What is Anorexiz Nervosa
Savchenko Natalia
The discussion will be on an
eating disorder, Anorexia Nervosa, that is a huge concern of our society. It
is an eating disorder that is caused by a complex mixture of social,
psychological and physical problems and consists of various conditions that
involve an obsession with food, weight and appearance to the degree where a
person’s health, relationships and usual everyday activities are threatened to
fail.
The
statistics are dramatic. Anorexia has become more common in developing
countries in the past 20 years. 50% of Anorexics recover fully, another 20%
only recover physically and the reported mortality rate is 20%. Each year, approximately
one out of every 200 females adolescents become anorexic. About 90-95% of all
people who suffer from Anorexia Nervosa are females. The most vulnerable to
this eating disorder are the ambitious, achieving girls between the ages of 12
and 25. However, in industrialized countries, the condition is becoming more
prevalent in all age groups and both sexes . The main trait of anorexia is when
body weight is more then 15% lower then the expected one. It is caused by fear
of gaining weight that embraces excessive preoccupation with food and abnormal
eating habits.
Basically,
it is an addiction that results in successive changes in mind and body. The
progression of these changes follows an orderly and predictable path from
health to mental and physical devastation. The addiction that we are talking
about is a result of self-starvation process. This means that during that
process a group of substances called endorphins is produced by the body that is
very addictive. These substances play major role in causing the behavioral and
mental changes characteristic to this condition and are responsible for
perpetuating and maintaining anorectic behavior throughout all stages of
addictive process.
The addiction
concept of Anorexia Nervosa is made up of 2 principles: One states that much of
the anorexics actions like behavior and thinking are governed by the mechanism
of reward. That is a person will self-administer by engaging in such behavior
whereas a non-addictive substance will not cause a person to automatically
continue self-administration in order to get some pleasant experience. The
second is that there is a direct causative relationship between the state of
eating and the state of mood and feelings. Which means that non-eating and
weight loss promote a sense of well-being or improvement of depressed mood via
release of endorphins.
Two types
of Anorexia Nervosa are recognized: first is a simple restriction of food.
People usually starve themselves despite the hunger pains that they suffer. The
second type includes restriction of food and either regular purging or binging
and purging together. It is done by means of laxatives, appetite suppressants
or even self-induced vomiting.
The
distinguishing dietetic trends are consumption of low-fat foods, vegetarianism
and avoidance of all the sweet products. Moreover, dramatic reduction in
caloric intake takes place that is many times accentuated by a significant
increase in activity. Often an aversion to foods is developed. Such eating
behavior is a cause of severe lack of macronutrients such as fats, proteins and
carbohydrates as well as minerals and vitamins that make it impossible for an
organism to maintain itself in good health.
Anorexia
Nervosa also falls into a category of mental illnesses because it has been
found that this condition is many times accompanied by other mental illness.
Common for all the anorexics is that food becomes the main object of their
lives and it makes them feel as if it was impossible to live without it. Food
becomes a dominant in all the daily regulations and judgments. And unlike other
eating disorders suffering from anorexia do not consider their weight loss and
restricted eating as problematic and no matter how much they weight, the
feeling of being overly fat will not abandon them.
Anorexia
Nervosa consists of various stages. First is the Early Loss Phase where a
series of physical and mental changes occur as adaptation change to promote
survival. Then it is followed by an Advanced Weight Loss Phase. It begins when
a person reaches the desired weight but is unable to stop dieting due to the
addictive function of endorphins. Brain dependency takes place, judgdements
become less perceptive and objective. The third phase is the Burn-out Phase.
Here the tolerance can no longer be overcomed by an individual. During this
phase an anorectic feels the return of some anxiety and depression because a
person finds out that she or he does not cope as well as did in the previous
phases. Also because the feeling is worth, the addicted side of the anorectic’s
mind makes every effort to lock in a view of herself/himself that is in favor
of self-starvation. Just like other addicts, the anorectic has to hit the
proverbial bottom before change is truly possible and has a reasonable chance
to last. The anorectic has to experience the power of the addiction even
without being aware of it. No reasoning or threatening has anywhere near as
much effect on the anorectic’s attitude as the painful experience of being
consumed by the addiction, only to find out in the end that she has been
wreckled by it and has received nothing in return. At this point anorexics may
give in to urging of their parents or friends and agree to seek professional
help
So what are
the main forces that make people loose control over one’s lives? Anorexia
Nervosa is a very complex disease and wide variety of reasons underlie it
however despite that that most specialists agree that dieting is the basic
entry line for entering the disorder.
Anorexics themselves can be
divided into two groups: first consist of those that have concerns related to
their weight. Under the second group fall those people that have problematic
relationship with oneself and others. The disorder is further complicated when
braided with the social demand that put great emphasis on appearance and
thinness. But generally it is nothing but the outcome of chronically depressed
mood and the constitutional inability to maintain an internal equilibrium.
It is known
that Anorexia nervosa affects both males and females of different age groups
and ethical and racial backgrounds. However some tendencies do appear. Anorexia
more often affects women. Men are affected less partly because it is believed
that it isn’t suitable for a man that is not a gay to be over concerned with
his body. The greater disposition towards Anorexia Nervosa in women can easily
be reasoned. It is commonplace that all the women magazines usually have ten
times as many advertisements and articles on weight loss as man’s do. This
happens because every magazine tries to satisfy the reader’s demand. By doing
that they make females bring back thoughts about their weight over and over
again. And the main reason for such interest towards dieting is that now more
then ever mankind is bombarded by thousands of images of young beautiful and
extremely thin models smiling from everywhere: TV-screens, press and publicity
boards. This fact is also directly correlated to the increased demand on books
and articles describing the diets and exercise strategies of these ideal girls
and makes women believe that each one of them can achieve such thinness on a
cost of a bit of suffering. Women may also start correlating model’s success to
their slim bodies. These thoughts may mislead them into the idea that without
it is impossible to achieve the desired success. The models surrounding us (in
press, television and other sources) also create strong associations of
beautiful as inseparable from thin that is another reason of wanting to achieve
these extremely thin shapes.
