Anorexia Nervosa

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Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder and a serious mental health condition.

People experiencing anorexia are extremely controlling in what they eat, and often induce life threatening diets in order to get down to their "goal wieght". People with anorexia find experiences such as eating in front of people and going out to eat as ridiculously uncomfortable, as they fear eating in general.




What is it?


Anorexia is known to completely take control of the person's mind, and people suffering with the disease mention that they even have voices in their head instructing them and infiltrating their thoughts 24/7.
It is thought that people with anorexia are so concerned about their weight because they:
* think they are fat or overweight
* have a strong fear of being fat
* want to be thin
Even when a person with anorexia becomes extremely underweight, they still feel compelled to lose more weight.


Though people with anorexia avoid eating food whenever they can, they also develop an obsession with eating and diet. For example, they may obsessively count the calories in different types of foods even though they have no intention of eating it.
Some people with anorexia will also binge eat, i.e. they eat a lot of food in a short space of time. They then try to get rid of the food from their body by vomiting or using laxatives (medication that causes the bowels to empty; normally used for the treatment of constipation.)

The symptoms of anorexia usually begin gradually, such as adopting a restrictive diet. They then often spiral out of control quickly.

Girls as young as 12 think they need to diet, and there is evidence from diet studies that twice as many people think they need to diet as need to; meaning that the people who endure diets are not even overweight.



All though there is not specific data to show that eating disorders are increasing in the UK, it is definitely recognisable that there are more reported cases coming to the attention of services as we now have more knowledge about eating disorders. More teenagers are coming forward about their problem and there is even more media focus on certain celebrities who have dealt with the problem successfully.

Hollywood and celebrities

The most recent celebrity example being Portia de Rossi whose memoir “unbearable lightness” gave me a true insight into the world of anorexia and how detrimental and life controlling the problem really is. NHS statistics show us that the amount of admitted cases of anorexia has increased from 419 in 1996 to 620 in 2005, telling us that there have been more people coming forward about the disease, yet doesn’t tell us whether anorexia is increasing as a whole.

After reading Portia De Rossi's memoir I went on the web to see if there was any interviews, about her book and if she had recovered from her eating disorder. I found a great interview on Oprah, Part one is below, and the rest of  the interview can be found by clicking on the link. If you're not much of a reader, this will suit you perfectly, and also google her interview on "The Ellen Show" for more on her story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJMDDQFL3ro

The media provides significant content on body related issues to young women and my research has shown that it definitely contributes to our perception of body image. This constant exposure seems to unfortunately match up with the time in which teenagers are developing and going through puberty. This exposure to ideal images coincides with a period in their lives where self regard and self worth is in decline.

Teenage girl’s body image is also at its most fragile due to physical changes of puberty and where the tendency for social comparison is at its peak. All of these facts are fuelling the rise in anxiety problems in teenagers and personally I feel that these factors will prove to increase eating disorders even further. I see dieting behaviour as a high risk factor for eating disorders and I definitely think that these can contribute to a rise in eating disorders. For example after depriving the body for such long periods of time, the body may feel starved and teenage girls often feel that after a week of starving themselves they can binge on a variety of foods. Compulsive binge type eating is an outcome of rebellion against food restraint and when the binge starts it is often hard for the victim to stop and control herself, as her body is so starved of food. This unhealthy habit can then even lead to teenage girls feeling guilty about their binge, and so purge as a result to get rid of all of the calories they just consumed.

• The media is not the only reason for the rise in eating disorders but they are definitely a factor which fuels the gun. The media cannot be blamed for the way in which we teenagers take on board these images, yet they are definitely responsible for the way in which they handle and present these images to young girls.
• Dieting on its own doesn’t often lead to an eating disorder, yet due to all of the other spherical influences they can develop.
• Dieting can also lead to disordered eating patterns which can lead to eating disorders.
• Virtually all of those who are diagnosed with an eating disorder or engage in some form of disordered eating have dieted in the past. As a result a range of effects happen, such as low self-worth, and loss of confidence. People often become achievement orientated and have perfectionist traits. These perfectionist traits have become very clear in anorexics; it shows that they want to control everything in order to feel successful in their day to day lives. These controlling methods can then evolve into calorie control methods, weight loss acting as the reward. These restrictive methods can become very strong, and can lead to perfectionists detailing and documenting every ingredient of their diet, which can become very dangerous.

Teenagers, who take part in dieting, and loose noticeable amounts of weight, usually thrive of compliments that they receive from their friends and family. “Compliments” from others such as “you’re so skinny”, “you’ve lost too much weight” can spur the dieting on, and teenage dieters often equate these compliments as success in their diet.

The teenager then becomes happy as they equate beauty with thinness and thinness with happiness.


Want more information on eating disorders?




http://www.priorygroup.com/Personal-Site/Mental-Health-and-Addictions/What--We-Treat/Eating-Disorders/What-is-an-Eating-Disorder.aspx
http://www.b-eat.co.uk/



If you are experiencing any of the problems stated above, and are worried about you're eating habits, don't be afraid to talk to friends, family or even your doctor.