Essays On Eating Disorders

Eating Disorders

An eating disorder is a way of using food to work out emotional problems. These illnesses develop because of emotional and/or psychological problems. Eating disorders are the way some people deal with stress. In today's society, teenagers are pressured into thinking that bring thin is the same thing as being happy. Chemical balances in the brain that may also result in depression, obsessivecompulsive disorders, and bi–polar disorders may also cause some eating disorders. Other causes may be emotional events, illnesses, marital or family problems, manic depression, or ending a relationship. Over eight million Americans suffer from eating disorders. Over 80% of girls under age thirteen admit to dieting, one of the main...show more content...

Victorian women kept with the ideals of the time by refusing food and restricting any intake. A hearty appetite was said to represent sexuality and a lack of self–control, which was strictly prohibited for women. The era was emphasized by spirituality, which also had an impact on the restriction of meat. Ironically, most of the women were large, as common meals were high in starches. Medical evidence of the existence of anorexia has been documented as far back as 1873. It was decided that this refusal of food was to attract attention. An American neurologist, Silas Weir Mitchell saw anorexia as a form of neurasthenia, a nervous disorder characterized by nervous exhaustion and lack of motivation. Mitchell thought the disease was caused by any stressful life situation in combination with social pressure. Treatment was a so–called "parentectomy," which was removal from the home, and force–feeding, if necessary. Mitchell preferred the pampering method, consisting of a diet low in fats, total seclusion, bed–rest, and massage therapy. Sigmund Freud, a psychiatrist from Vienna, believed that anorexia was a physical manifestation of an emotional conflict. He believed that anorexia might be linked to the subconscious desire to prevent normal sexual development. In the 1930s, doctors theorized that the only way to permanently recover from anorexia was to McCurry 3 explore the cause of the disease in the individual, in addition

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Eating Disorders Essays

Eating disorders are a group of conditions characterized by severe disturbances in eating behavior with either an extreme reduction or an extreme increase of food intake, which negatively affects the individual's mental and physical health. There are two main types of eating disorders –anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. There is a third category of eating disorders called "eating disorders not otherwise specified". Binge eating disorder is categorized under this. Eating disorders mainly appear during adolescence and early adulthood and affect women and girls much more than males. Eating disorders are not self–inflicted diseases, but real illnesses with biological and psychological causes. They often co–exist with other disorders such...show more content...

Treatment for eating disorders is expensive and long term – as many as six years. Many people with eating disorders are spending all their life savings on treatment and even dying as a result of a lack of it. Treatment options include in patient care where the patient resides in the facility and works with a team of specialists, partial residential care where the patient goes home at the end of the day, and outpatient care in which the patient sees therapists, but lives at their own home. The cheapest of these options is outpatient care and even then insurance companies refuse coverage. Just one day of inpatient care can cost from $800 to $2500 and a month of treatment can range from $24000 to $78000. Many people and families spend their live savings trying to pay for treatment. Often times appearances can be deceiving when it comes to people who suffer from eating disorders. They may feel and look well, but may have electrolyte, fluid and mineral imbalances, heart and blood pressure irregularities, and stomach problems which puts them at risk for sudden death. A bulimic person at a normal weight may actually be starving and severely malnourished. Short periods of treatment have been showed by studies to lead to a high rates of readmission. Despite the American Psychiatric Association's care guidelines, because of the high cost of treatment insurance providers might require early patient discharge. There are

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Tabitha HernandezMrs. HammillBiologyJune 11th, 2012 Eating Disorders Eating disorders are a worldwide problem and effect the lives of many. Women are much more likely than men to develop an eating disorder. One of three women have eating disorders, most of these women began to have the eating disorder due to stress, depression, and anger. Eating disorders stem is often formed with problem with self image caused by the media. Eating disorders are complex conditions that arise from a combination of long–standing behavioral, biological, emotional, psychological, interpersonal, and social factors. While eating disorders may begin with preoccupations with food and weight, they are most often about much more than food. People with eating...show more content...

