Eating Disorders Do Not Discriminate

For many the term “Anorexia” conjures up memories of bone thin, weight obsessed teenage girls, models, and actresses. However, as the spotlight has been shined on Anorexia bringing this secretive and quiet disorder to a wider public perception, many still suffer in silence: either too ashamed to seek treatment, or because of an improper diagnosis.

Most people with anorexia have a distorted image of their body. An anorexic will look into the mirror and see fat, even if they are sickly thin. Most commonly, anorexia begins in the teen years. This may be related to the common self-image problems that many teens suffer from. Anorexia tends to be more common in females than in males, and early intervention seems to be the key when dealing with this disorder. When left untreated, anorexia can lead to a whole slew of physical problems. Health problems related to anorexia include osteoporosis, kidney damage or failure, heart problems, and even death. Anorexia also affects the brain, as a person starves themself their metabolism changes. This change in the body causes a person not to think clearly or make good decisions. As anorexia progresses, a person will begin to have irrational behavior. For example, a person suffering from anorexia will often make rules about the amount of food they are “allowed” to consume. Others may start to purge themselves after eating even the tiniest bit of food, which is known as Bulimia. Anorexia can also bring on another psychological disorder; Depression. Depression is a mental illness that causes a person to feel sad and hopeless most of the time. People that suffer from depression will lose interest in things that they previously enjoyed, speak slower than normal, have trouble concentrating and remembering things, and be preoccupied by death

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is defined an eating disorder that is consists of abnormally low body weight. A person suffering from this disease typically has a body mass index (BMI) that is less than 85% of what is considered normal. Anorexics have a fear of being overweight and often

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that involves extreme weight loss, restricted food intake, and an intense fear of becoming fat. The American Psychiatric Association outlines four diagnostic criteria for anorexia. The first is refusal to maintain body weight. The second is intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight. The third is denial of the seriousness of low body weight. The

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that is categorized by severe food restriction, excessive exercise and body dysmorphia, which leads those that suffer from it to believe that they are overweight. Anorexia nervosa is commonly misunderstood by the general public. Research has disproved many of the previous thoughts about anorexia nervosa. According to the scientific research anorexia nervosa has a genetic factor, is not just a disorder of teenage girls, and that recovery is not simply gaining weight.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss (Anorexia Nervosa). Women and men who suffer with anorexia nervosa exemplify a fixation with a thin figure and abnormal eating patterns. There are two types of Anorexia, including Binge and Purge type,

Anorexia Nervosa is perhaps one of, if not the most well-known eating disorder. Anorexia Nervosa is the condition of a lack or loss of appetite and is also classified as an emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat.

Anorexia Nervosa, a mental illness in which a person has an intense fear of gaining weight and a distorted perception of their weight and body shape. People with this illness believe themselves to be fat even when their weight is so low

Anorexia nervosa is a mental illness that is characterized by an unrealistic fear of weight gain, self-starvation, and conspicuous distortion of body image. The individual with the disorder becomes obsessed with becoming increasingly thinner and will limits food intake to the point where their health is compromised (Butcher, Hooley, J. M., & Mineka, 2013).

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder that causes someone to weigh less than what is considered healthy based on their age and height. Symptoms of AN include

Anorexia nervosa is a severe mental illness which carries mental, physical and psychological consequences. It is often characterised by low body weight and image distortion, along with obsessive concerns and fears about the gaining of weight.(1) This constant anxiety of weight gain manifests itself through the deprivation of food and excessive exercise. Anorexia Nervosa can broken down further into the restricting type where weight loss is achieved through the restriction of calories,(2) or the purging type where vomiting, laxatives and diuretics(2) are used to gain the similar outcomes. Both of these types have severe impacts on an individuals health and knowledge of the symptoms, care and impacts it has is imperative.

“Anorexia is the most deadly of psychiatric disorder.”(How Biology Trumps Image As Cause of Anorexia 'I Became Obsessive About Food) once in the anorexia mind set it will be very hard to change them. Every time the he or she looks in the mirror they will be it will cause them to want to eat less because they think that they are fat and the only way to change that is by starving themselves to death. People with anorexia will go to the extreme to avoid food

According to Attia & Walsh, (2007), Anorexia Nervosa is categorised by the DSM-IV, as a mental illness that causes the individual to have a distorted body image, making the person believe in fear, that they are larger in size than in reality. Attia & Walsh, (2007), further stipulates that this condition then causes the individual to adopt a determined mind-set, to refuse the consumption of food and other vital substances. This then results in the person becoming unhealthily thin, which can then later become a life threatening concern.

Self-esteem is reliant upon body shape and weight. Physical implications may include disruption of the menstrual cycle also known as amenorrhea, signs of starvation, thinning of hair or hair loss, bloated, yellowish palms/soles of feet, dry and pasty skin. The risks that people take while indulging in anorexia can also become physiologically and mentally damaging. There are several effective treatments. One of which is hospitalization, this occurs when the weight loss is greater than 30% in 3 months time. Some other effects to be taken into consideration when hospitalizing a patient are the risk of suicide and depression, severe binging and purging, and serious metabolic disturbance. Therapy and counseling is used to help the patients with depression and family complications that may have led to the state they’re in. Clinical studies have not yet identified a medication that could improve the core symptoms of anorexia.

How many of you have ever battled an eating disorder or known someone with an eating disorder? One or two of every 100 students will struggle or have struggled with an eating disorder. An anonymous quote from someone who struggled an eating disorder once said “Nothing matters when I’m thin”. Anyone of us in this room is at risk of an eating disorder. Females have to maintain that ‘normal’ look to fit in with society. More guys are seeking help for eating disorders as well. Guys with eating disorders tend to focus more on athletic appearance or success than just on looking thin. I’m going to inform you today about anorexia; what it is, signs, causes, effects, and possible treatments to help it.