Anorexia
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Anorexia
It seemed to me that the older I got, the more obsessed people seemed about their
bodies. Whether it was the diet soda boom of the 80s, or the fact everyone has always
been unhappy with his or her natural bodies; it just took me a while to comprehend. It always seemed like there were diets here, diets there; these drugs can do this, or
these herbs can do that “Stop the insanity!” This paper is going to discuss anorexia nervosa, an alarming disease that is usually developed during puberty of both boys and girls. Like bulimia, in which the subject binges and then disposes of ingested food by purging or use of laxatives, those suffering anorexia nervosa have an obsession with the amount
of fat on her body (although one of every ten suffering this disease are male, I
will use the female pronoun since they are the majority). This results in the
loss of appetite completely and dangerous weight loss. More than thirty years
ago one of this centurys major sex symbols sang, “Happy Birthday, Mr.
President,” on television. With her size fourteen to sixteen figure, it is doubtful
that societys standards would approve Marilyn Monroe today. Back in those
days men and women alike ate what tasted good or what the body needed
and simply bought clothes that would hide any unwanted weight gain. Today
the story is different. Psychologists that study the influence of television on
children say that television is the most influential medium in our “visually
orientated” society (Velette, 1988, p.3). With the influence of television and
celebrity role models, children dont care that they see a variety of sizes
outside of their home, what they care about are the majority of people shown
on the television set, perfect. Teenagers have typically watched 15,000 hours
of television in their lifetime (Valette, 1988, p.4), absorbing the opinions on
the shows or the commercials burning into their retinas. The message
transmitted: “To be successful, beautiful, popular, and loved you must be thin,
you must be thin, you must be THIN.” After a lifetime of hearing this message
over and over and over again, children may not think there is any reason to
be happy with what they are and feel thinness is the ultimate goal to be happy
and accepted by others. As a result, some children may skip breakfast, eat a
little for lunch, or even adopt some form of diet. This may only last for a
week or so, but for others, the obsession of thinness is higher and the price
they pay is frightening. This paper is going to discuss the cycles of anorexia
nervosa. It will detail the symptoms, behavior, and clinical observations. It
will describe the possible causes of anorexia nervosa through childhood
growth and puberty, childhood eating and social behavior, and the maturation
of children during puberty. Finally, I will discuss the treatment and results of
treatment for anorexia nervosa. Before diving into the details of anorexia
nervosa, there are a few individual traits that may appear in a person that may
have an eating disorder: low self-esteem, feelings of ineffectiveness or
perfectionism, issues of control, and fear of maturation. The more physical
description is chilling. The anorectic victim does not look “thin” as societys
standards portray, but are in fact a walking skeleton with the absence of
subcutaneous fat. Her weight may range from as little as 56-70 pounds or
77-91 pounds. Though clothes are likely to cover most of her figure, her face
appears gaunt and her skin is cold and red or blue in color. Do to the lack of
fat in her body, her menstrual cycle is likely to have ceased. Despite these
conditions, she still sees herself overweight and thus unacceptable. Thinness is
idealism and perfection. It is her independent choice that no one else can take
away from her. At the beginning of anorexia nervosa the subject will first
change her diet, restricting how much she eats and usually cutting out starchy
foods. Seventy-percent of a particular study claimed they were simply
dieting. The rest used excuses of abdominal pain, difficulty swallowing, or
simply a lack of appetite (Dally, 1979, p.14). Those dieting had innocent
intentions at first, even the approval of family members or peers, but as they
reached their target weight the dieting did not slow down. In some cases it
only became more intense. Hunger does not just disappear into thin air. There
is a long and hard battle against stomach pains, sometimes resulting in lapses.
However, the guilt or disgust felt from giving into the temptation of food
results in more willpower for resisting food in the future. The process of
eliminating hunger usually takes up to a year (Dally, 1979, p.14). Sometimes
hunger cannot be ignored. The girl will think about food all day long as