In March 2005, findings concluded from those surveyed that three out of four Americans believe eating disorders should be covered by insurance companies just like any other illness. Americans believe that government should require insurance companies to cover the treatment of eating disorders. Four out of ten Americans either suffered or have know someone who has suffered from an eating disorder. Dieting and thrive for thinness is very common in America. Over one half of teenage girls and nearly one–third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives. Commonly eating disorders are accumulated by society. The average American woman is 5'4'' tall and weighs 140 pounds. The average American model is 5'11'' tall and weighs 117 pounds. Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women. Americans spend over $40 billion on dieting and diet–related products a year! The list is never ending on the different types of eating disorders there actually are. The three most common types of eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge Eating Disorder. Other eating disorders are mainly any combinations of the above listed. Anorexia Nervosa includes the symptoms of dramatic weight loss, dressing in layers to hide weight loss, constantly preoccupied with weight, food, calories, and dieting, makes frequent comments about

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Eat to live – don't live to eat (or not to). This is very hard for a person with an eating disorder to understand since food is their tool for handling the stress and anxiety in their lives. Eating disorders affect millions of Americans each year (Eating Disorders 1). The most common eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Compulsive Overeating. Thesedisorders are serious, and, when taken to extremes, can be life threatening as well.

All eating disorders arise from a combination of long–standing psychological, interpersonal, and social conditions (Gurze 24). Several other factors such as family and personal problems, a low self–esteem, and the desire for the "ideal" body may also...show more content...

Behaviorally, they may frequently weigh themselves, have insomnia, exercise compulsively, layer their clothing, and show increased tension at mealtimes. They may show signs of depression, perfectionism, and irritability. They usually tend to have difficulty thinking clearly, a low sense of worth, a distorted body image, a decreased interest in sex, and an intense fear of becoming fat (Ratner 6).

Anorexia may begin with a normal person who diets intending only to lose "just a few pounds". Dieting then becomes an obsession as they develop a distorted body image and feel larger than they really are. Soon, 5 to 10 pounds is not enough and they slowly begin to avoid food either by denying hunger or claiming to be stuffed after a few small bites. Extreme weight loss is not the only result of this refusal of food. A person with Anorexia can expect a loss of head hair, growth of fine body hair, constipation, intolerance of cold temperatures, and low pulse rate. Also, certain endocrine functions become impaired causing a cessation of menstruation in women, and, in men, an interruption of normal reproductive system processes. Anorexia can also lead to death, which claims about 10–15 percent of Anorexic patients (Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa 1).

Treatment of Anorexia consists of nutritional therapy, individual

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"Why dissallow the trendy images of women from being plastered ubiquitously?" one may ask. Banning this perception of women, unhealthily thin, will save the women of this great nation from eating disorders. Our women will be more confident in their own skin and not feel as pressured to live up to this image. We, as people of this land, see this problem but choose not to do anything. The medical care for people with eating disorders is inadequit, and too expensive, as it is. With girls and women trying so hard today, to look like what the media portrays, it is no wonder that our country's health is in a downward spiral. Trying to live up to these unreal expectations can result inanorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating. There...show more content...

Henceforth, if a teenage girl wants any regular teenage boy, she has to up the ante for herself and try to look as good as women in the media. This could, for some portion of the population, result in eating disorders to look as thin as the "in" girl. The effects of an eating disorder can be more serious than simply losing an unhealthy amount of weight. Women and teenagers today hear of eating disorders as a quick way to shed as many pounds as necessisary to achieve a certain, thinner, look. They see the models and televion actresses who are thin and seem to have no long–lasting effects. However, they do not aknowledge of the side effects of any eating disorder. "For people with anorexia, it really is true that one can never be too thin. Despite being dangerously underweight, anorexics see a fat person when they look in the mirror." (Jaffe–Gill, Smith, Segal, and Segal). Anorexia is an eating disorder in which the victim goes for long periods without food or proper nutrition. This can result in many medical problems such as low blood pressure, anemia, loss of periods, and ultimately heart failure. More ironically, however, are the physical effects. Women and teens commit themselves to eating disorders unknowing of the physical effects. Some of the physical side effects are thin and brittle hair, they grow hair all over, and their skin turns yellow; attractive right? Bulimia Nervosa is when one will