The discussion will be on an eating disorder, Anorexia Nervosa, that is a huge concern of our society. It is an eating disorder that is caused by a complex mixture of social, psychological and physical problems and consists of various conditions that involve an obsession with food, weight and appearance to the degree where a persons health, relationships and usual everyday activities are threatened to fail.
The statistics are dramatic. Anorexia has become more common in developing countries in the past 20 years. 50% of Anorexics recover fully, another 20% only recover physically and the reported mortality rate is 20%. Each year, approximately one out of every 200 females adolescents become anorexic. About 90-95% of all people who suffer from Anorexia Nervosa are females. The most vulnerable to this eating disorder are the ambitious, achieving girls between the ages of 12 and 25. However, in industrialized countries, the condition is becoming more prevalent in all age groups and both sexes . The main trait of anorexia is when body weight is more then 15% lower then the expected one. It is caused by fear of gaining weight that embraces excessive preoccupation with food and abnormal eating habits.
Basically, it is an addiction that results in successive changes in mind and body. The progression of these changes follows an orderly and predictable path from health to mental and physical devastation. The addiction that we are talking about is a result of self-starvation process. This means that during that process a group of substances called endorphins is produced by the body that is very addictive. These substances play major role in causing the behavioral and mental changes characteristic to this condition and are responsible for perpetuating and maintaining anorectic behavior throughout all stages of addictive process.
The addiction concept of Anorexia Nervosa is made up of 2 principles: One states that much of the anorexics actions like behavior and thinking are governed by the mechanism of reward. That is a person will self-administer by engaging in such behavior whereas a non-addictive substance will not cause a person to automatically continue self-administration in order to get some pleasant experience. The second is that there is a direct causative relationship between the state of eating and the state of mood and feelings. Which means that non-eating and weight loss promote a sense of well-being or improvement of depressed mood via release of endorphins.
Two types of Anorexia Nervosa are recognized: first is a simple restriction of food. People usually starve themselves despite the hunger pains that they suffer. The second type includes restriction of food and either regular purging or binging and purging together. It is done by means of laxatives, appetite suppressants or even self-induced vomiting.
The distinguishing dietetic trends are consumption of low-fat foods, vegetarianism and avoidance of all the sweet products. Moreover, dramatic reduction in caloric intake takes place that is many times accentuated by a significant increase in activity. Often an aversion to foods is developed. Such eating behavior is a cause of severe lack of macronutrients such as fats, proteins and carbohydrates as well as minerals and vitamins that make it impossible for an organism to maintain itself in good health.
Anorexia Nervosa also falls into a category of mental illnesses because it has been found that this condition is many times accompanied by other mental illness. Common for all the anorexics is that food becomes the main object of their lives and it makes them feel as if it was impossible to live without it. Food becomes a dominant in all the daily regulations and judgments. And unlike other eating disorders suffering from anorexia do not consider their weight loss and restricted eating as problematic and no matter how much they weight, the feeling of being overly fat will not abandon them.
Anorexia Nervosa consists of various stages. First is the Early Loss Phase where a series of physical and mental changes occur as adaptation change to promote survival. Then it is followed by an Advanced Weight Loss Phase. It begins when a person reaches the desired weight but is unable to stop dieting due to the addictive function of endorphins. Brain dependency takes place, judgdements become less perceptive and objective. The third phase is the Burn-out Phase. Here the tolerance can no longer be overcomed by an individual. During this phase an anorectic feels the return of some anxiety and depression because a person finds out that she or he does not cope as well as did in the previous phases. Also because the feeling is worth, the addicted side of the anorectics mind makes every effort to lock in a view of herself/himself that is in favor of self-starvation. Just like other addicts, the anorectic has to hit the proverbial bottom before change is truly possible and has a reasonable chance to last. The anorectic has to experience the power of the addiction even without being aware of it. No reasoning or threatening has anywhere near as much effect on the anorectics attitude as the painful experience of being consumed by the addiction, only to find out in the end that she has been wreckled by it and has received nothing in return. At this point anorexics may give in to urging of their parents or friends and agree to seek professional help
So what are the main forces that make people loose control over ones lives? Anorexia Nervosa is a very complex disease and wide variety of reasons underlie it however despite that that most specialists agree that dieting is the basic entry line for entering the disorder.
Anorexics themselves can be divided into two groups: first consist of those that have concerns related to their weight. Under the second group fall those people that have problematic relationship with oneself and others. The disorder is further complicated when braided with the social demand that put great emphasis on appearance and thinness. But generally it is nothing but the outcome of chronically depressed mood and the constitutional inability to maintain an internal equilibrium.
It is known that Anorexia nervosa affects both males and females of different age groups and ethical and racial backgrounds. However some tendencies do appear. Anorexia more often affects women. Men are affected less partly because it is believed that it isnt suitable for a man that is not a gay to be over concerned with his body. The greater disposition towards Anorexia Nervosa in women can easily be reasoned. It is commonplace that all the women magazines usually have ten times as many advertisements and articles on weight loss as mans do. This happens because every magazine tries to satisfy the readers demand. By doing that they make females bring back thoughts about their weight over and over again. And the main reason for such interest towards dieting is that now more then ever mankind is bombarded by thousands of images of young beautiful and extremely thin models smiling from everywhere: TV-screens, press and publicity boards. This fact is also directly correlated to the increased demand on books and articles describing the diets and exercise strategies of these ideal girls and makes women believe that each one of them can achieve such thinness on a cost of a bit of suffering. Women may also start correlating models success to their slim bodies. These thoughts may mislead them into the idea that without it is impossible to achieve the desired success. The models surrounding us (in press, television and other sources) also create strong associations of beautiful as inseparable from thin that is another reason of wanting to achieve these extremely thin shapes.
Anorexia may also result from low self-esteem in attempts to obtain external validation by trying to match unrealistic media image. It is most often expressed in people who are perfectionists, have difficulties in handling stress situations or in those that possess distort body image and are constantly preoccupied with weight, body size and shape.
Anorexia may be triggered from a simple remark of another person towards an individual with low self-confidence. Or the psychological situation might be adversely affected by loss of a loved one. These situations may distort naturally weak psychological balance giving a push towards this eating disorder.
Moreover, correlation has been established between emotional, physical and sexual abuse. And since females are abused more often then males, this fact serves as another reason that explains the higher percentage of cases among women than men.
Another major source of Anorexia Nervosa lies in sports that put great emphasis on weight and appearance. The examples are: gymnastics, bodybuilding, ballet and distance running. In these cases competition stands out as the main engine that generates the eating disorder.
In addition to all the above mentioned, Anorexia nervosa may have age-related origins. When young people during their puberty period experience many natural body changes. They are often perceived as uncontrol