorexia, Merriam-Webster). Or in other words, those who suffer from anorexia have a fear of being fat, so they consume little to no food. Anorexia is also linked to the anorexia nervosa, which is an illness that can potentially be a life threatening eating disorder caused by starvation and excessive weight loss (Anorexia Nervosa, Nationaleatingdisorder.org). Studies have concluded that 90-95% of girl’s and women suffer from anorexia nervosa and 0.5-1% of American women suffer from anorexia nervosa. This disorder is one of the most common psychiatric diagnoses in young women and is also one of the highest death rates of any mental health condition (Anorexia Nervosa, NationalEatingDisorder.org). This paper will discuss the causes of anorexia and anorexia nervosa, as well as the signs and symptoms of both, including how these disorders are linked to dental and if available, what treatments can be used.