Anorexia Nervosa Research Paper

Incidences of Anorexia Nervosa have appeared to increase sharply in the USA, UK and western European countries since the beginning of the 60s (Gordon, 2001). The increasing prevalence of the disease has led the World Health Organisation to declare eating disorders a global priority area within adolescent mental health (Becker et al. 2011). Anorexia has in many ways become a modern epidemic (Gordon, 2000) and with a mortality rate of 10% per decade (Gorwood et al. 2003), the highest of any mental disorder (Bulik et al. 2006), it is an epidemic that social and biological scientists have been working tirelessly to understand.

Anorexia Nervosa is an emotional disorder that causes its victims to have an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat. It is known to be the third most common eating disorder among adolescents. Many who suffer from the disorder have a strong fear of gaining weight and they 're very determined to prevent any weight gain. AN patients are also incapable of recognizing the severity of their condition. In the article entitled, "A Factor Analysis of the Meanings of Anorexia Nervosa: Intrapsychic, Relational, and Avoidant Dimensions and Their Clinical Correlates", Enrica Marzola explains, "AN sufferers often refuse treatments, show poor compliance with therapy leading to high dropout rates, relapse, and high mortality" (Marzola 2). Marzola examines how many patients become very attached to their illness and do not wish to be recovered from it. In addition, Not only do many AN patients believe that the disorder has help them gain their ideal body image, but they 've also described their starvation as a way to escape from any negative emotions, strengthen their identity, and reveals their distress. Enrica Marzola also addresses, "These instruments confirmed that AN sufferers experience a

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which people see themselves as overweight even if they are underweight. Anorexia nervosa is a self-imposed starvation. People with anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa, a medical condition defined by an abnormal or pronounced lack of appetite, has become a household recognized condition due to its prevalence and impact. Anorexia nervosa is a major eating disorder that disrupts everyday life, resulting in extreme thinness, hormonal imbalances, behavioral signs, and health issues that can lead to death. While the disease strikes across all gender, races, and classes, the victims affected are typically young, healthy, and attractive women of successful families. The average girl affected usually ages between thirteen and nineteen years old (Landau 3). This disorder has increased rapidly over the last ten years, becoming more common each year (Landau 2-3). Women faced with both a biological

Much to our perceived attention is the idealised image that most aspire to have. In attempting to achieve such a look involves drastic measures for some and possibly fatal. There is ample of evidence to suggest that such measures revolve around an individual’s eating habits thus leading to unhealthy disordered eating patterns. Eating disorders refer to abnormal eating habits characterised by excessive or insufficient intake of food and develop from a number of interrelated issues. Much of the research into eating disorders has focused particularly on anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa and its developmental causes. Anorexia nervosa is a psychological disorder characterised by delusions of being overweight resulting in conspicuous

Anorexia nervosa is a disorder which heightens the ideas of fear in an individual, particularly the phobia of gaining weight. People with the disorder pine to achieve a body that is unattainable, leading to obsessions about food. Fear is a driving emotion for the disorder, and often it is this emotion which causes prolonged suffering. This paper will go over the DSM-5’s diagnostic criteria, the prevalence of the disorder, the circumstances of onset, etiology, and finally a case example. The case example will illustrate how the disorder can be long-lived and affect relationships. Having a clinical understanding of anorexia nervosa allows for persons outside of the disorder the ability to relate to the victims.

Anorexia Nervosa is currently viewed by society as an extremely complicated disorder, misunderstood, over looked, and misjudged based on the stigmas of society. People who suffer from eating disorders like Anorexia do not always report the fact they are in living with the disorder because they are ashamed or scared of what might happen to them or what people will say. An individual may also feel that they do not met the exact criteria of Anorexia Nervosa in the DSM 5. An example of the DSM 5 criteria for Anorexia Nervosa is an individual purposely takes too little nourishment, has below average body weight, fearful of gaining weight, refusal to keep a normal weight, distorted body perception

