...“Anorexia has the highest fatality rate of any mental illness, it’s estimated that 4% of anorexic individuals die from complications of the disease” (Eating Disorder Hope). Is anorexia nervosa an illness caused by negative social conditions or is it a mental illness/mental disorder? After reading “The Slender Trap” written by Trina Piscatelli, I don’t agree with Piscatelli when she states in her reading that negative social conditions are the cause of anorexia nervosa in young women. Anorexia nervosa is a mental illness/mental disorder. According to Mayo Clinic the definition of mental illness is “…disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Examples of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating...
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...Anorexia is an eating disorder that restricts or limits the amount of food people eat (Eating Disorder). In 1873, Charles Lasegue saw the first signs of anorexia. He saw that it affected people between the ages of 15 to 20 years old (Brumberg). Most anorexics are young women. One in every 200 American women have anorexia and only about 10% of men suffer from the disease (Eating Disorders). In 1980, anorexia was classified as a psychiatric disorder. Since then it is still becoming a growing problem. The number of anorexia cases has doubled since 1970. Anorexia is not having an impact on one particular race or social group. It is having an impact on people of all social groups and ethnic backgrounds (Anorexia Nervosa). However, there are 10 million women and 1 million men that have anorexia, the majority of them being white people (Bennett). Researchers do not know exactly what the causes are of anorexia, or other eating disorders for that matter. They say eating disorders can be caused by many things such as: biological, psychological, social, cultural and even family factors (Gowan). For many of the sufferers, anorexia becomes almost like a religion. People feel this way because, they have power over themselves. They control what they can eat and they feel in power when they do this (Bennett). A story I found off of ebsco, (academic resource website) was a girl who dreamed of being a ballerina. She saw many dancers who were thin and good at dancing and that’s...
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...audience about Anorexia Nervosa. Thesis Statement: Just a glance at all the horrifying aspects of Anorexia Nervosa and how it affects the mind and body. I. Introduction: A. Attention Getter: In this world there are 10 to 30 million Americans who are challenged everyday with an eating disorder (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, P 288) B. Thesis Statement: Just a glance at all the horrifying aspects of Anorexia Nervosa and how it affects the mind and body. C. Credibility Statement: Ever since I was thirteen years old, I have had this image engraved into my mind. The perfect body type. Something I didn’t ever really have. But once of my friends took the “perfect image” to the next level, that’s when I decided to educate myself on Anorexia Nervosa. D. Importance of Topic: Unfortunately, we live in a world where if you are built “big boned” you’re ugly, if you are too skinny, you’re ugly, if you have a certain hair color, you’re ugly, and if you have acne, you’re ugly. But if you’re blonde, you’re beautiful, if you are tan, you’re beautiful, and if you are from California, you’re beautiful. In this world there is no winning unless you are Jennifer Lopez, Halle Berry, or Scarlett Johansson. E. Preview: The main points that I’ll be covering will give a better understanding on what leads people to become anorexic, how it effects the mind and body, and other simple signs that occur when someone is dealing with being anorexic. Transition: Anorexia is the disease...
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...Mental Illness Paper HCA/240 Health and Diseases July 24, 2011 “Nervous loss of appetite” is what anorexia nervosa means, and based upon certain misunderstandings, this meaning hasn’t been necessarily good. Most people assume that individuals who are suffering from anorexia nervosa have just made a solid decision that they are no longer going to eat, when in reality, those who are suffering from this mental illness do not at all have a lack of appetite. Being mentally frightened of gaining weight is the main concept of anorexia nervosa. The word “weightfobia” could be used as a better expression for anorexia nervosa. According to Web4Health (2008), “In 1684, anorexia nervosa was described for the first time, but it was not until 1870 that it became identified and described with its own diagnosis.” By then, behavioral scientists and psychologists had a full understanding on anorexia nervosa, but it wasn’t until the 1970s when America began to broadcast the world about this mental illness. 1974 was the year when stories were reported about how young women began to refuse to eat anything, but nobody would go into full detail on how serious the illness was. In 1978, a psychologist named Hilde Bruch wrote a book which was based upon 70 actual cases of young women’s testimonies that related to anorexia nervosa; the book was called, “The Golden Cages.” With the new book is process, Hilde Bruch was able to confirm that this mental illness was becoming more frequent in young women...
