Anorexia Nervosa


Under the appeal of “beautiful” models lies a woman with an eating disorder, anorexia nervosa. As the fresh new looks get better the sizes get smaller; causing young women and men to try to attain the look everyone wants. In real life throughout the teenage years, even younger and older, women and men are destroying themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally. If not caught in the early stages anorexia nervosa can take a person’s entire life. I chose to write my paper about anorexia nervosa to learn more about it. In this paper I will talk about what anorexia is, the causes, symptoms, treatment, and the media’s affect on young teens.

Anorexia nervosa is the fear of gaining weight. In many situations an eating disorder starts just as dieting than turns into an addiction. People with anorexia nervosa have a distorted body image; when they look into the mirror all they see is a larger than average person, but when others look they see someone too thin.Usually eating disorders start in the teenage years but can start as young as the age of 8. (webmd.com)

Eating disorders are elaborate and complex, even experts don’t know the actual cause of anorexia. People believe that anorexia can be caused from a mix of family history, influences from social groups, personal aspects and society. In many situations anorexia is caused if someone in the person’s family has suffered from an eating disorder. Sometimes an eating disorder can be caused by sports or a job that affects body image such as ballet, gymnastics, or modeling. Sometimes an eating disorder can be caused by family situations such as new marriages, divorce, or losing a loved one. An eating disorder could also be caused by moving to a new area, school, or a new job. (webmd.com)

Anybody who has anorexia will deny it because they think that they’re fine, but, they’re not. The reason that someone would think that way is because they have a distorted body image; which is one of the multiple symptoms. Many other symptoms include weighing less than a healthy weight, the person is very afraid of gaining any weight,
they refuse to stay at a healthy weight, they often think that they’re larger than they really are. When someone has anorexia they obsess about food, dieting, and exercise. Many people with anorexia will continue to exercise even when they’re sick. They will eat very little to no food. In some cases the person will go to the extent of using laxatives or diuretics to avoid weight gain. (webmd.com) People with anorexia can also have brittle hair or nails, they can get dry skin, sometimes a person can get mild anemia and are usually drained of energy. When a person has anorexia they have a drop in body temperature causing them to be cold all the time. More serious symptoms include low blood pressure, slowed breathing and pulse, multiple organ failures, brain damage and infertility. (nimh.nih.gov)

The first step to treatment is admitting that you have a problem. If you get treated in the early stages anorexia can be treated much easier. Often times if anorexia doesn’t get treated it can lead to starvation and serious health problems like bone thinning, kidney damage, as well as heart problems. Sometimes people can die from the disorder or from the health problems. (webmd.com). Often times a treatment plan will be designed to individuals needs. A person’s treatment plan often includes individual, group, and/or psychotherapy, nutritional counseling, medications and/or medical care and monitoring. When treating someone with anorexia there are three parts to the treatment: reestablishment of a healthy weight, treatment of psychological issues that are similar to their eating disorder, and reducing or eliminating thoughts and behaviors that cause them to relapse. Research shows that usage of medications like antidepressants, antipsychotics or mood stabilizers will help with treatment. These medications can help with the person’s or anxiety that comes with an eating disorder. A safe weight gain goal would be one to three pounds each week. Someone with anorexia may increase their social activity, decrease their exercise and should use a schedule for eating. (nlm.nih.gov)

Nowadays, media has a huge impact on teenagers. Between the TV, radio, newspapers, and the internet, teens feel the need to be thin to be beautiful. When watching TV you never see a person who is the average size, it’s always someone thin. Modeling also makes a big impact on young teens to be thin to be pretty. Under all of the photoshopped pictures, glamourous teen magazines, and TV shows like “Americas Next Top Model” lies a cruel world of media having a big part in teens body image. Usually you don’t hear about men having eating disorders but it happens. The media has a big part in people not many men with eating disorders, but, if you were to turn on the TV tomorrow and hear about one man having an eating disorder a dozen more stories would come to the surface.

As seen through the teenage years more and more young women and men are destroying themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally to portray the wants and “needs” of “the perfect body”. An eating disorder such as anorexia is serious and has many causes, symptoms, and treatment methods that go along with it. If anorexia is not taken seriously someone can be seriously injured physically, mentally, and/or emotionally and can even cause death.