Anorexia Nervosa is a serious eating disorder that is generally identified by the pathological fear of weight gain leading to extreme weight loss. Individuals who suffer from this disorder severely limit their consumption of food, to a point where it is impossible for them to maintain a safe and healthy body weight. In addition to this, sufferers often exhibit behavioural changes in other aspects of their lives that may be detrimental to their well being.The emergence of eating disorders like anorexia nervosa seems to be directly linked to the shift in values and standards in society. The environment dictates that it is good to be thin. Consuming too much fat is considered unhealthy, and evil. This cannot but affect women's perceptions of life and reality; it also forms their habits and influences the daily activities that women engage in. It is a fact that many women become obsessed with how beautiful and attractive their body is. Today, it is perceived as beautiful if a body is lean and not so much curvaceous. This is the current beauty standard that is established in the western society at present.
Anorexia nervosa often starts between the ages of 15 and 25, but it can develop in children as young as 10 and in older people. Anorexia nervosa" is frequently shortened to "anorexia" in both the popular media and scientific literature. Many persons with this disorder restrict their intake to fewer than 1,000 calories per day. Most avoid fattening, high-calorie foods and eliminate meats. The diet of persons with anorexia nervosa may consist almost completely of low-calorie vegetables like lettuce and carrots, or popcorn. Persons with anorexia nervosa develop strange eating habits such as cutting their food into tiny pieces, refusing to eat in front of others, or fixing elaborate meals for others that they themselves don't eat.Anorexia is a condition that goes beyond out-of-control dieting. Treatment will vary depending on the individual circumstances. Women who develop this eating disorder at an early age have a better chance of complete recovery. Anorexia nervosa is a life-threatening illness, and should be treated as soon as possible. It tends to occur in post-puberty, but can develop at any major life change. People with anorexia nervosa usually lose weight by reducing their total food intake and exercising excessively.
Anorexia nervosa is a deadly disease that impacts millions of women each year. It is almost always accompanied by some serious psychological issues concerning they way those suffering from anorexia or bulimia feel their bodies should look. Unfortunately, those suffering from these illnesses rarely see their bodies as they are. When they look in the mirror they see a distortion of what is actually there and feel that they are constantly battling fat, no matter how thin they really are.It is believed that the symptoms of anorexia nervosa are caused by 'starvation syndrome'. This syndrome is characterized by reduced blood circulation and chemical imbalances in the brain caused by continuous dieting. Many of the underlying causes are characteristic of other major eating disorders as well.
Researchers reported that patients with psychiatric problems and severe core eating disorder psychopathology would do poorly with brief, low-intensity treatment. Others hypothesized that comorbidity would predict a poorer outcome in eating disorders. They also found that anorexic patients with personality disorders had significantly worse outcomes at 1-year follow-up than those patients without personality disorders. They found in their study that percent of ideal body weight type of eating disorders had the strongest predictive value in regards to outcome.
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