Anorexia Nervosa is a fairly common and very consequence psychiatric disorder that affects a person’s desire to consume nutrients because they believe that they are overweight. Women are more likely then men to develop this specific disorder and teenagers aged 15 to 19 are at the highest risk of anyone (Berends, Van Meijel, & Van Elburg, 2012). Individual’s affected by Anorexia Nervosa Disorder will refuse to maintain a healthy body weight for their size and instead will starve themselves in an attempt to loose weight. The lack of nutrients within their body and lack of fats left after starving themselves affects not only their physical functioning but also their psychological functioning. There has been much advancement in developing treatment for individuals affected by Anorexia Nervosa. Treatment typically consists of careful monitoring of the individual’s food intake, their weight, BMI, and their psychological state. However relapse is extremely common after full treatment occurs. It is estimated that 30-50% of individuals who are treated for Anorexia Nervosa will relapse, with the likelihood of relapse decreasing to almost zero two years after discharge (Berends, Van Meijel, & Van Elburg, 2012). Determining if an individual is going through relapse has been broken down into six key symptoms:

According to the Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Anorexia nervosa (AN) is defined as “an eating disorder in which people refuse to maintain a minimally required healthy weight for their age and height (body weight less than eighty five percent of expected), have an intense fear of gaining weight and significantly misinterpret their body and shape” (Hasan and Hasan, 2011). Occurring in 0.6% of the population, AN largely affects young adolescent females from a wealthy demographic between the ages 10-30 (Pinel, 2014) (Hasan and Hasan, 2011). These teenage years are distinctive periods of social, psychological, and biological changes. The complexity of the disorder lies in the fact that the cause of it cannot be pinpointed down to a particular reason or event (Lucas, 2004).

Today in society it is founded that Anorexia Nervosa is of most common disorders that affect multiples of women and men across the country. The DSM-V at 307.1 (F50.01) (F50.02) finds Anorexia Nervosa to be a persistent restriction of energy intake leading to significantly low body weight, as related to minimally expected for age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health. The DSM-V also finds the criteria of Anorexia Nervosa to be an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain, the disturbance in the way one’s body weight or shape is experienced, the undue influence of body shape and weight of self-evaluation, or persistent lack of recognition of the seriousness of the current

AN (Anorexia Nervosa) is the most visible eating disorder, is a serious psychiatric illness characterized by an inability to maintain a normal healthy body weight or, in individuals who are still growing, despite increasing weight loss and frank emancipation, individuals with AN strive for additional weight loss, see themselves as fat even when they are severely underweight, and often engaged in unhealthy weight loss behaviors (e.g. purging, dieting, excessive exercise, and fasting). (Bulk, Trace, Kleiman and Mazzeo, 2014). AN not only has harmful physical side effects but has psychological impacts as well. According to Serpell, Treasure, Teasdale and Sullivan (1998), one of the most interesting features of anorexia nervosa which sets it apart from many other conditions is highly valued in nature of anorexic symptoms.

Walsh, B. (2013). The Enigmatic Persistence of Anorexia Nervosa. American Journal of Psychiatry, 170(5), 477-484.

“Anorexia nervosa is a serious eating disorder that affects women and men of all ages. It’s characterized by three key features: refusal to maintain a healthy body weight, an intense fear of gaining weight, a distorted body image” (Smith & Segal, 2016). Individuals with this disorder do not have healthy eating habits, most often not eating at all. They will starve themselves, excessively exercise, eat very little, purge at random times, and/or throw up their food following their “meal”. Anorexia can arise from a multitude of reasons from biological to environmental factors, depending on the individual. Although, almost all of the people who acquire it share a common issue of having low self-esteem. Having anorexia affects your whole body. Normal bodily functions will stop and everything will start shutting down slowly.

Individuals with the binge eating/purging subtype also restrict their food intake, but also regularly engage in binge eating and/or purging behaviors such as self induced vomiting or misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas. Many people move back and forth between subtypes during the course of their illness. Starvation, weight loss, and related medical complications are quite serious and can result in death. People who have an ongoing preoccupation with food and weight even when they are thin would benefit from exploring their thoughts and relationships with a therapist. The term anorexia literally means loss of appetite, but this is a misnomer. In fact, people with anorexia nervosa often ignore hunger signals and thus control their desire to eat. Often they may cook for others and be preoccupied with food and recipes, yet they will not eat themselves. Obsessive exercise that may accompany the starving behavior can cause others to assume falsely that the person must be healthy. (“NAMI”, 2000)

Anorexia nervosa or anorexia as it is most commonly known; is an eating disorder that results in drastic weight loss. Oxford dictionary describes anorexia as “a lack or loss of appetite for food”. Anorexia is a psychological and emotional disorder that makes a person obsessed with losing weight. Anorexia is one of the most common diseases yet there is hardly any awareness about it. It is defined to be a mental illness which mostly affects teenagers who are more worried or into their looks and want to lose weight by any means and circumstances.(htt3)