Anorexia Nervosa Is A Serious Eating Disorder

There are several bio-medical definitions of anorexia; The NHS refers to an anorexic as someone who tries to keep their weight as low as possible, by restricting diet, often over exercising and in some cases through the use of laxatives and diuretics (NHS, 2014). The DSM-V definition similarly suggests that anorexia is characterised by a refusal to maintain body weight at or above the minimally normal weight for age and height (DSM-V, 2014). Both definitions highlight an intense fear of gaining weight and a hugely distorted perception

A single father watched his daughter, 17 years old, dwindle down to 72 pounds. He begged her to eat, but she would cry and push the plate away. He was irritated and turned to his friends at work complaining his daughter was taking dieting way too far. He would scream at her “Stop! This is nonsense, just eat!”. This father, like many other Americans, did not understand that his daughter could not just stop being Anorexic. The common misconception is that Anorexia Nervosa is just someone obsessed with losing weight. Many people believe that Anorexics look in the mirror and smile at their thinness and progress. This is so untrue, they look in the mirror and wish for a way out.

Anorexia Nervosa is an emotional disorder that causes its victims to have an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat. It is known to be the third most common eating disorder among adolescents. Many who suffer from the disorder have a strong fear of gaining weight and they 're very determined to prevent any weight gain. AN patients are also incapable of recognizing the severity of their condition. In the article entitled, "A Factor Analysis of the Meanings of Anorexia Nervosa: Intrapsychic, Relational, and Avoidant Dimensions and Their Clinical Correlates", Enrica Marzola explains, "AN sufferers often refuse treatments, show poor compliance with therapy leading to high dropout rates, relapse, and high mortality" (Marzola 2). Marzola examines how many patients become very attached to their illness and do not wish to be recovered from it. In addition, Not only do many AN patients believe that the disorder has help them gain their ideal body image, but they 've also described their starvation as a way to escape from any negative emotions, strengthen their identity, and reveals their distress. Enrica Marzola also addresses, "These instruments confirmed that AN sufferers experience a

The unrealistic body image leads them to the unhealthy eating habits. However, these things that a person with this eating disorder does in order to “avoid being fat” will not be fixed with weight loss. No matter how much fat is lost, a person with anorexia nervosa will view themselves as fat, even when they are dangerously underweight. The person may either feel fat all over or focus it on a more general region such as the thighs or the stomach (APA, 2013). Their body image issues could be evident by obsessive weighing or

Anorexics put other people’s feelings in front of theirs. They also feel that the only thing in their lives is food and their weight and this shows that they have low self-esteem for themselves. “Signs and symptoms are noticeable weight loss, becoming withdrawn, excessive exercise, fatigue, always being cold, and muscle weakness” (www.mirror-mirror.org 1). There are many more signs and symptoms for this illness. “An estimated 10

Anorexia is an ongoing problem within the United States as well as other places around the world. In the article, Anorexia May Be Habit, Not Will Power, Study Finds, focuses more on women than men. Women, “...are often thought of as having an extraordinary degree of self-control, even if that discipline is used self-destructively.” (Goode 1), but what if they don’t have as much self-control as others believe?

Despite, Anorexia nervosa causing several physical problems for the people who struggle with it, it is still mainly seen as a psychological condition. This is because anorexia nervosa is associated with a person restricting food in order to lose weight, but even after they lose weight they still believe they are fat. ("Anorexia Nervosa | National Eating Disorders Association") In other words, they develop a distorted body image of themselves. Not only

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

Anorexia has dangerous effects on the body and the mind. It has the highest rate of death of any mental illness. Between 5% and 20% of people who develop the disease eventually die from it (Lee, 2008). It may start as simple dieting, but can quickly roller coaster out of control such as not eating at all. The person’s main focus is food, dieting, and the fear of weight gain. Others see them as being very thin but they themselves see a distorted fat image when they look in the mirror.

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 an eating disorder characterized by an intense fear of putting on weight with a negative attitude towards body weight (medical dictionary). Due to this extensive fear, people eventually starve themselves leading to extremely low body weights. People suffering from Anorexia take extreme efforts to keep their body weights in check by limiting the amount of food they eat. These efforts range from excessive exercise, misusing diet aids to vomiting after eating just to reduce the level of calorie intake. However, it should be noted that Anorexia is less of an issue about food but more of a mental problem whereby people suffering from it equate thinness to self-worth (Mayo Clinic). As such Anorexia is a psychiatric disorder

Eating disorders are severe disturbances in eating behaviors, such as eating too little or eating too much. “Anorexia nervosa affects nearly one in 200 Americans in their lives (three-quarters of them female)” (Treating anorexia nervosa). Anorexia, when translated into Greek means “without appetite” which is not true for all suffering from anorexia most people with this disorder have not lost their appetite they simply have to ignore it. People with anorexia have an intense fear of gaining weight and have convinced themselves that they are overweight even if they are the opposite of overweight. Since the way that they view themselves is in a negative light they starve themselves and put their lives at risk. “In the most severe

An Anorexic stops seeing her own body as it really is. People who have this disease are usually women. Statistics show that 90% to 95% of anorexics are female. They see themselves as fat,

Anorexia nervosa is a very serious disease that involves the mind and the body. This paper will describe the disease itself, signs and symptoms, diagnostic measures, treatment and complications, and nursing considerations. After reading this paper the reader will be more knowledgeable about the disease and how to acknowledge patients who are suffering with anorexia nervosa and treat them accordingly.

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a visible, psychological illness that is detrimental to both the physical and mental well-being of an individual (Bulik et al., 2005). It is an eating disorder that is characterized by not only an unwillingness to gain weight, but a fear of gaining weight. Individuals suffering from anorexia are often perfectionists, who are neurotic, obsessive, and retain a low sense of self-esteem (Kaye et al., 2008; Bulik et al., 2005). These individuals tend to prioritize their physical image over their health, and as a result, AN has retained the highest mortality rate over any other psychiatric illness, occurring at a prevalence of 5% per