Anorexia
may also result from low self-esteem in attempts to obtain external validation
by trying to match unrealistic media image. It is most often expressed in
people who are perfectionists, have difficulties in handling stress situations
or in those that possess distort body image and are constantly preoccupied with
weight, body size and shape.
Anorexia
may be triggered from a simple remark of another person towards an individual
with low self-confidence. Or the psychological situation might be adversely
affected by loss of a loved one. These situations may distort naturally weak
psychological balance giving a push towards this eating disorder.
Moreover,
correlation has been established between emotional, physical and sexual abuse.
And since females are abused more often then males, this fact serves as another
reason that explains the higher percentage of cases among women than men.
Another
major source of Anorexia Nervosa lies in sports that put great emphasis on
weight and appearance. The examples are: gymnastics, bodybuilding, ballet and
distance running. In these cases competition stands out as the main engine that
generates the eating disorder.
Some cases of young people
may result from excessive attempt of their parents to control their child’s
weight. Usually the expected effect is not achieved, instead that makes
teenagers doubt about their appearance and disturb the self-esteem that is
often based on the parent’s approval.
At last,
few cases have been reported where eating disorders occurred in various
generations within a family that suggests us that genetic prepossession does
play an important role in occurrence Anorexia Nervosa.
All the
above-mentioned factors act on a person making him/her loose control over
dieting, that finally result in Anorexia Nervosa. This eating disorder has many
adverse consequences as one’s body, psychology and social life. First of all
body’s regulatory mechanisms are seriously disturbed. And the longer behavior
persists worth are the consequences and harder it is to give up the addiction.
Anorexia Nervosa is a disease of malnutrition with severe after-effects.
Particularly lack of proteins can cause “cannibalism” of an organism (auto
digestion). Osteoporosis is very likely to occur under these circumstances.
Insufficient fat intake is the main cause of poor absorption of fat-soluble
vitamins. General
effects
experienced by anorexics are sensitivity to cold and heat, headaches, fatigue,
weakness and fainting. Once it gets to physical complications the heart, the
blood pressure, the gastrointestinal system, teeth and gums, lever and kidney
can all be affected. Various difficulties with concentration and thinking may
also be experienced. Usually anorexics perceive distorted surrounding situation
and can not evaluate it well. On the social level the sense of isolation causes
families to fall apart, serves as barrier for good schooling, destroys even
very promising careers and most relationships. The disorder is often
accompanied by amenorrhea or by a decrease in sexual drive and interest in
males.
“To recover
the anorectics inevitably will have to go through a period of time during which
a person will feel more depression and anxiety as he or she gives up the
beneficial effect of endorphins by gaining weight” (Huebner 78). But the good
thing about this eating disorder is that the process can be reversed by
normalizing the intake of nutrients, fluids and caloric intake as well as
vitamins and minerals that are all essential for proper body functioning. But
in most cases multy-disciplinary approach is required that involve various
specialists. Simple medication intake will not help since Anorexia Nervosa is a
result of combination of bio-psycho-social factors. Psychotherapists would
guide patients and support him/her emotionally. Nutritionists would teach to
patient new eating patterns. While other doctors will help in dealing with all
the physical complications.
“ Living
with someone who suffers from Anorexia Nervosa can be very difficult, as the
sufferer’s behavior may seem to be deliberately provocative and selfish “
(Treasure 11). Doctors, friends and relatives all have to be comprehensible,
chary and respondent since they all share equally important pat in one’s
recovery. Feeling of helplessness on seeing someone acting in such a
destructive way and not being able to help, is common among the people that
surround anorexics. However instead of giving up they all have to stay
positive, provide with financial and emotional support and read a lot of
information on the disease. This information will always be useful to these
people in order to understand better the suffering person and to be able to
convince him or her of the mistakable behavior by providing a person with new
hitting facts.
Anorexia
nervosa is a very complex disease that can affect almost anyone of us when
influenced by certain surrounding us situations. It occurs when someone looses
control over dieting and becomes obsessed with food, weight, body size and
shape. The main triggering factor is our society that promotes thinness and
puts excessive emphasis on appearance. This makes people want to conform to
unrealistically thin models and in order to slim down fall on track of
starvation. In this process body releases endorphins that cause the addiction.
Some will recover fully, some will stay marked forever by Anorexia Nervosa, and
others will die. Lets not permit this and stop ourselves, our friend, relative
or any other person before it is to late.
Works sited:
1.Huebner, Hans F., M.D. Endorphins, Eating Disorders
and Other Addictive Behaviors.
United State of America: Hans Huebner, 1993
2.Treasure, Janet. ANOREXIA NERVOSA:A Survival Guide for
Families, Friends, and Sufferers.
Essex: Psychology Press Ltd, 1997
3.Youngson, Dr Robert. Encyclopedia of Family Health.
London: Dr R.M. Youngson, 1995
4.Zimbardo, Philip G., and Gerrig, Richard J. Psychology and
Life.
United States: Philip G. Zimbardo, Inc., and Richard J.
Gerrig, 1999