Anorexia Nervosa Is a Psychological Disorder

Psych 201-F
March 23, 2010

Introduction

Anorexia Nervosa is a psychological disorder

Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. It’s an unrecognized epidemic that affects seven million women and a million of men in the United States. 86 percent of suffers report it’s onset by the age of 20. Only half report that are cured. The other half would be dead from this disorder because it will be too late to seek treatment. Anorexia Nervosa is a serious eating disorder that mostly affects teenage girls. Girls that suffer from this are very obsessed with their weight they feel that they are overweight. So they continued to try and lose weight although they are already very skinny. There are three ways they go by losing weight. They do this by not eating, by taking laxatives and excessive exercise. Causes There is no single cause of anorexia there are several causes of anorexia and it depends which category that person falls under or can relate to. Just to list a few they are cultural pressures, psychological issues, family environment, genetic factors, life transitions, and perpetuating factors. The two most important ones a girl really deals with are cultural pressures and psychological issues. Cultural pressure comes from societies, TV, videos, etc… a girl look up to the movies stars, the singers, and the super models. The reason girls look up to these kinds of women is because they are beautiful, most of these women are slim and they are very successful and happy. This is what these average girls want to be and so they start to feel dissatisfied with their weight and shape. The other reason a girl could be anorexia is it could be a psychological issue. Psychological characteristics that can make a girl more likely to develop anorexia including low self-esteem, poor body image, depression, a need for control, physical or sexual abuse, and a need to feel special or unique. Signs and Symptoms There are several signs that show that someone is anorexia. They body weight is not consistent with their age, their build, and their height. Anorexia is usually 15% below normal weight. Girls that are anorexia don’t want to eat. They have anxiety and fears of been overweight. They are physically and mentally weak. Because of a person been anorexia there are serious medical problems that can occurred from a person been anorexia. They are shrunken bones, mineral loss, low body temperature, irregular heartbeat, and permanent failure of normal growth. Treatments The good news is that there are a number of treatments used for anorexia nervosa. A treatment plan is developed to address the specific needs of the individual. That why it’s important for the doctor to look at all of the factors. Which determine what type of treatment is best? The factors are the person age, their current living arrangements, how long the person has had anorexia nervosa, overall medical condition including weight, other eating disorder symptoms, such as binge eating vomiting, or laxative abuse, poor results with previous treatments. The types of treatments that may be used for anorexia nervosa includes: Psychotherapy, support groups, and medication. Individual psychotherapy is a treatment for anorexia especially for people who are beyond older and don’t lived at home. Individual therapy provides a safe place to learn how to identify concerns, solve problems, overcome fears, and test new skills. There are many different types of individual therapy they are: family therapy, and group therapy. Family therapy is almost always used as part of treatment when the person with anorexia is young and living at home. See family therapy brings the family together to sit down with a therapist and discuss the anorexia person issues and shows family members how to be support and how to shows the anorexia how to be guilt free and how to cope with the disorder. This form of therapy has been very successful in helping anorexia people overcome their fears and anxiety. Group therapy can play a very important role as part of hospital treatment, partial hospitalization or intensive day treatment. Group therapy can assist in dealing with other associated emotional symptoms, such as anxiety, depression and anger. Sharing experiences with others in a group can be very effective in helping reduce guilt, shame, and isolation, and can lead to important insights, regarding strategies for recovery. Support groups are led by non-professionals may be helpful under certain circumstances. Support groups can be helpful to anorexia person because they can see that they are not alone. The people in the groups all have the same problems and they can share their stories with each others and don’t have to feel guilt or a shame anymore. Many medications have been tried in treating anorexia. It is generally agreed that medication alone is not effective. Because depression and other emotional problems are often a result of starvation, it is best to focus on weight gain rather than medication. Also the effects of starvation decrease the effectiveness of antidepressants and worsen the side effect. Medication may be required to deals with overwhelming anxiety, obsessions, depression, or gastric discomfort following meals. The overall goals of treatment are to treat the medical complications, gradually gain weight to a level that allows normal menstrual periods to begin, normalize eating, eliminate inappropriate weight control behaviors, and help the person cope with changes in eating and weight. Conclusion

Even though there are different ways to treat an anorexia person. The most important thing a girl must remember is beauty is only skin deep. A girls must also remember that you don’t have to be a size zero to be consider beautiful, successful and happy there are plenty of plus size models and actors and singers. You must be happy with yourself the way God made you and as long as you are happy with yourself everything else would fall into place. You must love yourself the way God made you. If you are confident with yourself then people would look at you the same. Anorexia person must remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

References 1. Mott Leeann & Lumsden Barry (1994) Understanding eating Disorders: Anorexia… 2. Hall Lindsey & Ostroff Monika (1998) Anorexia Nervosa: A Guide to Recovery

References: 1. Mott Leeann & Lumsden Barry (1994) Understanding eating Disorders: Anorexia… 2. Hall Lindsey & Ostroff Monika (1998) Anorexia Nervosa: A Guide to Recovery