Kristi Nuzzo1 Nuzzo Intro to Psychology Dr. Christine Anderson October 31, 2007 Eating Disorders-Anorexia Nervosa Anorexia Nervosa, also known as Anorexia, is when people see themselves as overweight even though they are dangerously thin. According to MedicineNet.com the definition or Anorexia Nervosa is "An eating disorder characterized by markedly reduced appetite or total aversion to food. Anorexia is a serious psychological disorder." The process of eating becomes an obsession to an anorexic. Unusual eating habits develop, such as avoiding food and meals, picking out a few foods and eating these in small quantities, or carefully weighing and portioning food. Anorexics have an intense fear of body fat and weight gain. People with anorexia are often categorized as perfectionists. Yet the truth is, they often have a very low self esteem and overly criticize themselves. Although many people tend to look at women as the only ones with this disorder, men also have been known to be anorexic. An estimated 0.5 to 3.7 percent of females suffer from anorexia nervosa in their lifetime as well as an estimated five to fifteen percent of males. However, rates among male anorexia have been increasing over the past few years. Symptoms for men and women with this disorder tend to be very much in common, if not the same. Early symptoms of someone with anorexia include obsession
Nuzzo2 with their weight and a compulsion to exercise. As the disease becomes more severe, symptoms do as well. A few other symptoms someone may have are resistance to maintaining the proper body weight for a specific age and height, intense fear of becoming fat even though they are underweight, denial of the seriousness of how underweight they are, and in women who have reached puberty, absent or abnormal menstrual periods. Young girls who have not yet reached puberty usually have a delayed first menstrual period. Someone who has had anorexia for a long time often have symptoms which include slow heart rate and low blood pressure, heart failure, brain damage, bitter nails and hair, dry skin, mild anemia, swollen joints, reduced muscle mass, lightheadedness and osteoporosis. According to the article "Body Image 1996" (page 1), anorexia has been around for at least three decades now. Although binging, purging, and starving behaviors may be new, the groundwork for them is as old as mankind itself. Yet, the risk of eating disorders has doubled in American women born after 1960. There are many different beliefs on what actually causes someone to become anorexic. According to the article "The Shrinking (con) Cave Man" (page 1), "There may be times in history where people had genes for these traits and didn't develop a disorder, due to a low-stress environment". Women in the U.S. are under constant pressure to fit a certain ideal of beauty. Seeing images of flawless, thin females everywhere makes it hard for women to feel good about their bodies. More and more, men are also feeling pressure to have a perfect body. Many psychologists believe someone may become anorexic due to neurochemicals. For example, according to the article "Do Teenage Hormones Fuel Anorexia?" (page 1),
Nuzzo3 Sarah Leibowitz believes that anorexia usually begins at puberty. Once someone reaches puberty they tend to want fatty food more often. At puberty, rising levels of estrogen enable the production of the neurochemical galanin, which drives an everyday appetite for fat. When this happens some women begin to act with somewhat obsessivecompulsive personality traits, which cause them to stay away from eating any kind of fats. Instead, they keep eating the way they had before reaching puberty, very small portions. They try going all day with only eating very little, therefore causing themselves to starve. Men with this disorder often share many of the same characteristics as females with this disorder, including low self-esteem, the need to be accepted, an inability to cope with emotional pressures, and family and relationship issues. Male anorexia is more often seen in certain subgroups. For instance, according to the article "Anorexia" (page 4) "males who wrestle show a disproportionate in increase anorexia -- rates 7 to 10 times higher than normal." Teenage men are most commonly known to encounter this disorder, yet men up to the age of sixty and as young as the age of eight have been diagnosed. Just as women with anorexia, male anorexia can lead to lifelong medical and psychological complications. Six percent of male eating disorder cases have been known to have caused death. Also, men with this disorder often have a hard time finding medical assistance. Because this anorexia has been more commonly classified as a "female disorder", many men are ashamed to admit to having this problem so they suffer in silence. Another problem they may encounter is being able to find a doctor who knows how to identify
Nuzzo4 and treat male anorexia. Although many women become anorexic because they simply "feel" fat, most men feel the "pressure" to be skinny. Athletic activities have a big part to do with men becoming anorexic by inducing the struggle to be lean. Men may also encounter this disorder due to being teased about being fat during puberty. Anorexia has been closely compared to an addiction. One study gave anorexics the drug naltrexone, a drug used to treat heroine addicts. After a six week course of taking the drug and receiving therapy, eighteen of the nineteen women responded and stabilized their weight by the fourth week. Researches believe that anorexics become addicted to the opioid-induced adaptation to starvation. Because naltrexone stifles opioids by blocking their receptor sites in the brain, the drug breaks the addiction. The treatment of drugs lesson starvation enough so that those giving them therapy can convince patients not to diet. Anorexia treatment overall is most effective on patients who have been diagnosed at an early stage. Some ways anorexics are currently being treated are through medical care and monitoring, psychosocial interventions, and medication. Treatment for those who are anorexic is often done in three different phases. The first phase is making sure the person is physically healthy, which includes weight gain. This stage may be one of the toughest because convincing an anorexic to gain weight is often times extremely hard. Because of this, reaching this goal may require hospitalization. After malnutrition has been corrected and they have gained weight, the psychotherapy phase begins. This therapy helps an anorexic overcome low self esteem. One type of therapy they may engage in is behavioral therapy. Behavioral therapy helps a person return to healthy
Nuzzo5 eating habits. Another type of therapy recovering anorexics may encounter in is family therapy. During this therapy, parents help their child learn to eat again and maintain healthy eating habits on his or her own. The final phase is medication. For the most part, medication is not given to all recovering anorexics. It is only given to those with mood and anxiety problems caused by anorexia. Researchers have been collecting DNA from families who have two or more relatives with an eating disorder. They are hoping to soon find some sort of match linked to anorexia. By doing so, they believe they will be able to find out a lot more about the causes of anorexia and therefore increase the effects of treatment.
Kristi Nuzzo Intro to Psychology Dr. Christine Anderson November 13, 2007 Works Cited C, Catherine. "The Shrinking (Con) Cave Man." Psycology Today (1998): 1-2. JulyAug. 1998 <http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-19980701000006.html>. "Definition of Anorexia." MedicineNet.Com. 19 Jan. 2003. MedicineNet, Inc. 10 Nov. 2007 <http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=2268>. Garner, David M., and Ann Kearney-Cooke. "Body Image 1996." Psycology Today (1996): 1-6. Mar.-Apr. 1996 <http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto19960301-000033.html>. Pt Staff. "Do Teenage Hormones Fuel Anorexia?" Psycology Today (1993): 1. 30 Aug. 2004 <http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-19930101-000018.html>. Schoenstadt, Arthur. "Male Anorexia." Med TV (2006): 1-3. June 2006 <http://anorexia.emedtv.com/anorexia/male-anorexia.html>.