Anorexia Nervosa In Adolescents

On top of this, 69% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported that magazine pictures and runway models influenced their idea of a perfect body shape (only 5% of the female population naturally has the body type portrayed as ideal in advertisement). This is obviously a problem because, growing up, girls everywhere are told that they’re pretty and that being pretty is the most important thing about them and they start basing their worth on their looks. But then, every single woman they see on TV, in movies, in magazines, any woman considered “hot” and “beautiful” doesn’t look like them anymore, which brings on deadly disorders like anorexia and bulumia that wreck the lives of young girls. Since 90% of people with eating disorders are women between the ages of 12 and 25, we should be asking ourselves “what is causing my child to develop destructive habits at such a young age?” The answer is that they’ve been told that the type of body

Anorexia nervosa, otherwise stated as anorexia, is an eating disorder that occurs when an individual restricts themselves from necessary energy intake which leads to significantly low body weight. Other characteristics of this disorder include: intense fear of becoming fat or gaining weight, persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain, and disturbances of perception and experience of their own body weight and shape (DSM V, 2013). Effective treatments are still trying to be researched for this disorder, as there is not a “one size fits all” for people of all age groups, living situations, etc. Since adolescents with anorexia are such a vulnerable population,

Beauty standards in the media are one of many reasons feeding and eating disorders are a rising problem. The unrealistic body types of being extremely thin, in pop culture, are influential factors for many teens, especially teen girls. According to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5), anorexia nervosa is a “restriction of energy intake, intense fear of gaining weight, and a disturbance in the perception of one’s body size” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Individuals diagnosed with anorexia tend to place a high value on their shape and weight, which can interfere with their daily lives. Individuals diagnosed tend to view of their body shape in a distorted representation. The motivation to become

In fact, media is contributing to many false advertisements and unrealistic images that cause eating disorders. Media gives us these false beauty standards by making teens think they have to be thin and tall. Meanwhile, many teens want to be like the models and they try to be thin but instead of doing it the healthy way. The way they do it is to skip meals and that develops eating disorders. For instance, Arnett says, “Marketing and advertisement agencies focus on models such as tall, thin women or a muscular man with a chiseled jawbone when casting for photo shoots and television commercial” (265.) Therefore, we experience and seen is that the media do give us a false beauty standard which makes teens want to do everything that is possible to become like models. This has contributed

This paper will discuss Anorexia Nervosa as an eating disorder that predominantly affects girls and young women. In industrial

Eating disorders have become an increasing public health problem once thought to be an affliction amongst young women, now an epidemic across culture and gender boundaries. Anorexia gives rise to serious socio-economic and bio-psychological circumstances of our ever vast, growing society. Awareness of eating disorders have increased but perhaps only in proportion to its advancement of its research and treatment. That which still leaves us in a position for a much greater demand for education and heightened awareness of this perplexing disease.

Imagine waking up every morning, struggling to get out of bed and hating to look at yourself in the mirror. Girl’s will look into the mirror for hours and criticize every last inch of their body with the words “fat, ugly, worthless” echo in their head. They think their body isn’t good enough and want to look skinner like the other woman in magazines or people they see on TV. The media has a big part in self-image toward young woman. The message being sent to these women on the media is that they are not pretty enough or thin enough. Which results in people having an eating disorder.

A novel on the causes of eating disorders says, “Typically, media images often portray unrealistic images of both males and females. Those individuals portrayed often represent a statistical minority or are engaged in extraordinary (and potentially harmful) behaviors to achieve this ideal body type” (Selby). Pictures of models and celebrities observed in the media show practically unachievable physiques, but the world seems to define beauty and health based off their thin statures. On the contrary, these physiques are actually rather unhealthy. The UK National Centre For Eating Disorders says, “The ideal body size epitomized by ‘Gerri Halliwell’ ‘Posh Spice’ or ‘Ally Mcbeal’ is unrealistically thin, their body mass index (BMI) is on the borders of what a clinician would regard as anorexic” (Jade). When the people and bodies teens are idealizing are at the level of anorexia, it is no doubt that they will resort to extreme methods to achieve what is an extremely thin, abnormal size. Studies show that exposure to these body standards may lead to eating disorders. Pediatrics and Child Health says, “Body image was significantly more negative after viewing thin media images than after viewing images of either average size models, plus size models, or inanimate objects. This effect was found to be stronger in woman younger than 19 years of age” (Morris). After

