Eating Disorders Among Teens And Adolescents

With Anorexia Nervosa, there is a strong fear of weight gain and a preoccupation with body image. Those diagnosed may show a resistance in maintaining body weight or denial of their illness. Additionally, anorexics may deny their hunger, have eating rituals such as excessive chewing and arranging food on a plate, and seek privacy when they are eating. For women, they go through immediate body changes from abnormal to no menstruation periods and develop lanugo all over their bodies. Characteristics of an anorexic individual also consist of extreme exercise patterns, loosely worn clothing, and maintain very private lives. Socially, to avoid criticism or concern from others, they may distant themselves from friends and activities they once enjoyed. Instead, their primary concerns revolve around weight loss, calorie intake, and dieting. In regards to health, many will have an abnormal slow heart rate and low blood pressure, some can develop osteoporosis, severe dehydration which can result in kidney failure, and overall feel weak (Robbins, 27-29). It has been reported that Anorexia Nervosa has one of the highest death rates in any mental health condition in America (www.NationalEatingDisorders.org).

Girls are indoctrinated at a very young age that the well known Barbie doll is how a woman is supposed to look, which includes no fat, but large breasts, and due to that false view of a woman’s body, it is more than likely that young girls today will approach puberty with a negative body image. Although children can develop eating disorders as early as 6 years old, it is typically the teen years where it becomes out of control. Dr. Jonathon Rader says that “more than half of teenaged girls are, or think they should be, on diets. They want to lose all or some of the forty pounds that females naturally gain between 8 and 14. About three percent of these teens go too far, becoming anorexic or bulimic” (Rader). Almost everyone has heard of the terms “anorexic” and “bulimic” whether it was on TV or in a magazine, but not many people know the true facts and dangers that go along with them. They also might not even realize that there are other types of eating disorders that people are dealing with, some of which are not even specified. Exactly what are eating disorders?

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

Eating disorders may not seem like it’s that big of a deal. In America, we hear about a lot about people who contract illnesses such as cancer, but eating disorders isn’t talked about much. Over thirty million people suffer from these mental illnesses, such as anorexia or bulimia. Even though these disorders have the highest life span of any mental illness, they can lead to death due to organ failure, heart failure, starvation, or even go as far as committing suicide. Things such as peer pressure, sports, body image, and low-self esteem can drive teenagers towards eating disorders.

Anorexia nervosa is a mental illness that is characterized by an unrealistic fear of weight gain, self-starvation, and conspicuous distortion of body image. The individual with the disorder becomes obsessed with becoming increasingly thinner and will limits food intake to the point where their health is compromised (Butcher, Hooley, J. M., & Mineka, 2013).

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 currently viewed by society as an extremely complicated disorder, misunderstood, over looked, and misjudged based on the stigmas of society. People who suffer from eating disorders like Anorexia do not always report the fact they are in living with the disorder because they are ashamed or scared of what might happen to them or what people will say. An individual may also feel that they do not met the exact criteria of Anorexia Nervosa in the DSM 5. An example of the DSM 5 criteria for Anorexia Nervosa is an individual purposely takes too little nourishment, has below average body weight, fearful of gaining weight, refusal to keep a normal weight, distorted body perception

What is the definition of an eating disorder? Why does it affect so many of American young teens? Many individuals would believe that an eating disorders are a fad diet or an experiment to lose weight, but they are serious complex disorders that can take many years to recover from. Per statics eating disorders affect five percent of women and one percent of men in the United States. The South Carolina Mental Health Department reports that five to ten percent of girls with eating disorders will die within ten years of having the disease ("Eating Disorder Statistics," 2006). Individual whom is concern about their body imagine and low self-esteem the individuals will turn to food by over eating or not eating at all. Moreover, Doctors and Scientist have shown that eating disorder is a mental illness that individuals develop over an extend period.

This paper was designed to discuss several basic topics regarding anorexia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa is and eating disorder with an incredibly high mortality rate characterized by low body weight and an obsessive fear of becoming overweight that occurs primarily in females after puberty, yet before the age of 40 years. Unfortunately, Not much is known about the causes of anorexia nervosa, but possible correlations are blood relation to a person suffering from anorexia nervosa, those who have recently experienced a stressful event, a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder or obsessive compulsive disorder in childhood, or participation in a culture or profession that values thinness.

Today every girl wants to be “perfect” or be close to perfect. One of the requirements is to have a nice body. It is easy for any girl to reach this goal by changing their diet. Girls often have to deal with many different issues such as eating disorders, low-self esteem, body image issues and so on. Many of these issues are influenced by all the advertisement on social media. Some girls are not aware of the consequences that they will have to face after “fixing” their bodies. There are different ways teen girls harm their bodies such as eating and then purging which is called bulimia nervosa. Another eating disorder is starvation which is known as anorexia nervosa. Anorexia in teenage girls is very important to be aware of because young women

Eating disorders in children and teens cause serious changes in their health. Eating disorders are characteristics and cause by eating behaviors, also people with this disorder use eating, purging or restructuring with their issues. Eating disorders is divided into three parts as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, compulsive overeating, etc (Eating Disorders,n.d.).Eating disorders can overlap between and alternate of anorexia and bulimia. Eating disorders around the adolescence, but it can also start in childhood. Girls with bulimia nervosa fall within their normal range of body weight, but to them some girls feel that they are overweight. Almost 25 percent of females have bulimia in their lifetime. There are many celebrities who suffer from eating disorders while coming up in Hollywood or currently battling the disorder. Like, former pop singer/ performer Lady Gaga struggled with bulimia and anorexia while beginning her career. Another singer name Kesha, has recently been treated for an unspecified eating disorder (n.d.). Karen Carpenter, a former singer, died from cardiac arrest at the age of 32, for years she suffer from severe anorexia. Another singer name Demi Lovato, has become one of the most outspoken about her mental issues within her eating disorder (n.d.). Sharon Osbourne, wife of Ozzy Osbourne and former ‘The Talk’ host, Sharon has struggled with bulimia for over 30 years. Another famous daytime talk show host, Oprah Winfrey is a sufferer of disordered eating.

The article, "Anorexia Nervosa," examines the background information, symptoms, and treatment of anorexia. Anorexia is defined as a disease in which a person starves themselves and exercises excessively in order to lose weight. In addition, as the person continues to lose weight, they have a distorted body image and perceives themselves as fat. In other words, the person is literally blind to the physical condition of their own body. The treatment process includes the help of a counselor, a dietitian, and a psychologist as they work to improve both the physical and mental well-being of the patient.

In the past two decades, the percentage of adolescents who are overweight has almost tripled, from 5 to 14 % (Neumark-Sztainer, Story, Hannan, Stat, & Rex, 2003). For many, this is an alarming statistic. Studies concerning eating disorders are showing more and more frequency in younger age groups and especially in those who are athletes, diabetics, and obese adolescents (Martin & Golden, 2014). Many studies have shed some light on the issue of eating disorders by conducting surveys and developing new programs to use in schools. The purpose of this paper is to propose more education and programs in schools to reduce and prevent the development of eating disorders.

The initial step I took in my search for books on my topic was by writing into Deakin library home page search engine: ‘eating disorders teenagers.’ I was then able to narrow down the results by clicking onto the books only selection on the left hand side of the page. As I was searching from home, I clicked on the Internet option over the physical book. By clicking onto the Ebook Library (owned titles) under the ‘status’ category, it opened up another window directing me to Deakin library’s login services. After typing my username and password in, I was able to view the full record of the book. By clicking onto the contents category at the top of the page, I was able to successfully obtain the front