There are many diseases, disorders, and problem conditions involving food, eating, and weight, which are known as eating disorders. Eating disorders are real illnesses that can affect how we eat and how we feel about food. For example, Anorexia is the relentless pursuit of thinness and bulimia is the diet-binge-purge disorder. Such disorders are caused from psychological effects from the environment around.
Anorexia nervosa is an illness that usually occurs in teenage girls, but it can also occur in teenage boys, and adult women and men.Among psychiatric disorders, anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate said in a journal article called Resting tachycardia, a warning sign in anorexia nervosa: case report. During an exacerbation of this illness, patients frequently present with nonspecific symptoms. People with anorexia are obsessed with being thin. Usually this thinness obsessions come from the stereotypes provided from peers and media. They lose a lot of weight and are terrified of gaining weight. They believe they are fat even though they are very thin. Anorexia isn't just a problem with food or weight. It's an attempt to use food and weight to deal with emotional problems.
Some symptoms of anorexia are: Deliberate self-starvation with weight loss, Fear of gaining weight, refusal to eat, denial of hunger, constant exercising, greater amounts of hair on the body or the face, sensitivity to cold temperatures, absent or irregular periods, loss of scalp hair and a self-perception of being fat when the person is really too thin.
Girls with anorexia usually stop having menstrual periods. In men levels of sex hormones fall. People with anorexia have dry skin and thinning hair on the head. They may have a growth of fine hair all over their body. They may feel cold all the time, and they may get sick often. People with anorexia are often in a bad mood. They have a hard time concentrating and are always thinking about food. It is not true that anorexics are never hungry. Actually, they are always hungry. Feeling hunger gives them a feeling of control over their lives and their bodies. It makes them feel like they are good at something, they are good at losing weight. People with severe anorexia may be at risk of death from starvation.
Treatment of anorexia is difficult, because people with anorexia believe there is nothing wrong with them. Patients in the early stages of anorexia (less than 6 months or with just a small amount of weight loss) may be successfully treated without having to be admitted to the hospital. But for successful treatment, patients must want to change and must have family and friends to help them.
People with more serious anorexia need care in the hospital, usually in a special unit for people with anorexia and bulimia. Treatment involves more than changing the person's eating habits. Anorexic patients often need counseling for a year or more so they can work on changing the feelings that are causing their eating problems. These feelings may be about their weight, their family problems or their problems with self-esteem. Some anorexic patients are helped by taking medicine that makes them feel less depressed. These medicines are prescribed by a doctor and are used along with counseling.
There is no general accepted outlook on the causes of Anorexia.There are some aspects of cause that are unknown. From what we do know it seems that this is a disorder of many causes that come together to produce the illness.said Dr. Peter Rowan in his article Introducing Anorexia Nervosa. Most people believe it to be psychological based problem possibly developed from family or social problems. In this society, there is a high value placed on appearance. Some listed causes are presumed to be are low self-esteem, biochemical factors, psychiatric disorder, social and cultural pressures, family pressures and genetic predisposition.