Expectations including unatainable beauty standards with young women being objectified and unrealistically portrayed the most in the media. Everyday we as consumers of media are subjected to these images, morphing our mentalities and leaving individuals that don’t meet society’s expectations and standards particularly vulnerable. The encouragement from the media to embody an impossible image for the majority of women can lead to a number of different mental health problems. Statistically unrealistic images formed and reinforced by the media affect young women and girls more so than their male counterparts in regards to mental illness, particularly disordered eating and body image issues. At one treatment facility for anorexia and bulimia, of 138 patients, only four were male. (Bokind-Lodahl) Nearly all of these 138 patients stated that they had developed an eating disorder because they had wanted to be as physically desirable as possible, to them and many other women in America translating to being as thin as possible. All of the patients were very vulnerable to actual and perceived rejection, however the patients that identified themselves as female were more likely to believe that their bodies and sex must somehow be the reason for that rejection. So why are so many girls and women affected by body image issues? Between the ages of thirteen and

“Michelle M. Lelwica author of The Religion of Thinness: Satisfying the Spiritual Hungers Behind Women’s Obsession with Food and Weight declared that ‘Thinness is worshipped in American culture. Unrealistic body images are promoted in the media and entertainment resulting in greater numbers of women and men who feel ‘too fat’ and suffer from eating disorders’” (Shell 1). Eating disorders are characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating habits such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating. Eating disorders have several causes including behavioral, psychological, and social factors, and they frequently appear during adolescence or early adulthood, but it may also develop earlier or later in life. In today’s culture media has a more powerful presence than ever before; this causes the individual to be constantly bombarded by what the media portrays as a “good” body. The mass communication transmits both positive and negative messages about body image to the public. The general public unaware of what a positive or negative body image can do in mental and physical health end up trying to meet those unrealistic standards, thus, so inducing harmful lifestyles. Eating disorders can be caused by sociocultural incitements such as unrealistic standards, set by society and culture, and lack of knowledge about positive and negative body image, but regulations and education must be established to help reduce the problems.

“The incidence of anorexia nervosa among 10 - to - 19 year olds during a 50 year period found that it parallel changes in fashion and idealized body image and young women who have greater body dissatisfaction have earlier onset of smoking” (Huffington post) Girls would rather skip meals to lose weight than be comfortable and secure in their own bodies. 58% of college-age girls feel pressured to be a certain weight, and approximately 91%. women are unhappy with their body and resort to dieting or more severe methods to achieve that shape. They think they are not good enough just the way they are, and they have to look like the women they see on T.v, when in reality the women they are trying to look like do nott even look like that in real life. “Only 5% of women in the entire world, naturally look like the body type portrayed in media” (11 facts about body

If you viewed magazines from years, you would see great variety in shapes and sizes when it came to women. If you were to just cut on the television today, the women being shown will mostly be tall and skinny. The media along with society have begun to develop what is the ideal body type and what is not. Media can have a great influence on anyone; however, adolescents are targeted in this case, being pressured that thin and slender is the ideal size to be. According to National Center for Biotechnology Information (Whitaker), “Eating disorders are complex illnesses that affect adolescents with increasing frequency. They rank as the third most common chronic illness in adolescent females.” These are not the only effects that come along with

Hospitals are experiencing a rise on the cases of teenagers with eating disorders. The National University Hospital (NHU), said its number of eating disorder cases has risen by 20 per cent a year in the past three years (Teo, 5). Teenagers usually seek for approval of society and want to fit in, which makes them vunerable to eating disorders and body hate. Dr Lee from the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) says “Influences from peers and media matter, as teens try to conform to society’s ‘ideal’ body image” (Teo 5). Claire Mysko, a consultant for the National Eating Disorders Association’s youth program says, about body obsession, that “social media really allows that kind of obsession to take on a new life” (Mascarelli 4). Society puts too

Anorexia nervosa has serious effects on society, therefore it is important to analyze whether or not doctors consider this disorder to be caused by psychological and/or biological factors. There are several different psychological aspects to this illness that influence both the development and recovery of an individual. The National Eating Disorder Associations website states “No one knows exactly what causes eating disorders, but a growing consensus suggests that a range of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors come together to spark an eating disorder” (NEDA, 2016). This allows researchers to have more factors that they can base their studies off of that will help them understand anorexia nervosa better. This

Anorexia nervosa is listed in DSM-5 as a Feeding and Eating Disorder alongside bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). AN is characterised by symptoms that include dangerously low body weight, intense fear of fat or weight gain, abnormal cognitions that lead to an over-evaluation of the importance of body weight, shape and size, indifference about the disorders seriousness (APA, 2013). It is a multi-determined psychiatric disorder with an interplay between sociocultural, biological, physical and mental factors that make it extremely difficult to treat successfully (Chang & Bazarova, 2016; Boraska et al., 2014). AN affects approximately 3.7% of NZ population, the average duration is five years, with the highest prevalent rate (10%) in teenage females (M = 17 years). While predominantly a young white middle-upper class female disorder, recent research shows a significant increase in diagnosis of males,