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...Jennifer Salinas Nov.16, 2011 Anorexia Professional Development They say beauty is the quality of a person, that it’s not what you look like or where you come from that matters, what matters and makes a person beautiful is who you are, and that defines the grace in a person, if only it were true. Many people suffer with the pressures of their physical appearance. People, especially women fear the judgment of others and let the media set the ideal look that is accepted into our society. This is where the eating disorders such as anorexia manifest. Anorexia Nervosa is a eating disorder that is life-threating. Elements of this disorder involve of a great and intense fear of gaining weight, a body that is 15 percent lower than a normal person’s body, and most of all refuse to except they have a serious illness. People with anorexia keep an extreme low body weight using different methods such as over exercising, eating very limited portions of food, overuse of laxatives, or starvation. Someone with anorexia eat less than 1,000 calories a day. The diet of an anorexic person includes low calorie foods such as carrots, celery, or lettuce, most of the time eating meat is eliminate from there diet. This disorder usually is more common in women than in males. About 90 percent who develop it are women. It tends to develop in the teen years of girls and in young women. People who are dancers, models, actors, and athletes are the most at risk for developing this disorder...
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...Teenage Anorexia “Nothing tastes as good as thin feels” – Kate Moss, model It is unfortunate that this statement was ever made but the sad truth is that much of the modern world truly believes that being waifish is more important than being healthy. The culture of the modern world has spent decades idolizing high-end fashion models that are 6’00” tall and skin and bones. This image pollutes the mind of the teenager and begins to manifest a disorder in teens that cannot handle their own body image. Sadly the statistics for teenagers for eating disorders is astounding. Over one half of teenage girls and one third of teenage boys have unhealthy eating habits largely because of the yearning to be thin (Neumark-Sztainer, 2005). Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses directly on the problem at hand. For 14 year old Judy Jones, her problem is anorexia nervosa. Due to the nature of anorexia nervosa, Judy is likely experiencing some fear or change in her life. Dealing with an eating disorder is consuming and a way of coping with the change. I would choose to use cognitive-behavioral therapy to treat the psychological issues and her physical needs by altering her behavior. Interestingly enough, anorexia nervosa affects over-achievers and students that excel in other areas of their lives moreso than students of average achievement. This disorder grabs hold of them as a coping mechanism and the teenager cannot escape its clutches. If a student is good at everything they do,...
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...Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by excessive food restriction and fear, fear of gaining weight, and a distorted body self-perception. Anorexia is one of results caused by social and media pressure. That’s because everyone today wants to look like models or trying to appear more attractively. First, Anorexia is the worse way to lose weight. It’s harmful to the body and can cause psychological and gynecological problems. Anorexia affects mostly females between their teens or young adult women age period, it is harming our society greatly. For w person suffering from Anorexia , social problems form like isolation and depression, too. Also, anorexia is a socially transmitted disorder, environmental factors, such as acceptance in certain athletic and social groups, which can contribute to the effects of an eating disorder. Studies provide information about the environmental issues that influence Anorexia. Some studies say that three-thousand participants from across Europe provide evidence that peer pressure is a major source of an eating disorder. The idea that public opinion and peer pressure causes Anorexia Nervosa has been considered as a possible cause for a while. A lot of people say that low body weight is equated with beauty and success. While overweight or obese individuals, are equated with ugliness, a lack of success, and an implied lack of self control. The conflict between actual and desired body appearance is thought to trigger Anorexia in...
