Essay Sample on Anorexia: Eating Disorder Affecting All Ages, Women Most

Introduction

Anorexia is a form of a psychiatric eating disorder that is related to an individual trying to evade gaining weight. Anorexia refers to the pre-occupation with low weight through food restriction. The disorder is common among all ages and it is more so among the women. There has been a thin idealizing media that advocates for developing disordered eating that is slightly greater for the women. Sometimes, it is hard for people who have restricted anorexia to maintain their normal weight.

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Anorexia is a severe psychiatric disorder whose main characteristics are the unwillingness to maintain a minimum weight such that the current body weight is 16 percent below the expected. They have the fear of becoming fat and gaining weight. They also experience disturbance in the bodyweight that shapes the perceptions and their body image has a connection with the self-esteem (Harmon & Rudd, 2019). The most affected ae the adolescents and there is a pathological fear of becoming fat.

Two categories of anorexia which are common to individuals are restricted anorexia or purging anorexia. In the case of purging anorexia, patients tend to be overactive while in the other case, patients tend to have restrictions on a certain diet. The paper tries to examine the various causes of anorexia to establish the best care techniques which are put in practice to improve the condition.

There has been the emergence of pro-anorexia, which is the advocacy of anorexia behavior where those who are part of this group probably do not take Anorexia as an illness and they tend to engage in anorexic behaviors as a choice in their life. Anorexia nervosa is a lifestyle choice where humans (usually young western women) put a great emphasis on physical attractiveness. Although control of dietary tendencies among young western women to maintain attractive slender bodies is what is referred to as anorexia nervosa, the main causes of these tendencies include the contribution of social media in advocating for pro-anorexia ideas, the neurobiology and genetics factors, and the socio-cultural factors.

Anorexia nervosa is caused by not only social and cultural factors but also genetics and neurobiology factors. Family links expose an individual to behavioral traits that cause them to result in eating disorders like anorexia nervosa. Eating disorders are behavioral issues caused by cultural and social factors rather than chemical imbalance notions held by drug companies.

There are three public social media platforms (Facebook, Tumblr, and Pinterest) discovered between the year 2010 and where it was found that there is content that supports anorexia existent in the platforms, and the ways it is being spread (Balawejder & Cautilli, 2008). There is content supporting anorexia nervosa that is uniformly present in all three social media platforms albeit minimal content restrictions in the form of user agreement guidelines on self-harm.

A theory named "sociocultural theory" can potentially explain the prevalence of the thin ideal among women in western culture. The sociocultural theory seeks to stress that the cognitive development of a person is dependent on their environment which also includes their society as well as culture.

In this particular theory, the process of human interaction with the sociocultural environment, it fosters the growth and development of an individual, therefore, allowing the emergence of social meanings. Forming the self-concept and any information about one-self that help people to evaluate themselves against are conceived within the physical environment as well as the social practices in the environment.

In the sociocultural environment, there are perceptions regarding physical attractiveness that are intertwined with the notion of thinness. Social media is also linked to the beauty ideal and the development of disordered eating disorders and attitudes.

It is through human interaction with their environment that they receive growth and development for themselves and also for the society at large hence allowing other social meanings to emerge. Sources reveal that it is not the fat itself that causes weight bias towards the heavier women (Balawejder & Cautilli, 2008). It is as a result of the negative impact on the perceived physical attractiveness which is a characteristic of heightened women more so in the sociocultural environment of the Western.

People may recover from anorexia over time as many of them get better while in their 20s (Kaplan, 2008). However, there is a percentage of them that remain chronically ill hence making it a psychiatric disorder and there has been a high mortality rate as a result. It is important to ensure weight restoration in the short run so as to keep patients from starving to death and do away with the withdrawal symptoms of Anorexia.

The corrective measure of anorexia disorder can involve the patient being subjected to refeeding. However, there are high chances that the patient is likely to develop other related complications as Refeeding syndrome occurs within the first 4 to 7 days. To avoid the condition, when a patient is subjected to the refeeding process, it should begin with little food and liquid quantities then gradually raised to evade lowering serum mineral concentration.

In Psychotherapy, the process involves therapy on family, commitment and acceptance, cognitive remediation and cognitive behavior. Carrying out family-based therapy helps teenagers due to their inability to make an informed decision on eating patterns. It also assists parents in determining the correct feeding pattern of their children until they show maturity decisions about their health (Bordo, 2011). Other methodologies that can be incorporated include anxiety reduction strategies such as mediation and exercises help in gaining relaxation and improve an individual's sense.

In this case, drugs can be used together with food supplements to create certain appetite levels for patients so that they can have more intake of certain diets needed for body weight. Drugs such as olanzapine can be helpful in these cases. Anorexia is a common disorder affecting all individuals, therefore, there need to address neuropsychiatric problems and help patients regain normal body weight (Kaplan, 2008). A better feeding pattern should be addressed right from family-based level to school teenage level. By carrying out campaigns at all levels, individuals gain informed consent hence able to make informed decisions on their body health.

Although control of dietary tendencies among young western women to maintain attractive slender bodies is what is referred to as anorexia nervosa, the main causes of these tendencies include the contribution of social media in advocating for pro-anorexia ideas, the neurobiology and genetics factors, and the socio-cultural factors. Anorexia nervosa is caused by not only social and cultural factors but also genetics and neurobiology factors. Family links expose an individual to behavioral traits that cause them to result in eating disorders like anorexia nervosa.

References

Balawejder, T., & Cautilli, J. (2008). Behavioral insights underlying mental health problems: A review of "Taking America Off Drugs" by Stephen Ray Flora: Albany, New York, State University of New York Press. The International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy, 4(1), 115+. Retrieved from https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A214102582/AONE?u=lirn99776&sid=AONE&xid=eb316b13

Bordo, S. (2011). The Globalization of Eating Disorder. The New World Reader: Thinking and Writing about the Global Community, Pp. 639-643.

Harmon, J., & Rudd, N. A. (2019). Friending Ana: Investigating the prominence and characteristics of proanorexia communities on social media. Fashion, Style, & Popular Culture, 6(2), 243+. Retrieved from https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A580223138/AONE?u=lirn99776&sid=AONE&xid=2463fedd

Kaplan, A. (2008, January). Why girls starve themselves: new research in anorexia nervosa. Psychiatric Times, 25(1), 1. Retrieved from https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A180317152/AONE?u=lirn99776&sid=AONE&xid=f6f36b08