Why Is Anorexia Mainly Affecting Young Teenage Girls? Essay

Eating disorders are mental disorders that can have a serious physical complications. There are two main types of eating disorders anorexia and bulimia. These are complex disorders focusing on issues of eating, body weight, body shape. People who intentially starve themselves suffer from an eating disorder called anorexia this disorder usually begins in young people around the time of puberty, involves extreme weight loss due to starving themselves . People with bulimia consume large amounts of food and then rid there bodies of the excess calories by vomiting abusing laxatives, taking enemas or over exercising.

Many young teenagers have developed eating disorders, as they sadly use unhealthy habits to manage their weight and that is through skipping meals, fasting, self- induced vomiting, and not to forget excessive exercise. People with anorexia tend to be very skinny, and as when they look into the mirror, they literally see excess body fat. Their minds have tricked them into believing they need to lose more weight to be able to look fit.

There are many different reasons Anorexia is different from Bulimia and Binge eating. According to the Cambridge Eating Disorder Center the, “Low pulse rate, sensitivity to cold, loss of hair, etc.” are signs and symptoms of Anorexia. Bulimia’s signs and symptoms are swollen glands, puffiness in face, petty of stealing money to buy food” (CEDE). Binge Eating and Bulimia are the most alike but there are a few differences that points them out. Eating alone, possible history of marked weight fluctuations, eating when not hungry, etc. are all similarities between Bulimia and Binge Eating.

At present, these eating disorders have an effect on roughly 25 million Americans, of which almost 25% are of the male gender. Out of all the psychological disorders, anorexia has the highest mortality rate. The whys and wherefores include malnourishment, substance abuse and reckless suicides. Eating disorders can happen to anyone; no matter whether they’re male or female, rich or poor, old or young. According to many researchers, eating disorders are caused by more than just food. There are numerous

Image is very crucial for a teenager; the pressure of school and fitting in with there classmates and friends can be very difficult for a teenager. It is when a teenager starts taking image to the extreme and starts harming themselves by starving themselves. More and more teenagers are becoming anorexic and bulimic and it is not only affecting girls but boys are starting to come out and say they have an eating disorder. Anorexia and bulimia is a disorder that can not be taken lightly and needs to have more focus and the dangers to be taught to youth.

Eating disorders are sweeping this country and are rampant on junior high, high school, and college campuses. These disorders are often referred to as the Deadly Diet, but are often known by their more popular names: anorexia or bulimia. They affect more than 20% of females between the age of thirteen and forty. It is very rare for a young female not to know of someone with an eating disorder. Statistics show that at least one in five young women have a serious problem with eating and weight (Bruch, 25).

Many children and adolescents not only express dissatisfaction with their figure, shape and weight, but also exhibit disordered eating behavior, such as binge eating (eating a large amount of food with a sense of lack of control), food restriction, laxative abuse and vomiting. For children and adolescents, eating disorders can overlap in many instances. As an example, some children alternate between periods of anorexia and bulimia. Eating disorders typically develop during adolescence or early adulthood. However, research has shown that they can start in childhood, too. Females are much more vulnerable. Only an estimated 5% to 15% of people with anorexia or bulimia are male. With binge eating, the number rises to 35%

Even if some girls were not classified as having an eating disorder 44% of adolescent girls believed they were heavy and 60% were exercising excessively trying to lose weight. (Katzman et al. Pg. 287). Anorexia and Bulimia nervosa are deemed as medical illnesses or used to describe a psychological disorder by of self-induced starvation in order to become thin. People that have either of these illnesses have an excessive fear of gaining weight although they differ in their causation. Anorexia is when the person starves themselves for days without eating and Bulimia is recurrent binge eating, followed by vomiting, purging, fasting, the use of laxatives, diuretics, and over exercising. Sadly they both cause great harm to the human body.

Anorexia is a very serious eating disorder that causes your mind and your body to be completely obsessive about staying thin; also there have been a few cases where patients have taken self-starvation so far that it becomes life threating. There are many signs and symptoms to anorexia, a few include but are not limited to, “the refusal to eat, the denial of hunger, social withdrawal, unhealthy thin appearance, and lack of emotions” (Eating Disorders). Bulimia eating disorder is

Anorexia nervosa as stated in the Webster dictionary is a voluntary weight loss of at least twenty-five percent of body weight. The dramatic change in thinness may lead to other health problems such as cessation of menstruation. Another popular eating disorder is bulimia. Bulimia, as stated in the Webster dictionary, is an eating disorder characterized by binges, purges with laxatives, and self-induced vomiting. Some people have alternating patterns of the two problems. A prolonged period of either eating disorder can result in serious health problems or in severe cases death. In today’s society more and more adolescence feel the pressure to be perfect, to be thin. Anorexia and bulimia is the leading types of disorders that adolescences face.

The two most common eating disorders are bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. Both disorders, primarily affect young women, therefore the majority of the research on eating disorders has been done with women subjects. The onset of bulimia is between adolescence and early adulthood while the onset of anorexia is between early and late adolescence. Not only is the onset different but the disorders are unique. Bulimia nervosa is characterized by loss of control over eating which leads to food binges. These episodes are interspersed with episodes of purging, such as vomiting or laxative abuse, to keep weight down. The goal of anorexia is also to keep weight down , but to a

According to NEDA anorexia is the “intense fear of weight gain,” which leads to starving oneself to the point of malnutrition ("Types & Symptoms of Eating Disorders”). Bulimia is when a person continually consumes large amounts of food, followed by purging or excessive working out to eliminate the chance of weight gain. Binge eating is similar to bulimia, both consume large amounts, but binge eaters do this and then eat nothing for a while. Their eating patterns go from enormous amounts of food to nothing and back again (“Types & Symptoms of Eating Disorders”). Public awareness about all these eating disorders has been spread, some doctors preach eating right and working out, but few people listen to or act on the doctors words. Eating disorders have become a major problem in American and we need a solution soon.

Some common eating disorders are anorexia and bulimia. Anorexia is an emotional disorder that is characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight; and ways of achieving this is the refusal to eat. Bulimia is when one performs extreme overeating that is followed by depression and self-induced vomiting, purging, or fasting; it is an eating disorder in which a large amount of food is consumed in a short period of time, and then the person attributes feelings of guilt or shame, leading to the induction of vomit. Both of these disorders are caused by anxiety disorders, whether it be “OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), social phobia, specific phobia, and generalized anxiety disorder in childhood, before they developed an

Anorexia is a loss or a lack of appetite for food. Bulimia is over eating and can follow with vomiting or fasting. Bulimia comes with a lot of emotional issues too. Some people refer to Anorexia and bulimia as “women diseases.” These two medical conditions are more commonly seen in women, but that does not mean men do not suffer greatly. Research was taken and they found these cases affected seven million women and only one million men. It is actually a fact it is more dangerous for men to develop an eating disorder than women. The reason for this is because men will get down to the lowest weight and begin to lose valuable muscle and tissues. This is different than just losing fat.

Studies have shown that three percent of males and eight percent of females who were in high school said that they have either purged or took laxatives to lose weight (3). The symptoms of bulimia are tooth erosion, swallowing problems, esophagus problems, and acute stomach distress (“Eating Disorders”). However, binge eating disorder is completely opposite from anorexia and bulimia. Binge eating is when a person over eats in a short period of time. According to Susan Frissell and Paula Harney, two percent of the population suffers from binge eating disorder (27). Studies show that depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, and stomach pain is found in many people who suffer from binge eating disorder (Elkins 45; Kittleson 4). Many people will develop binge eating disorder because they want to distract themselves from a painful event that has happened in their life (Frissell and Harney 27).