Eating Disorders In Stick Figure

The book I read was Stick figure written by Lori Gottlieb. The character Lori is from los Angeles California, where everyone is always looking their best, Lori did not feel the pressure to look like the other girls until her encounter with her older cousin Katie on her trip to Washington Dc. Katie explained to Lori on how to eat like “a girl”. Lori, being in awe of how beautiful and thin Katie was, decided to take to Katie's advice. Lori then developed Anorexia nervosa during the trip. However, before Kate and Loris encounter Lori was a smart, independent curious child and most people including teachers did not like that. Lori remains smart and independent throughout the story, however, readers see how Loris life went downhill.

Once upon a time, women were celebrated for their curves. Weight was a symbol of wealth and fertility in a woman. During this time, women were subjugated to being a housewife and nothing more. As time and society progressed, a woman’s prison became her body and no longer her home. Women had the freedom to vote, work, play, but could no longer be fat. This new beauty standard of thinness affects women in many ways. In “Add Cake, Subtract Self Esteem” written by Caroline Knapp, she describes her own personal experience on how this impossible standard affects women’s eating which leads to eating disorders and an unhealthy relationship with food. In “The Beauty Myth” written by Naomi Wolf, she describes the mental effects on women from a

Something that surprised me about Stick Figure was the age at which Lori became so body conscious, only eleven years old. The textbook says that 40% of anorexia cases are in females 15 to 19 years old (Schacter, Gilbert, and Wegner 288). Lori was not heavily influenced by media, as I believed was the major cause of eating disorders. However, the pressure on women around her that she looked up to (such as Kate and her mother) greatly contributed to her low self esteem. “Individuals with anorexia tend to have a distorted body image that leads them to believe they are fat when they are actually emaciated” (Schacter, Gilbert, and Wegner 288). This distorted

Eating disorders can affect anyone like it did to Polly. Polly has shared her story in the book Thin. She give full experience of an eating disorder she had. “Dieting has always been a huge part of my life” polly said in the book Thin (42). Polly is a young women who started with eating disorders at the age of 10. She didn’t realize it then or as a teen. As a young girl she would count calories and threw up if she thought she over ate. She even had diet pills packed in her lunch when she was in elementary school. He mother made the situation worst when she did a bet with her mother at the age 10. The bet was to lose 10 pounds and she would get $100. Polly won that bet and continued to take the same route. Polly thinks she started to have a

Forty-three published abstracts were retrieved from PubMed database and three were retrieved from CINAHL database, for a total of 46 articles for potential inclusion in the review. Three duplicates were then removed, yielding 43 articles for potential inclusion. Two articles were excluded because they are commentaries. Three articles were excluded because they are reviews. One article was excluded because it is a case study. 14 articles were excluded because they do not include a mindful eating intervention. Two articles were excluded because they do not focus on weight or weight-related co-morbidities. One article was excluded because it focuses on anorexia nervosa or bulimia. One article was

“The mindset that a person can never be "too rich or too thin" is all too prevalent in society, and it makes it difficult for females to achieve any level of contentment with their physical appearance”(Serdar, "Female Body Image and the Mass Media: Perspectives on How Women Internalize the Ideal Beauty Standard").‘‘The Fat Girl’’ was published in 1977 as part of Dubus’s short story collection Adultery, and Other Choices. It has now become one of his best-known works. Throughout Dubus’s career, many has praised his writing for their eloquent treatment of sensitive topics such as eating disorders. Whether it is known or not, eating disorders are very prevalent in our society. In fact, eating disorders are the most common psychological disorder in our society to date. But why such prevalence now? Well, we can find the answer all around us, in fact, we are being bombarded by imagery every day the effects several eating disorders. Family, friends and society all affect eating disorders prevalence in today’s society. As the reader delves into the short story “The Fat Girl” they can see how Dubus addresses the delicate topic of eating disorders and their contributing factors.

Despite being the most prevalent eating disorder amongst individuals with developmental disabilities and may occur in as many as 25%-33% of children, there is much that is still unknown about pica. There has been little advancement in finding out what causes this disorder and because of that, treating and even diagnosing pica can be difficult. In addition to that, pica can have health consequences that range from mild to severe so, when coupled with the difficulty in treatment and lack of breakthrough research, pica has the potential to be an extremely dangerous disorder.

Pica is an eating disorders were people are persistently eating substances that have no nutritional value (Krucik, 2015). Someone diagnosed with pica, could eat a variety of things. Some of the most common things include dirt, paint, metal, drywall, soap, buttons, clay, hair, sand, cigarette butts, glue, chalk, feces and ice. In the case of ice, no really damage is done to the body. Other materials such as metal, drywall, and paint could lead to really serious consequences such as lead poisoning in the case of metal.

The four sections that follow review the article “A qualitative study of transgender individuals experiences in residential addiction treatment settings: stigma and inclusivity” by Lyons, T. Shannon, K., Pierre, L., Small, W., Krüsi, A., Kerr, T. (2015).

I thought the chapter in the textbook about eating disorders was very interesting. This is a very real and current issue in our country today. And as I learned in the reading, it affects many countries throughout the world, not just the United States. According to the PsychWatch section on page 281, “Eating Disorders Across the World”, non-Western countries are starting to be exposed to more Western and United States television and magazine advertisements, and this is resulting in more cases of eating disorders in these countries. Both men and women are affected by anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. The statistics show that more women than men have these eating disorders. But it is hard to say if this is true, or if just more women seek help.

Millions of teens and adults are faced with eating disorders and negative body images everywhere they go. Celebrities promote unrealistic standards and display what the “acceptable” body is. Because of our stick thin role models we have in the media today much of our society holds their own body image to the unobtainable standards of celebrities. People are bombarded with images of what’s “sexy” instead of what’s healthy (Helmich). In a world based around celebrities and media, shouldn’t they be promoting a healthy body image instead of the negative ones we are being smothered with?

Topic: What is causing young adults and teens to develop eating disorders and how can we help them?

Anorexia nervosa is starving oneself, sometimes even to death, because of a personal believe that one is unattractive or unlovable. People with anorexia have a six fold increase in mortality rates compared to people who aren’t. And many of the deaths are sudden due to irregular heartbeats or coma induced by low blood sugar. Bulimia nervosa is eating and then Vomiting soon afterward or using a laxative to get rid of food in order to avoid weight gain. About 1 to 3 percent of adolescents and college aged women have bulimia. Binge eating disorder involves binge eating but not purging afterwords. About 3.5 percent of all women have this disorder, and it is more common in obese people.

Brewerton, Timothy D. "Eating disorders, trauma, and comorbidity: Focus on PTSD." Eating disorders 15.4 (2007): 285-304.

The amount of males that are unsatisfied with their bodies has tripled in the last twenty-five years. According to Helen Fawkner, doctor of philosophy, it has increased from fifteen percent of the male population to forty-five percent. It is an extremely severe problem that most people are not aware of. It can lead to suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and eating disorders, but the majority of people think that males do not have to worry about it as much as females. However, they have the same amount of pressure to have the perfect figure as females, it is just not delineated. Body image and eating disorders are not just female problems, men go through the same issues.