Essay on Anorexia Nervosa

Up until 2004, there was virtually no clinical trials to prove that families should be incorporated in the treatment process. Krautter and Lock (2004), disproved all of the critics to show that family based therapy worked in a clinical trial on an adolescent girl with anorexia. Family Based Therapy works in three steps, otherwise known as the Maudsley Approach. In the clinical trial, the first step for the therapy is to ensure the patient will not die from starvation, hypothermia, or heart problems. The therapist helps the parents learn tactics on how to get their children to eat more at the dinner table, but still being gentle and caring by letting their child know it is not their fault for their eating disorder. The second step in the therapy involves more freedom given to the child because they are not in a life-threatening situation anymore (if they have gained weight), but the parents still press eating meals along with this freedom. The third step helps the adolescent find their identity and how they will organize their life with their parents being involved. These three steps in Family Based Therapy were shown to be effective in a clinical

It’s only human to wish you looked different or could fix something about yourself. But when a more serious notion with being thin takes over your eating habits, thoughts, and life, it’s a sign of an eating disorder. When you have anorexia, the desire to lose weight becomes more important than anything else. You may even lose the ability to see yourself as you truly are. Anorexia is a serious eating disorder that affects people of all ages. It can damage your health and threaten your life. But you are not alone. There’s help available when you’re ready to make a change. Everyone

The terrible fact about this mentality is that the victim’s mind will not allow them to see anything other than “fat”. So, telling a victim repeatedly that they are not fat will not be an effective solution to their problem. Thus, making anorexia not only a physical disorder but a mental disorder as well.

In this paper, I will discuss how cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be utilized in the management of eating disorders. More specifically I will identify Anorexia Nervosa and provide statistics that relate to the disease. Etiologies will be discussed as well as symptoms. Various techniques of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy will be described as well as the rationale as it relates to the clinical issue.

Eating disorders can be viewed as multi-determined disorder. Multi-determined disorders can conclude of various factors to the cause of one’s eating disorder. Each factor produces stressors to which “initiates dieting, weight loss, and the pursuit of thinness” (Diaz, 2017). A multi-determined disorder would be anorexia nervosa. These multi-determined factors leading to eating disorders may include socio-cultural, competitive environments, interpersonal, family, etc. Those who have eating disorders are diagnosed with more than one causing factor. With such stressors occurring to the self, leads to the self concept of when one has little memory of positive schemas. He or she is then unable to cope with challenges, thus feeling unworthy to his

The cognitive view of the maintenance of bulimia nervosa stresses that there is more to an individual's eating problem then just binge eating (and purging). Low self-esteem, extreme concerns about shape and weight, and strict dieting are all implicated in perpetuating the vicious cycle of bulimia (Fairburn et al., 1993). Within the first stage of treatment (weekly sessions 1-8), the following steps characterize the cognitive-behavioral approach: 1) orient

The treatment for anorexia has usually been counseling. Sometimes the starvation is so bad that the patients must be hospitalized and fed intravenously or through a nasogastric tube. When they are well enough, counseling is begun. This may be individual or family therapy. The treatment process usually spans several months to several years.

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

Participants indicated that their eating disorders helped them feel in control, confident, and protected, positive views that tended to wane as their illness progressed. One participant reported that her negative views included selfishness and guilt associated with her ED. Participants expressed hierarchical judgments and intragroup views that were purported to be held by others (e.g., anorexics reported believe that those diagnosed with Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified do not deserve

In order for me to develop an appropriate meal plan for patients with eating disorders (ED), I needed to educate myself on their dietary needs and the re-feeding process. Meeting with my preceptor and learning the rehabilitation process for ED patients was imperative to creating meal plans that will help them recover to normalized eating habits. I learned that meals need to include high caloric foods and eliminate foods that are perceived to be “dietary”, like salad. Throughout the program, the patients

Fairborn (2005) points out that there is a range of treatment options and a variety of treatment settings for anorexia nervosa, however there is inadequate empirical support for this abundance of options as what minimal research on the treatment has been inconclusive. One reasoning behind this is that anorexia nervosa has been an uncommon disorder and sample sizes for studies have been low. Furthermore, the lack of evidence based treatment research can be attributed to the individual’s avoidance of treatment and dropping out of treatment. Many individuals with anorexia nervosa are unwilling to change as their identity and self-worth are intertwined with their distorted body image; they tend to deny that anything is wrong with their weight and are ambivalent on changing (Abbate-Daga, Amianto, Delsedime, De-Bacco & Fassino,

Anorexia Nervosa is the mental illness classified by obsessive energy restriction, intense fear of gaining weight, and disturbance in a person’s self-image (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). For decades, this condition has taken the lives of millions and is known to have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, killing up to twenty percent of individuals who do not seek treatment (Mirasol, 2015). This is a really difficult topic to discuss because not only does it hit so close to home, but there is also a multitude of well-thought-out arguments to take into consideration. The entirety of this discussion will include support in favor of refusal and the opposition, as well as my own personal stance.

People suffering from eating disorders cannot solely help themselves. Although they may be able to stop for a short time, in the long run they will be back in the same path of self-destruction. Kirkpatrick & Caldwell (2001) state, "Because eating disorders are a complicated mix of physical and psychological abnormalities, successful treatment always includes treatment of psychological issues as well as restoration of a healthy diet" (p. 131). Trained therapists should treat eating disorders. The severity of the disorders will determine the need for outpatient therapy or an in-hospital program (Matthews, 2001, p. 178). There are many goals of therapy but the return to normalcy is the main goal. The eating disorder sufferer needs to restore and maintain a normal weight as well as develop normal eating and exercise routines. Kirkpatrick and Caldwell (2001) state,

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.

     When I think of anorexia, a few things come to mind. I think of really bad episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 and Baywatch in which females, ususally teenagers, starve themselves and take diet pills. The eating problem is always resolved within the timespan of one 30 minute episode. From the research I've done thus far on anorexia, I now know that this is a very unrealistic representation of what is actually a very serious disease.