The Positive And Negative Aspect Of Their Disorder

Incidences of Anorexia Nervosa have appeared to increase sharply in the USA, UK and western European countries since the beginning of the 60s (Gordon, 2001). The increasing prevalence of the disease has led the World Health Organisation to declare eating disorders a global priority area within adolescent mental health (Becker et al. 2011). Anorexia has in many ways become a modern epidemic (Gordon, 2000) and with a mortality rate of 10% per decade (Gorwood et al. 2003), the highest of any mental disorder (Bulik et al. 2006), it is an epidemic that social and biological scientists have been working tirelessly to understand.

The film “Dying to be Thin” followed the cases of several individuals who have struggled with an eating disorder at some point in their lives, showing the different factors that play a role in eating disorder onset. Different individuals in the film have different reasons for developing an eating disorder but there are some over-arching themes such as the media’s influence, career-related pressures, and certain personality types.

“Dying to be Thin,” produced by PBS, is a documentary that examines the troubles that persons who are affected by eating disorders go through and the constant, daily struggles they face with health and body image. The film tells the story of a number of young women who battled mainly anorexia and bulimia and mixes a variety of ages to give a “during” and an “after” perspective. Many of the women in the video were ballet or some similar type of dancer. Dancers, by their own account, are encouraged to be thin. The issue really came to the forefront after a young ballet dancer from Boston died of heart failure at the young age of 22, with an eating disorder deemed to be the cause. The narrator goes on to introduce more young women and detail the potential illnesses that their eating disorders can cause. Chronic low blood pressure, kidney and liver damage, severe early osteoporosis, and heart failure are all common things seem in patients who suffer from eating disorders. Most patients have dangerously low body weights, body fat percentages, and, often, young women will experience amenorrhea, which is the loss of menstruation. All of the people in the video wanted to be better and were seeking a road to recovery. The video showed though, how difficult that can be since the eating disorders can be so wide ranging and have a number of different root causes. Often patients develop eating disorders as something that they have control over, in a world that they feel is out of their

In the writing “The Globalization of Eating Disorders” the author, Susan Bordo strongly uses the pathos appeal to influence the emotions of her audience. This writing speaks in detail about the growing issue of eating disorders, that is not only becoming an international issue; but as well I an issue that now affects young men and women alike. The way that this author uses this specific appeal is in a large part with very personal and relatable dialogue, about the sufferings of young adults that are affected by these issues. The author goes as far as to begin the writing, telling the story of a young girl “never fat to begin with, she’s been on a diet for a couple of weeks and has finally reached her goal weight of 115 at 5 to 4 inches… but in her eyes she still looks dumpy” (639). The author goes on to make a point to this narrative, but just the thought of this girl’s unhappy nature with herself, is enough to captivate the audiences’ emotions. The author uses this type of the pathos appeal throughout the rest of the writing to continue influencing the emotions of her audience, as to make her argument stronger.

It was very interesting to find that those with anorexia nervosa find more positives about their disorder rather than more negatives. Serpell (1999) states that, “One of the most interesting features of anorexia nervosas which sets it apart from many other conditions is the highly valued nature of anorexic symptoms. This is expressed in patients’ generally positive beliefs about their condition and contributes to their ambivalence about treatment (pg. 177). I think that with this article, it makes it more difficult for researchers to really find an effective treatment plan for those with anorexia nervosa partly because they find so many positive beliefs about their disorder and partly because maybe those with the disorder may not take treatment seriously or it may be more difficult to treat because they think so highly of their

eating disorder behaviors have changed. These behaviors have been evident throughout history however, they were not diagnosed as eating disorder., Bulimic behaviors were routinely practiced in in ancient Greek cultures, spiritual fasting was also recorded in the Middle ages (Marky, 2004). Anorexia Nervosa was not recognized by the medical community as an actual medical disorder until 1970, with Bulimia Nervosa not being recognized until 1979 (Miller, 1999.) Prior to this eating disorders were not recognized in culture, and it is culture that establishes eating disorder behaviors abnormal. Today’s culture does recognize eating disorders as the most deadly form of mental illness however, culture also contributes to the stigma against eating

