Contextual Analysis Of Anorexia Nervosa

Within countries that were once untouched by unrealistic societal standards, eating disorders and psychological problems have become a not just a local, but a global phenomenon. Bordo is able to give credible examples and evidence on why they have become a problem, such as recounting previous personal excursions and providing statistics.

The first diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa is a significantly low weight due to an extreme restriction of nutrients. When Miranda passed out, she was significantly underweight for her age and was also lacking the proper nutrients her body needed to function. The second diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa is a fear of gaining weight even though it would be healthy to do so. Miranda started to diet because she wanted to lose weight. She would also feel extremely guilty if she ate unhealthy food because she feared gaining weight. The third diagnostic criteria is being unaware of how unhealthy it is to be at a low weight and the desire to have a perfect body. Miranda focused on trying to get a “perfect” body and did not believe she had reached it yet, even though she was well under weight. The last diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa classifies Miranda into the sub type of bingeing and purging. According to the subtype, a person must binge and purge multiple times over the last three months. Miranda began bingeing and purging two years ago and would do it multiple times a week.

It has been found that eating disorders are most common in the western and industrialized culture where food is abundant. This is because these individuals attach a lot of importance to their physical appearance and are willing to do anything to get the dream figure. An eating disorder is not just watching what one eats and exercising on a daily basis but is rather an illness that causes serious disturbances in eating behaviour, such as great and harmful cutback of the consumption of food as well as feelings of serious anxiety about their body shape or mass. They would start to stop themselves to go out anywhere just so that they could work out and burn all of the calories of a meal or snack that they had scoffed earlier. Two of the most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The regular description of a patient with either disease would be a youthful white female, with an upper social standing in a predictably socially competitive environment.

Food. It is essential for survival. Without it, people die. However, oddly enough, many struggle to live without it to accomplish the standards that our culture has created for us. We are taught that being thin is perfection and will lead to a happier life. However, lurking are the health risks that one pays for obtaining the “perfect body”. Still, along with a distorted body image, others struggle with keeping weight down and fall into the diet fads that the world parades. From movies, magazines, and television, the media also sends us messages that being fat is bad and unhealthy while being thin and beautiful is acceptable. The impact of such influences has increased eating disorders in America. These disorders do not

This article explored the topic of identifying symptoms in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN). The Eating Disorder Inventory led a study, conducted by D. Garner, that studied females with AN to classify behavior exclusive to the psychological disorder. The researchers recognized the problem of trying to identify any restrictive manners or detrimental behaviors that could identify a person with AN. The purpose of the research was to find tell-tale symptoms or psychological indicators of AN in patients.

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

The latest manual of mental disorders (DSM-5) includes various changes in the Feeding and Eating Disorders chapter as a significant number of professionals diagnosing patients realized individuals were not fitting into certain criteria and therefore being labelled with EDNOS “Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified”. Some of the substantial changes to the Diagnostic Manual include changes to the criteria for Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. With this is mind my essay with focus on one of these specific subtypes. With evidence showing there has been an increase in Anorexia in the high risk-group of 15-19 year olds in the past decade, and Bulimia on the decrease since the early nineteenth century (Smink, Hoeken, Hoek 2012) my chosen subtype will be Anorexia Nervosa. As statistics are increasing further than those of other subtypes it merits singular discourse. AN remains the most deadly of all mental health disorders, with a 5-10% death rate within 10 years of developing the symptoms, and an 18-20% death rate within 20 years.

Anorexia nervosa is a disorder defined by the DSM 5 as a disorder characterized by the client displaying:1. Restricted food intake (energy) proportional to sex, age and developmental trajectory that leads to weight loss. 2. Processing fear of becoming overweight in spite of being underweight. 3. Dysfunctional way of experiencing one’s body weight or shape. Perceived unfavorable view of one’s body or shape (self image), and or lack of seriousness concern or denial of the seriousness of low body weight, (APA, 2013).

