Compare And Contrast The Four Stages Of Anorexia

Stages of Anorexia. There are four stages of Anorexia, according to psychiatrist Steven Levenkron. These stages will help trace and understand how an anorexic thinks, feels, and changes in personality. Levenkron calls the first stage, “The Achievement Stage”. In this stage, Anorexia disguises itself as merely a desire to lose weight. This stage does not show any abnormal activity, however it gives the idea that there is a boundary that separates a person from society, implying the message that getting fat, is unacceptable by others. Most who are considered overweight do not take the word “diet” as seriously as anorexics. To them, dieting is too taxing, so they often discontinue it after a few attempts. Nevertheless, a person who diets should not easily be categorized as anorexic, because anorexics are said to be perfectionists whose minds are focused on losing weight solved by rigorous and often unhealthy dieting. Anorexics find gratification and
fulfillment from the praise they receive from the people around them, never knowing that these compliments are feeding off the impending addiction to lose weight. With this, an anorexic thinks that her primary goal of being socially acceptable is upon reach. “The Security-Compulsive Stage” is the next stage, according to Levenkron. In this stage, the primary goal is slowly neglected. As a person loses weight, the more she considers herself as fat, and herein lies the psychological effect of Anorexia Nervosa, wherein she only focuses on getting thin, never mind the proper weight for her height. At this stage, she begins to develop a sense of envy to other women she considers to be skinnier than her, resulting to what is known as “body-size distortion”. In this matter, a person finds ways to make dieting more fast and effective until it reaches the point of obsession. The third stage is called “The Assertive Stage” which begins when compliments slowly become ridicule because of the now too-thin state of the anorexic.
At this point, the anorexic thinks that the comments she receives about her body resulted from jealousy because she thinks they are fat. In an anorexic’s mind, she feels that she holds a certain power amongst the people around her that she does not feel obligated to be praised, that’s why she doesn’t listen to advices given out to her. At this stage, parents begin feel alarmed about the possibility of this disorder. The final stage is the “Pseudo-Identity Stage”, wherein the thinness of the Anorexic is obvious but society, through time learns to accept it. Some anorexics try to hide their thinness by wearing multiple layers of clothes, while others try to flaunt the little that they have. This final stage doesn’t show a change of personality on the patient but rather says that an anorexic sees that she is in the right path and that her personality can affect
others.

Statistics of Anorexia Nervosa. The number of diagnosed anorexics is gradually increasing. Currently, this disorder is considered as third of the most common psychological disorder, which according to the American Psychiatric Association affects 1 in every 250 women (DSM-IV). In other words, it is estimated that there are 30 million cases of Anorexia worldwide. Ninety-five percent of the aforementioned figures could be observed in people of ages 12 to 25 (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2011). If compared, it can be said that teenagers are the most affected unlike adults, and are more common amongst women, than men who comprise only 10% of anorexics. The figures presented are continuing to rise alarmingly, but only a few fully recover while some still result to death. Levenkron said that only a low 20 up to a high 48 percent of the patients might recover (p.12). This proves that not all who seek treatment fully recover. In support, the Eating Disorders Association of New Zealand estimates that only 1 in 100 of anorexics that seek treatment die after a year, while on a span of 20 years, the death rate increases by 20% because of complications and suicide.

Anorexia Nervosa in the Philippines. As stated in Article 2, Section 15 of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines,
“The State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and I nstill health consciousness among them.”
This means that it is necessary for the government to take effective actions regarding mattes that concerns the health of its members, but based on the statistics from Health Grade Inc., the Philippines ranks second among all of the Southeast Asian countries which has the highest cases of Anorexia. In this matter, this data shows that this disorder is becoming alarming especially that it can cause death. The role of education about this disorder becomes more and more important to spread awareness in order to help Filipinos to have the knowledge on how to avoid and treat it. Because of this, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago enacted the Bill “Eating Disorders Awareness, Prevention, and Education Act of 2008”. In accordance to this, the bill proposes that schools and parents be given knowledge on this disorder even though it is not popularly known to be present in the Philippines, unlike cancer, or HIV.
Ways on how to determine an anorexic. One of the defining characteristics of an Anorexic is being extremely thin, however this should not be the only feature tht we should look into to tell whether a person has Anorexia or not. But how can the difference be determined? According to the Diagnostics and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, an anorexic exhibits the following qualities:
“ a.) Persistent restriction of energy intake leading to significantly low body weight b.) either an intense fear of gaining weight or of becoming fat, or persistent behaviour that interferes with weight gain (even though significantly low weight), and c.) disturbance in the way one's body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body shape and weight on self-evaluation, or persistent lack of recognition of the seriousness of the current low body weight.”
It is important that this disorder be detected immediately to avoid it to reach a level that is alarming. Although unprofessional, the parents and other loved ones can still find ways to detect if someone is anorexic. They can try to keep watch of their loved ones for their dieting patterns whether they skip meals but exercise frequently, and notice if they make It habit to criticize their own body, or drink over-the-counter slimming pills.