A lot of people go on diets for different reasons. While some do it for health reasons, others simply want to lose weight. Going on a diet may be good for you and eventually makes you leaner as you avoid gaining weight. However, some individuals with body image issues tend to be extreme and have an eating disorder known as anorexia. The disease, with the scientific term anorexia nervosa, is when a person does not eat anything (or very little) at all and constantly thinks that she is overweight. Regardless of how skinny the person is in actuality, refusing to eat is the number one priority and she believes whole-heartedly that she is fat.
So what is anorexia?
People with anorexia nervosa have a fear of gaining weight, which is also a mental illness for the most part. It is quite easy to identify individuals that have anorexia. They have very low body weight, matched with a very frail appearance as well as a bony structure. They have sunken cheeks, ribs and joints are quite prominent even from a short distance. You might ask yourself, what is anorexia nervosa and what are its causes? A lot of factors may determine the reasons why one can have anorexia, or become an anorexic as they are more commonly coined as. It is a disease that is caused by everything that surrounds the individual. For the most part, they are the influences that surround the person suffering from anorexia that made her into what she is. The thoughts of self-worth, as well as associating beauty with being thin are what primarily drive one to the disease. Anorexia nervosa can also be blamed on the media, for constantly reminding viewers that one can only be considered beautiful if she is really thin. Everywhere you look it is always the thin people who achieve greatness and affection. This causes one to associate her failures for not being that way.
The disorder can also be traced to pressure among peers, most commonly found in schools. Teenagers are often concerned about the way they look, most notably trying to emulate popular idols or being teased by people they know. It is also common for an adolescent who has suffered from childhood obesity to have anorexia. One that has been ridiculed for being obese during childhood will often subject herself to extreme dieting and bulimia to maintain a certain weight. At this age, the eating disorder can inflict itself on many pre-teens and teenagers so that they can avoid being ridiculed for being overweight. While this is a rather disturbing fact, bullying in school is one of the reasons why anorexia nervosa is quite prominent in many institutions.
What is anorexia and what its recognizable symptoms? There are symptoms that can be noticed even to an untrained eye. One of the first signs is of the anorexic’s refusal of eating, regardless if no other meals have been consumed earlier in the day. They may also stick to a certain type of food group, often in very small amounts. In extreme recorded cases of anorexia, some women have resorted to eating pieces of paper as a meal just to have something in their stomach. Other symptoms include physical effects, which can often include being ridiculously thin. Those that are suffering from anorexia have bad health, which can be seen in a decrease of blood pressure at the beginning due to the lack of nutrition in the system. Changes in personality can also be observed among individuals that have anorexia. Low blood pressure is the least of the concerns that can be associated with anorexia, as mental health can also be affected with bouts of depression and anxiety attacks. In rather extreme complications of anorexia, there are people that die after being exposed to the prolonged effects of the disease.
While both sexes can be susceptible to anorexia, it is among women with anorexia nervosa which has the most number of cases. Women are more susceptible because they are rather particular of their self-image and worth, often reflected by what they see in media. Even if the figure is bleak, an astounding number of women that are considered celebrities (models, actresses, singers) have admitted to having anorexia. In the past years, models in both print and ramp have reportedly died due to complications of anorexia nervosa. In turn, the image that they leave behind with other women is that in order to look good, one has to be frail as a stick.
Treatment is possible for individuals that are suffering from anorexia by means of checking into a rehabilitation facility. Anorexia nervosa should also be treated the same way as one must be cured for substance abuse in the form of therapy. Though it may take some time, an anorexic is suffering from an addiction and a disease that needs to be removed entirely. Besides the extreme health risk, family members of a person with anorexia are also affected with all the side effects of the disease. To treat a patient with anorexia nervosa, reprogramming the way the mind works is essential for suppressing and removing the condition. In therapy, an anorexic is rehabilitated by getting to the root cause of why the patient had come to contract the disease. Only by completely changing the way she perceives beauty and self-worth can be achieved will one be cured of anorexia.
Self-treatment will never work as people with anorexia do not even know that they are suffering from the disease. As mentioned, one of the symptoms includes the belief of being overweight even if the suffering individual is extremely underweight. Women with anorexia can often be seen nitpicking parts of their body that they believe contain fats and unnecessary mass. This is precisely the reason why the condition can only be intervened by family members or close friends of the afflicted individual to go through treatment for anorexia. While anorexia nervosa can eventually be cured, it is often recommended that a recovering patient go through psychiatric treatment as a means of not falling back on the disease.
