Mr James Veersace Orthorexia Case Summary

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).

Another aspect of anorexia nervosa suffers that can halt treatment is the personality traits that have been found to put children at higher risk of eating disorders. The traits are being anxious, perfectionistic, obsessive personality and negative self-evaluation that are displayed before the onset of the disorder (Kaplan). Research has shown that these traits are still persist after treatment and

He points out that the behaviour of restricting anorexics cannot be explained by this theory. If restricting food intake leads to over eating, how do they manage to starve themselves? However, it can be argued that as anorexia is a mental disorder, its behaviour cannot be generalised with dieters, to whom this theory is relevant.

People with anorexia see themselves as overweight even though they are dangerously thin. The process of eating becomes an obsession to them. Anorexia is a psychiatric disorder, which usually co-exist with other disorder such as, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. There are many biological and environmental factors that play a major role in developing anorexia. Genetics is one of the biological factors that may play a role. The tie between anorexia and one’s genes is still being heavily researched. Nutritional deficiencies and irregular hormone functions can as while. Some environmentally factors could be like a family or childhood traumas such as sexual abuse. Peer pressure among friends and co-workers to be thin and careers that promote being thin and weight loss such as, ballet and modeling can also play an important

Anorexia is an emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat. Anorexia is caused by low self-esteem, extreme drive for perfectionism, a distorted body image, and genetics.

The article “Orthorexia: When Healthy Eating Becomes an Obsession” which is written by Sarah Elizabeth Richards, talks about what Orthorexia is and how it develops. It also talks about how the affected person feels towards himself/herself and shows how difficult it is to distinguish between eating healthy and eating obsessively while ending the article with indicators that reveal if someone is

While obesity is an epidemic sweeping the nation, Orthorexia Nervosa is sweeping in. In 1997, Doctor Steven Bratman wrote an article in the 1997 issue of Yoga Journal (http://www.orthorexia.com/original-orthorexia-essay/) on a new term he introduced as ‘Orthorexia.’ Orthorexia is the unhealthy obsession with eating healthy food (Bratman S. 1996.) Not to be confused with anorexia, orthorexia does not base itself upon the idea of unhealthy restriction, but instead health and purity. Orthorexia is a relatively new disorder than compared to its similar counterparts; bulimia, anorexia, and binge-eating disorder. The health industry has created a new sense of fear in the western world, a fear of the unhealthy.

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

Many people affected by anorexia isolate themselves from the outer world. This can be because of many things; people offering food, people worrying, people asking questions, the looks from others, being looked at by others. They fear weight gain of any sort. No matter how low their weight drops, they will always be stressing over the idea of fat on their bodies. While their BMI and weight

He was the first one who gave credit to this term. He created this term for those, who became obsessed with a healthy diet/lifestyle. "This is not a weight loss regimen but an immense phobia about eating only "pure" food. Having orthorexia nervosa not only means that people are obsessed with eating "healthily", but also that they have a specific attitude to food, they prepare their food in a certain way [1] as well as avoid consumption of some foods or all of a some group of foods since they consider them to be harmful for their health"(Orthorexia Nervosa). After time patients become more concern about the quality of food than anything else happening around them. Their obsession becomes the part of their lives: they are not going to go out that often, they are going to cut out people they used to care about from their lives. All they are going to think about is food: the preparation, their diet plan/schedule, how to make it more healthy. They are going to cut out sugar and fat from their diet, and if they consume any of it, they are going to feel guilt. They spend the majority of time thinking about these topics. They are going to spend more time thinking about their diet than live their lives. That is the point when one may need some help. So, since it is not a common disease, is there any treatment for

According to the article Eating Order about 15- 20% of people become anorexic at some point in their lives. Anorexia, an eating disorder where people avoid eating to become thinner. Anorexia is a mental psychological disease, where one has no control over their thoughts when it comes to their body image. People who suffer from anoxia can also suffer from bullying which contributes to anoxia being self conscious. However, there are many treatments that one can take for instance, psychology treatment it can take a long process to treat anoxia. People who suffer from anoxia are usually in denial and they are also hard to stop doing it. Anoxia usually happens to teens, younger people because their hormones are still developing and they don’t feel confident with themselves. People who have a mental disorder are harder to help out because they do not see the point clear and the do not realize they need

Orthorexia is not about how thin we can be or how little we can consume it is about having control over eating healthy to where it can at times cause disease or death. Parents mean well but in their tendency to teach their children proper nutrition and diet skills they can do more harm than good. Parents need to be aware of the early warning signs or if they think they may have a problem with their children's eating habits. When we have anxiety about what we are eating, then that can be just as harmful to our bodies as cutting out all the foods that considered “wrong”. One of the signs of orthorexia is for the person to start cutting out all unhealthy types of food, which can be very dangerous as our bodies need different kinds of foods and there is a reason for all the types of food and to cut these items out can cause serious health consequences. If you see any warning signs or notice you or someone you know is starting to take eating healthy to an unhealthy level, the best place to look for treatment or therapy is dieticians and counselors dealing with

Steven Bratman in 1997 the term orthorexia nervosa describes individuals who have an unhealthy relationship with food characterized by “a restrictive diet, ritualized patterns of eating, and rigid avoidance of foods believed to be unhealthy or impure” (Nancy S Koven, Alexandra W. Abry). This manifests through a restrictive diet, a focus on food preparation, ritualized patterns of eating, and obsessive thoughts about food as well as spending extra time researching, cataloging, or discussing food, dieting, and other food related topics. Outside of meals and preparation, individuals suffering from this disorder may also develop an obsession with exercise in a further pursuit of

Researchers have discovered an area on chromosome 1 that appears to be associated with an increased susceptibility to anorexia. Others can suffer from psychological reasons. People that feel low self-worth sometimes become anorexic to make themselves feel better. Anorexia’s may have an extreme drive for perfectionism, which means they may never thing they’re thin enough. A lot of people suffer because of sociocultural reasons. The media is filled with images of thin models and actors, which associates success and worth with being thin. Peer pressure from friends, coworkers, and classmates also causes some people to feel there not fitting it.

Although orthorexia nervosa is not an eating disorder that many people are aware of, it is