Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa Essay examples

Childhood experiences are very influential in molding the perspectives regarding body image among individuals. Emotional invalidation coming from ones parents has been shown to be positively correlated with an increased rate of eating disorders among male and female adolescents. Research conducted by Shisslak et al. (1995) showed that among a sample of university students 91% of the women reported attempting to control their weight through a variety of dieting strategies. There are many factors that have been suggested as being responsible for this negative perception of body image, but a major one often researched stems from the relationships within ones own family. Often time’s society is blamed for the development of eating disorders

Scientific studies show that ladies often start dieting one to two years into their college careers. Many argue that these pressures are too extreme for teens and that promoting ought to consider a bigger obligation in terms of marketing in the direction of adolescents. The studies also showed that over eighty five percent of all men and women with anorexia produced the issue by age twenty. Forty three percent of the patients surveyed stated that their issue began involving the age of sixteen and twenty, almost thirty three percent became anorexic in between the ages of eleven and sixteen, and ten percent began while they had been ten years of age or younger (Symptoms Blog). Studies have also shown that “one out of seven college-aged females has a problem with bulimia, and one out of a hundred has a problem with anorexia. These sufferers need psychotherapy as the causes are often deeply rooted on a psychological level. If no treatment is sought,

When the topic of eating disorders (ED), anorexia, bulimia, starving, purging, or any other form of self harm is brought into an everyday conversation, it is simply looked at as nothing out of them norm and is just brushed off as if the topic was concerning what the President had for lunch that day. At first glance, the average person would probably conclude that the main reason eating disorders are so noted in young women today is simply due to the fact that the media puts so much pressure on these women to be “perfect”. Eating disorders are a very prominent and common factor in our society, it is not something anyone can really evade. There are many theories as to what causes eating disorders. Although doctors and ED specialists cannot

Anorexia nervosa is a life threatening eating disorder defined by a refusal to maintain fifteen percent of a normal body weight through self-starvation (Arnold, page26). Ninety-five percent of anorexics are women between the ages of twelve and eighteen, however, "…in the past twenty years, this disorder has become a growing threat to high school and college students (Arnold, page 39)". Anorexia produces a multitude of symptoms, and if not treated, anorexia can lead to permanent physical damage or death.

Scholars have continuously tried to understand why people develop eating disorders. Many have tested and proven one prerequisite for certain: having a damaging, negative, self-image (Fisher et. al., 2003; Button, Loan, Davies & Barke 1997; Cervera et. al., 2002; Thomas, James & Bachmann, 2000; O’Dea & Abraham, 2000). Other scholars have looked at how media interacts with these feelings of negative body image to produce females who harm their bodies in order to be thin (Berel & Irving, 2001; Busselle, 2001; Gettman & Roberts, 2004; Hargreaves & Tiggemann, 2003; Hendriks, 2002; Kilbourne, 2000; Leung Kwork Yan, Prendergast, & Prendergast, 2002; Posavac, Posavac, & Weigel, 2001; Slater & Tiggemann, 2004; Strice & Thompson, 2001; Thomsen, 2002).

Eating disorder is a psychological concept of eating and weight theory that is related to this issue/current event. The most prevalent eating disorders these days include, Bulimia Nervosa and Anorexic Nervosa (Weiten & Doug, 2012). The incidents of young women binge-eating or purge-eating increased in 1970, through which women starved themselves, sometimes resulting in death (Weiten & Doug, 2012). The problem of eating disorders is largely prevalent in women affecting near about 3% of Canadian women during some period of their life whereas, it has increased among females between the ages 15 and 24 (Weiten & Doug, 2012, p. 424). Bulimia Nervosa involves the person vomiting, fasting and exercising or using laxatives after consumption of a certain number of calories. In addition, Anorexic Nervosa results in dieting or starving even after the victim has lost equal to or more than 15% of their weight (Weiten & Doug, 2012). A number of factors have been implicated in the incidence of eating disorders such as biological, developmental, psychological and social factors which are implemented through the idea of a being thin in society which then results into young boys and girls seeing themselves as fat when they are not (Weiten & Doug, 2012).

Eating disorders are sweeping this country and are rampant on junior high, high school, and college campuses. These disorders are often referred to as the Deadly Diet, but are often known by their more popular names: anorexia or bulimia. They affect more than 20% of females between the age of thirteen and forty. It is very rare for a young female not to know of someone with an eating disorder. Statistics show that at least one in five young women have a serious problem with eating and weight (Bruch, 25).

Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder that is most commonly found in women of teenage or young adult age (Herzog, D. B. (1982). This disorder can have very serious effects on the body. Some of these physical effects include “dental problems, inflamed esophagus, EEG abnormalities, abdominal or urinary disturbances, and changes in blood sugar level.” (Muuss, R. E. (1986). ) The mental and emotional tolls of this disorder can be equally as dangerous. According to Pompili, M., Girardi, P., Ruberto, A., & Tatarelli, R. (2006) individuals with bulimia nervosa are at a higher risk for committing suicide. To be diagnosed with Bulimia Nervosa, according to the DSM 5, a person must experience episodes of binge eating along with harmful behaviors meant to compensate for the binging. These behaviors often include vomiting, exercising excessively, depriving oneself of food, or using medications inappropriately to achieve weight loss. dsm.psychiatryonline.org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/doi/book/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). According to Lundgren, J. D., Danoff-Burg, S., & Anderson, D. A. (2004) a lot of research has been done on the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy in treating bulimia nervosa and it is widely believed to be the best treatment for the disorder. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is essentially the combination of cognitive therapy, designed to change unhealthy thoughts and schema, and behavioral therapy, designed to change

Teens today are always surrounded by advertisements of images of thinness. When they turn on the TV, read magazines or go on the internet. These advertisements are usually promoting something to sell by using images of thin and beautiful people that seem unreal. Both boys and girls feel societies’ pressure to have “the perfect body” so they go through extreme measures like self starvation or over exercising to achieve their goals of the “perfect image”(Elizabeth Weiss Vollstadt,page 26). Eating disorders are mostly developed by women. Although men also develop eating disorders but they only make up 5-10 percent of those affected by eating disorders, leaving women with a huge majority of 90-95 percent affected(Elizabeth Weiss Vollstadt, page 8). Girls who develop the eating disorder anorexia are usually Caucasian and middle to upper class, and are also

Female adolescents can develop eating disorders because of the way the media portrays models. Adolescent girls’ attitude of the thin ideal leads to body dissatisfaction, which in return puts them at risk for serious eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia nervosa. Bulimia is an emotional disorder involving distortion of body image and an obsessive desire to lose weight, in which bouts of extreme overeating are followed by depression and self-induced vomiting, purging, or fasting. Anorexia nervosa is an emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat. Kara L. Kerr who is currently studying psychology, sociology, and women’s and gender studies at the University of Tulsa claims that “Approximately 40 percent of anorexia nervosa cases occur in females ages fifteen to nineteen” (1). Females’ that are the ages of fifteen to nineteen should not be worrying about the presentation of their

Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa is a serious issue in the world today. I feel that the issue of eating disorders does not gain enough attention from society especially because of its relevance to young females. These unhealthy eating habits are a social injustice issue because the various types of media that disperse an unrealistic image of female beauty. Society takes these images as a standard of how a woman should look. Women will go to the extreme to meet those qualifications to fit society’s female image.

In the United States, a female has approximately a .5 percent chance of developing anorexia in her lifetime according to the American Psychiatric Association (Kalodner, 2003). In other words, for every 200 females, one may have anorexia. Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a serious eating disorder associated with the refusal to maintain a minimal normal weight for their height and age. Anorexics tend to just eat the minimal amount of food for their bodies to function. Sometimes they may not eat anything at all. They spend all of their time, energy and thought in pursuit of being thin (Kalodner, 2003). However in a strange ironic contrast with their refusal of food, anorexics show an obsessive interest in food. They read about food, shop for food, cook and

At present, it is not uncommon to see young women with some type of eating disorders. On the same hand, it has no longer limited to a specific ethnic group, class, or even gender according to the conventional clinical research (Abrams & Stormer, 2002; Altabe, 1998; Atlas Smith, Hohlstein, McCarthy, & Kroll, 2002; Barry & Grilo, 2002; Botta, 2000; Demarest & Allen, 2000; Goodman, 2002; Gordon, 1988, 1990; Hesse-Biber, 1996; Kolodny, 2004; Molloy & Herzberger, 1998; Nielson, 2000). As stated by The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), women who suffered from anorexia within ten years range from five percent to ten percent whereas eighteen to twenty percent of anorexic will be dead when the disorder was contracted for twenty years. Hopefully, around thirty to forty percent of the patients are cured although the remaining twenty can have a rebound effect.

Eating disorders involve disruption in eating behaviors, which can be classified within the three major eating disorders, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder, that can result in death. Eating disorder’s have had an increasing prevalence since the 1960s and “have spread insidiously over the ensuing decades” (Barlow, 269). Research shows that adolescent girls are more likely to encounter eating disorders than adolescent males (Santrock, 371).

This problem is aggravated by various problems, including negative body image, which has a close association with weight, perfectionism and depression. Family and socialization also play significant roles. It has been found, for instance, that mothers with girls with eating disorders are often critical of their daughters' weight and physical appearance. Families with adolescents who have eating disorders are also often characterized by enmeshment, overprotectiveness, rigidity and lack of conflict resolution. This is connected to the "control" issue mentioned previously.