Anorexia Nervosa – starving for slimness Unreasonable fear of obesity #health
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Anorexia nervosa is a disorder brought on by an unreasonable fear of obesity and a constant pursuit of remaining thin. Individuals with anorexia go to any lengths to become slim and to maintain a precariously low body weight. And yet, it's never enough no matter how much weight they lose. Dieting and losing weight turns into an obsession.
It has been observed that females constitute about 95 percent of the people who suffer from anorexia nervosa. It quite often starts in adolescence and sometimes even earlier. It affects people in the upper and middle socioeconomic category. In the west this number is seen to be increasing.
Anorexia nervosa may be mild and temporary or severe and long lasting. Death resulting from this disorder has reportedly been as high as 10 to 20 percent. Social factors seem to play an important part in anorexia nervosa. The desire to be thin is becoming increasingly important (thin is in) and society seems to frown on obesity. Fat is out. Unhealthy. Unattractive. Undesirable.
Today, even small children are conscious of these attitudes and adolescent girls jumping on the diet bandwagon is escalating by the numbers.
Anorexia means 'lack of appetite,' yet strangely people who have this disorder are, in point of fact, hungry and constantly thinking of food. They study diets, they collect recipes, they hoard food and yet they deliberately waste food. Many anorexics gorge themselves and then vomit the food or take laxatives to purge themselves. Many also limit their intake of food or exercise to control weight.
Anorexia nervosa is diagnosed on the basis of weight loss and other symptoms. An adolescent girl suffering from this disorder can even stop having her periods. Men and women may lose interest in sex. They may have low body temperature, low blood pressure, low heart rate, swelling of tissues caused by an accumulation of fluid, and an excess of body and facial hair.
The first part of treatment involves restoring normal body weight. This is crucial, as in many cases, weight loss can lead to death.
The second is psychotherapy. When the person is back to normal weight, treatment, which should be conducted by specialists in eating disorders, is started. This treatment may include individual, group, and family psychotherapy as well as drugs.
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