Anorexia Nervosa is a psychological eating disorders characterized by emaciation or utter thinness and a relentless pursuit to become slim. People with anorexia have a distorted body image and have an intense fear of gaining weight or getting fat. They are unwilling to gain a normal weight and maintain a healthy body (NAANAD). They have a severe tendency to limit their food intake thinking that they will get fat when they eat. The idea of disgusts of the body looks results to a stressful eating habit. Most people who have this disorder deny that they have a problem. The self-destructive pattern of this disorder is potentially deadly (Smith and Segal). Early treatment must be given to those who are positive with the signs and symptoms of this disorder.
Anorexia Nervosa is more common to females than in males. Mostly, this eating disorder starts in the teen years. The causes for this disorder are complex. It may due to personality traits, mix of genetics, social factors, family behaviors and others. Other causes may come from a job or sports that put the body in utter stress resulting to a great decline in weight and size. Examples include ballet, gymnastics, and modeling. Other causes may be due to the behavior of perfection of an individual. The mind setting of being a worrier and perfectionist results to stress in eating habits thereby leading to extreme thinness. Other contributory factors includes stressful events and problems in life such as moving to a new place, new school, grieving over the loss of loved ones, or in the middle of divorce (WebMD).
There are two types of Anorexia Disorder:
- Restricting type of Anorexia – This disorder is the psychological state of pursuing weight loss through calories restrictions. Thinness is achieved through drastic diet patterns, prolonged starvation, fasting, and excessive exercise. Some people resort to water only diets. People with this type of anorexia restricts the body’s natural appetite pattern and subdue their bodies to control their hunger.
- Purging type of Anorexia – The weight loss in this type of anorexia is achieved through vomiting or using of diuretics and laxatives.
Anorexia is not just about the food intake or the body image. Rather, the core concern in this disorder goes into deeper issues that can include loneliness, depression, out of control attitude, insecurity, perfection seeking, and others. It is one way of distracting oneself from difficult emotions. People with this disorder resorts to think about their eating and food concepts rather than facing the real issues of their lives (Smith and Segal).
Dieting is one of the modes that Anorexic people resort to. However, there is a stark difference between the two. The heart of Anorexia disorder is the negative self-image of the individual. No amount of dieting and weight loss can repair or restore one’s self-image. There is a stark difference between healthy dieting and anorexia. Healthy dieting is a weight control procedure that is based on the superficial reasons such as weight and body image. The pursuit for weight loss is for health reasons doing it in a safe and healthy way. On the other hand, Anorexia is an attempt to control life and suppress emotions. The pursuit to thinness is based on self-esteem and a way to gain happiness. In an Anorexic individual, the core purpose is to become thin at all cost, thereby comprising the entire body health (Smith and Segal).
The most striking signs and symptoms of Anorexia include extreme and sudden weight loss through deliberate self-starvation. The lowering down of body weight to 15% and the refusal to maintain the normal body weight is a key factor of Anorexia. The persistent and intense fear of gaining weight powerfully drives an individual to the point of self-starvation. Despite their feeling of hunger, they continue to resort to dieting due to their abnormal self-perception. Mostly, anorexic people are vegetarians because they are afraid to eat foods that are high in calories. Other signs and symptoms includehigh restriction to food intake, continuous diet, appearance of excess hairs in body and face due to lack of protein, extreme sensitivity to cold, irregular menstruation, hair loss and compulsive exercise. Weight is primarily the main indicator of Anorexia (NAANAD).
The severe calorie restriction in the eating habits of people with anorexia results to dire physical effects. Primarily, the absence of food intake makes the body lack with the sufficient energy for optimum performance. Some of the effects include depression and sever mood swings, constipation, bloating, lack of energy, weakness, tooth decay, gum damage, slow thinking, poor memory, fainting, headaches, dizziness, yellowish and dry skin, and fine hair growth all over the body and face. The brain nerves don’t get enough oxygen and fuel resulting to irritability, and other changes in the brain chemistry. The hair growth becomes brittle. They have a higher tendency to have low blood pressure, slow heart rate, palpitations and heart failures. It also affects the muscles, joints, kidneys, body fluids, hormones and the skin (Smith and Segal).
The first step to treating Anorexia is for the individual to admit that there is a problem. These people must acknowledge their reasons of their pursuit to thinness. The deep issues within themselves must be divulged first by talking to someone. They must seek professional help that would them resolve the core issues of their behaviors. They must stay away from people, places and the many activities that would trigger their obsession to pursue thinness. One of the treatments that promise development to those who have anorexia elicits the help of parents to get the Anorexic patients to eat. They are gradually led to a healthy eating habit with the help of family. This treatment strategy enables the family to become a strong unit of the society and makes them become a team that supports each other. Unlike other treatments, the involvement of the family to the treatment targets the obsessive anorexic mindset of the anorexic people. It aims to gain control of the patients overthrowing their negative controlling behaviors. The role of the family is seen as a valuable ally in the overall treatment procedure (DeAngelis).
There are other approaches to the treatment of Anorexia. One of the successful cases of treatment of Anorexia is through the process of Leucotomy. One case of the individual having 7 sears of illness of Anorexia underwent an incomplete treatment through electrick shock, psychoanalysis and insulin. However, the complete recovery and treatment is one done through leucotomy. It involves a unilateral lower quadrant leucotomy that includes direct visualization of the brain. After nine months from the operation, the patient has maintained her normal weight and the tension disappeared from her system. There are also positive remarks about her interpersonal relations and her IQ greatly improved. Leucotomy is just of the many treatment methods that can help resolve the problem of Anorexia (Sifneos).
References:
DeAngelis, Tori. “Promising Treatment for Anorexia And Bulimia”. American Psychological Association. (2002). Vol 33, No. 3.
NAANAD. “Anorexia Nervosa”. National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.
(2014). Web. 23 November 2014
Sifneos, Peter. “A Case of Anorexia Nervosa Treated Successfully by Leocotomy”. Focus Postraumatic Stress Disorder Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Workbook. (1952). Vol 109. No. 5. Pp 356-360
Smith, M. and Segal, J. “ Anorexia Nervosa: Signs, Symptoms, Causes and Treatment”. HelpGuide.org. web. 22 November 2014
WebMD. “Anorexia Nervosa- Topic Overview”. Anorexia nervosa Health Center. (2014). Web. 23
November 2014