Desire for the unachievable goal of perfection is constantly stimulated by media’s portrayal of skinny women and muscular men. Many people who view all of these images are highly effected, and begin to think they are not normal. For example, Danny Bowman, who at nineteen years old tried to kill himself because he did not take a ‘perfect’ selfie after ten hours of repeatedly trying (Aldridge). He dropped out of school, stayed home, and was violent when asked to stop (Aldridge). Danny tried to overdose after not taking a perfect selfie, because it was what he based his life around (Aldridge). Danny says that posting on social media, “becomes a mission to get approval and it can destroy anyone” (Aldridge). He was distressed when getting comments of disapproval on his selfie’s and getting rejected to be a male model, because he didn’t have the ‘right’ body or skin (Aldridge). He would look at and compare himself to the actor Leonardo DiCaprio, and feel down about his appearance (Aldridge). Likewise, a woman named Gina was diagnosed with anorexia after three years into the disorder, without knowing the cause (Gina). She barely ate and excessively exercised, and became obsessed with losing calories (Gina). After meeting with a therapist, Gina realized that her disorder, “was a product of every single advertisement, every little comment, every nuance and whisper and Photoshopped magazine cover”, and, “tended to by flash diets and juice cleanses and guilt-free foods and bikini

In my research, I explored the world of eating disorders. I wanted to see if there was anything specifically encouraging eating disorders and if there was a way to stop it. Eating disorders affect the community greatly because often times, they go unchecked or unrecognized. As a recovered anorexic, I feel it’s very important to address this issue. It’s a very big problem that is often not addressed at all, or is seen as normal, like counting calories. I hoped to find a way to improve the way that eating disorders are viewed and explain to people about what defines an eating disorder, because many people will never know if it is not explicitly explained to them. My study’s purpose is to bring light into the dark world of eating disorders

After reading the two studies by Serpell from 1999 and 2002, as well as watching the movie Dying to be Thin, I have several opinions about the people diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and Bulimia Nervosa (BN). In addition, I understand where certain types of therapy and practices could be introduced to help change the thought process of these individuals.

In the article titled, Bulimia Nervosa: Friend or Foe? The Pros and Cons of Bulima Nervosa by Serpell, it stated in a study that was conducted, Bulimics have a negative self image of themselves. A couple implications are these individuals often have feelings of shame and lack of self confidence. The second article titled, Bulimia Nervosa: Friend of Foe? The Pros and Cons of Bulimia Nervosa had patients do a writing exercise to their Bulimia. One letter was how they viewed Bulimia as a friend and the other was how they viewed Bulimia as an enemy. In the

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 nervosa and bulimia are eating disorders that severely affect both men and women around the world. The cause of the eating disorder usually derives from psychological, biological and social forces. Eating disorders have become an epidemic in American society, twenty-four million people of all ages and genders suffer from an eating disorder in the U.S. (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.\, 2011). There are many ways to address and treat an eating disorder. There have been multiple studies conducted to test the effectiveness of different types of treatment. My central research question analyzes the relationship between the continuation of the eating disorder with the presence of intervention or some

Earlier last week, a curious student at Glengrove Public School that goes by the name 'Mya Jackson', conducted an investigation where she researched and went undercover in the hidden Pro-Anorexia and Pro-Bulimia community. Anorexia is an emotion disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat. Bulimia is a similar condition where sufferers have distorted body image which causes them to eat large volumes of food in a short amount of time, followed by feelings of guilt and dangerous methods to purge such as self-induced vomiting or over exercise. Similar to the social media phenomenon 'Feederism', the Pro-Anorexia community is primarily for young women with anorexia or people who promote/aspire to have anorexia

The book breaks down the stereotype of what an eating disorder really is. In today’s society having an eating disorder means that you have some kind of “psychological frailty or illness” (1). When thinking about those that have eating disorders typically it is “young, middle to upper class, heterosexual white women” comes to mind (1). Their motivation is to take on the unrealistic appearance of models and reach the “standards created by advertisers and clothing designers” (1). The author in no regards is trying to down play women that have eating disorders because of the pressure of the media but is showing that there are other people and reasons for having eating disorders. This image that we currently have leaves out “women of color,

Eating disorders are extremely harmful and rising in prevalence. . The two most common eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. In this essay, I will compare and contrast these two disorders. This essay will also assess the symptoms, causes, health affects and the most prevalent characteristics of people diagnosed with these two eating disorders.