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...Eating Disorders: Anorexia and Bulimia Abby looks at herself in the mirror, she turns around and takes a good look at herself, she is thinking “How can I be so fat and everyone else is so skinny?” To top it off Abby is a high school student everyday her situation gets worse and worse. Not only does she feel guilty when she eats, but she also purges it up after she’s done eating. This can be the beginning of an eating disorder called Bulimia Nervosa. Many teens around this age feel insecure about their changing bodies because our society is obsessed with being thin which makes teens want to be thin so they can begin to feel loved and valued. Many times it can also be that they want to look like their favorite actor but the ones who think that need to realize that every individual is different, we all have our different style and taste which makes us have our own unique look. Eating disorders are amongst the most common psychiatric syndromes, this leads to impatient hospitalization and suicide attempts for morality. According to recent studies both anorexia and bulimia are most common in the United States. This research paper will point out the importance of eating disorders: bulimia and anorexia, how the theory “Social comparison” can be used for this topic when comparing the US to other countries that are the opposite of bulimia and anorexia such as force-feeding and will also state how different it is in a little town in Africa called Mauritania and a prison...
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...Anorexia Disorder Josephine Ingraham PSYCH/575 - PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY August 20, 2011 Nicole Jung Anorexia Disorder Anorexia is a serious disease that is defined as not having an appetite for fear of gaining weight. Most cases involving anorexia, start at the adolescent age of women and if not treated can advance to adulthood and even death. There is no cure for this disorder but there are many different treatments to help those learn to deal with this disorder and eventually find a way to live a normal lifestyle. This paper will discuss the disorder, and comparing the contrast and comparison of three therapeutic treatments for this disorder. Understanding Anorexia Anorexia is a serious psychological disorder that affects most young girls from the ages of 13 to 21 years old. “Approximately 95% of those affected by anorexia are female and most are teenage girls, however, males can develop this disorder as well.” (Gentile, 2010). There is no cause for anorexia, however many studies have been done to find the main cause of this disorder. Studies suggest that a genetic component may play a more significant role in determining a person’s chances of getting this disorder. One evidence that researchers are implying that there is a dysfunction in the part of the brain the hypothalamus which is a contributing factor in the development of anorexia (Gentile, 2010). Another theory is that under feeding an infant, and maternal depressive symptoms tend to be risk factors...
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...disturbance of anorexia nervosa. Explaining, the historical pattern of disturbances related to eating, I found this to be of considerable interest to me. Anorexia nervosa was first introduced in the medical literature by, ( William Gull, 1874) and first in the year 1684 and in the Western world. Anorexia affects an estimated eight people out of 100,000 per year. It's not clear how many of them are male. However, women take the lead nationally. The term anorexia nervosa was first coined in 1988. A doctor writing the British medical journal, the Lancet, used the term to describe people who, although thin and weak, insisted that they needed to lose weight and would not eat a sufficient amount of food to remain alive. Anorexia nervosa is a nervous, psychological eating disorder characterized by a refusal to eat, even to the point of starvation. Other symptoms include an intense fear of becoming fat that never goes away, no matter how thin the individual becomes; extreme activity and an obsession with working out; negative feelings about the way the body looks; deep feelings of shame; and problems with drug and or alcohol abuse, and most of the people who suffer from this disorder are female. Anorexia typically appears during adolescence, the incidence of eating disorders, particularly among young women in the United States, has escalated dramatically during the past decade, an estimated 8 million Americans struggle with anorexia, according to the, National Association of Anorexia Nervosa...
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...Unlike Any Other Disease: Anorexia “I really gotta start losing weight before spring break,” a 15 year old from Long Island wrote in her blog on Xanga.com, a social networking site. “Basically today I went 24 hours without food and then I ate green beans and a little baked ziti. Frankly I’m proud of myself, not to mention the 100 sit-ups on the yoga ball and the 100 I’ll do before sleep. Yay for me.” (Williams 2). Anorexia nervosa is an illness that usually occurs in teenage girls, but it can also happen to teenaged boys and adult men and women. People with anorexia nervosa are obsessed with the thought of being and remaining thin. They lose a lot of weight and are terrified of gaining it back. Anorexia nervosa isn’t just a problem with food or weight; it’s an attempt to deal with emotional problems (Siegel 1). To completely understand and comprehend this horrific disease, you must consider the media that includes pro-anorexia websites that include negative support for suffering anorexics, celebrities in Hollywood, and teenager’s peers. Background information and the effects are also vital to the cause of this disease. If we look into any teenager’s experiences throughout middle school and right through high school there are all sorts of negative pressures: to drink, smoke, use drugs. But one of the least visible one of them is all is unforgiving demands to be thin and appear as the famous stars to in Hollywood. Teenager’s peers may put pressure on the so called ‘friends’...