Anorexia Nervosa is one of several subtypes descending from feeding and eating disorders. It is a crippling life-threatening condition marked by a patient placing restriction on energy intake relative to needed energy requirements, resulting in a relentless pursuit of low body weight in the context of age, sex, development and physical health. According to American Psychiatric Publishing of diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5) “Anorexia Nervosa, often times have an early-onset which primarily affects adolescent girls and young women, is characterized by distorted body image and excessive dieting that leads to severe weight loss with a pathological fear of becoming fat” (APA). Anorexia is a condition more common amongst younger patients that causes a disruption in the normal growth process, because they fail to achieve ideal weight and height expectancy. Psychologist are able to determine if an individual meets anorexia weight cutoff requirement by measuring how thin their patients are by calculating body mass index (BMI)

This article focuses on eating disorders, but most importantly on the top ones that society are more familiar with which are anorexia and bulimia. It addresses cultural aspects that help influence these two eating disorders. The article defines the disorders so people can have an actual intellectual definition, instead of what people most commonly think they are. Also it talks about eating disorders in relation with the consumerist society and the standards that are being established with body-management (POPA 162).

As the term "anorexia nervosa" did not exist until 1873” (The first anorexic). In the western world one of the first accounts of anorexia nervosa was during “the 12th and 13th centuries, most famously Saint Catherine of Siena who denied herself food as part of a spiritual denial of self” (A History of Eating Disorders). Most cases of anorexia had to do with fasting as a religious or spiritual experience. However for the women of the Victorian period being thin had transformed and became a way for them to feel successful instead of powerless. It wasn’t till 1970 that the disorder was able to reach the public as it wasn’t just the upper-class that was suffering from anorexia. Again anorexia evolved into the "twentieth-century women progressively idealized the lean, almost 'tubular' body type, deprived of the symbolic emphasis of fertility and motherhood. The thinness of the 'new woman' expressed her sexual liberation and rejection of the traditional female role" (Bremer, J.). Whereas before woman needed to look healthy and capable of having and raising children, now women were aiming to achieve independence the need to be those thing were

Since ever, food has been an intrinsic part of mankind. Eating food has evolved from its main purpose of satisfying a physiological process to nowadays lifestyles. As time has gone on, the pace of life has influenced the conservative role model of family, changing with it, how food is elaborated today. Consequently, the pace of life has displaced well-elaborated food for a cheaper, less time-consuming junk food. As a result of food availability and new socio-cultural patterns in society, eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and obesity have been risen, being a matter of important concern in the quality of life.

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder clinically diagnosed as the use of extreme dieting or starvation to achieve a drastically thin body shape (Wolf 1991). This report considers the possible causes of AN from a Social Constructivist view and argues that AN should be considered a product of various social processes, rather than the result of a mental illness. To elaborate on this perspective, the following report will investigate the media’s influence on body satisfaction and the influence of socio-cultural characteristics such as ethnicity and class. Furthermore, this report aims to provide preventative recommendations that address the social and environmental causes of AN.

A patient with anorexia nervosa, or shortened as “anorexia”, has a distorted body image and an exaggerated fear of becoming overweight or obese, so a deliberate effort is made to lose weight (Nordqvist) .When looking at the physical appearance of people dealing with anorexia you will see someone who is underweight and unhealthy. Some individuals will also try to lose more weight because of their psychological state of mind. Those with this disorder or disease have increased sensitivity to gaining

The theme of this senior thesis project in Eating disorders. According to Alissa Smith writer of "Does social media play a role in eating disorders?." states that “more than 20 million women and 10 million men in the United States suffer from an eating disorder, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Eating Disorders” (Smith). There are three types of eating disorders that will be shown with in this work. “Eating disorders can take several forms, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa also binge eating disorder, which is the most common eating disorder in the United States, according to the National Eating Disorder Association” (Smith). The first is Anorexia Nervosa. In this type of eating disorder is when the patient’s weight is too low. The patient has a fear of gaining weight, they also have low self-esteem about their body image. The second type is Binge Eating Disorder. Patients that binge eat often consume large amounts of food but then will self-induce vomiting. The patients often will feel guilt for binge eating and have a feeling of being out of control. Patients will often eat when they are not hungry, eat to the point of being discomfort and will eat alone since they are ashamed of their eating behavior. The third type of eating disorder that will be shown within this work is called Bulimia Nervosa. A patient with this type of eating disorder will often eat a large amount of food but then self-induced vomiting to prevent