Weight Loss Anorexia Sufferers example essay topic

Anorexia nervosa is a life-rhreatening disorder described by extreme body malnutrition or self-starvation. This illness usually affects young women ranging from pre-teens to collage females (only ten percent of anorexia sufferers are boys). An estimated one-half of females in the United States develop anorexia. Although mostly common only in adolescent females, there have been diagnosis of anorexia in children as young as seven and in women as old as eighty.

Anorexia is significantly more common among the white population than in any other race. The cause of anorexia nervosa is unknown. Both biological and social factors play a roll in the illness; nevertheless anorexia nervosa may be brought upon by internal conflicts such as stress, anxiety, and low self-esteem. It may also be attained by external conflicts like physical appearence. Anorexia can also be provoked through a broken home or troubled household.

Anorexia can also run in families. For instance, a girl has ten to twenty percent higher risk of developing the disorder if living with a sibling who has the disease. Anorexia is the exact opposite of obesity and can be detected mostly in wealthy societies where food is taken for granted. Before the weight loss anorexia sufferers are often models of good behavior, achievement, and are often poplar. Ther average teenage girl will talk of's liming down and dieting, however anorexia sufferers will not talk about their weight or losing weight. They have an extreme phobia of obesity and perceive themselves as being obese.

People suffering from anorexia will have a distorted body image. They see themselves in the mirror as fatter than what they really are. The condition starts with the person's voluntary control of food intake in reaction to social pressures such as the acceptance of their peers. Later the illness advances to an extreme phase and they will go to great lenght's to resist eating food. They will forcefully suppress their hunger to be thin and lose weight. They will often make excuses for not eating, hide food that they claim to have eaten and will avoid food all together.

People with this illness will also go through phases of purging, self-induced vomiting and over exercising. when purging and vomiting become a habit, anorexia nervosa may become Bulimia nervosa. Anorexia can last for as little as a couple of months to as long as several years. Despite the fact that it will still take many more years to regain normal body weight. The human body is capable of handling terms of emi-starvation and weight loss as well. However, during there terms of weight loss the body tries to conserve as much energy as possible. It fulfills this by gradually letting go og some of its unnecessary functions.

The heart rate will slow down, blood pressure falls and menstruation stops. Anorexia may also cause many gastric-digestive related problems, dry skin, hypothermia, bradycardia, hypertension, dependent edema, anemia, lanugo, infertility, osteoporosis, cardiac failure, severe weight loss, and death. Many psychoanalysts have certain explanations why anorexia nervosa affects so many young girls. Some say that anorexia nervosa is due to sexual fear and apprehension of pregnancy, which can be connected by lack of menstruation while others say that fear of adulthood is the reason.

A woman with anorexia nervosa will not develop properly and in her state of mind she will remain a child with no responsibilities. Treatment for anorexia nervosa is easier if it is detected at and early stage. However, treatment for this illness is rarely straightforward and requires full corporation from the patient. Treatment may include individual therapy, group therapy, one on one discussions, and psychotherapy (which focuses on improving self-esteem).

Family support for an anorexic is very important for recovery of the patient. The family member must never give in to the patient, and anorexic will lie and beg to avoid eating. Anorexic will feel they are giving up control if they give in to you. It is also discouraged to force the patient to east.

The best way to deal with an anorexic is to love them unconditionally and seek professional help for them.