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...been affecting people for centuries, people have always had a certain stereotype the world chooses to appear like. There is a substantial amount of people that develop eating disorders or depression. Teens in this era are at a great risk to the exposure of self-harm and judging themselves all because of the current stereotypes for men and women. Everyone at some point in their lifetime have dealt with body-image issues, some more severe than others. Many people have died from severe cases of disorders like anorexia or mental disorders because they were so obsessed with their bodies or faces being perfect. Many people commonly binge eat then do strenuous exercise to work off all the weight they just gained, but that makes people...
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...readers a special issue in March featuring larger than normal models and sales jumped. British designer Mark Fast introduced shows last year in which the models were all above a British size twelve, and American size eight, following criticism that his dresses were too skinny. Despite their trailblazing status in the fashion world, when it comes to bigger models New York and London are slightly out of step. The move towards more generously sized models has accelerated since the death from anorexia in 2006 of Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston, which shocked the fashion world. Spain and Italy banned models below a certain body mass index after her death, while Britain stopped short; banning only those aged under sixteen from the catwalk. “Sixteen corresponds to a level of maturity,” said Caroline Ruth of the British Fashion Council. When Frederique van der Wal, a former Victoria’s Secret model, attended designers’ shows during New York’s Fashion Week this month, she was “shocked” by the waiflike models who paraded down the catwalk. They seemed even skinnier than in previous years. “We know seeing super-thin models can play a role in causing anorexia,” says Nada Stotland, professor of psychiatry at Rush Medical College in Chicago and vice president of the American Psychiatric Association. Because many models and actresses are so thin, it makes anorexics think their emaciated bodies are normal, she says. “But...
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...ANOREXIA NERVOSA Anorexia Nervosa: A Dangerous Eating Disorder Juliane W Heck Edison State College Anorexia Nervosa: A Dangerous Eating Disorder Introduction In a society where looking good is a synonym of “being slim”, runway models become role models for millions of thousands of teens worldwide. The pressure for being thin and looking good is everywhere around us: from magazine models to movies stars, the subliminal message is always present and has a great impact on the youth’s lives nowadays. The world’s pressure on these young people can become extremely dangerous when the obsession with their bodies gets out of control. Anorexia Nervosa is one of the most common life-threatening eating disorders among young people and is defined by a refusal to maintain minimal body weight within 15 percent of an individual's normal weight through self-starvation (http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=102975/ Nami, 2010, para.1). Anorexia Nervosa may lead to serious health problems and potential death. Fortunately, with help from professionals, therapy, family & friends, this serious eating disorder can be treated and cured, and the patient can return to live a healthy and normal life. Who does it Anorexia Nervosa affect and why? Eating disorders are found nearly exclusively in Western or Westernized...
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...ENC1102 Research Paper 3/15/2014 The Thin-Ideal Women around the world struggle with self-worth as well as depression. Many of these lead to more severe situations, such as eating disorders or even suicide. The idea which has created these issues has developed over time through media and the fashion world. The idea that women are to look a certain way and wear a specific size has caused much turmoil for those living in the Western world. It has been proven through research and studies that show the impact media and advertising has on a woman’s self-esteem as well as her self-image. It has become a cultural idea for women to have thin, curve-free bodies, which cause women who do not fit the image to feel body dissatisfaction along with an importance of the woman’s weight leading her toward depression. Though men can be effected by the stereotypes of body images, it is higher amongst women (Rizon and Fallon, 1988). How Media Portrays the Thin-Ideal The media portrays the thin-ideal through many different aspects. It almost always uses a communicator (the person who is used to relay the message of how thin is the best body image), a message (this is different depending on the type of media used), the channel (which is also different depending on what message the communicator is trying to portray), and finally the audience (who the communicator desires to reach through his or her message using a specific channel). An example of this type of media would be a Weight Watchers...
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