Anorexia

Anorexia

Introduction

This paper will describe facts and figures related to the disease Anorexia. The paper will give details about the disease, its characteristics, its effects and how it could be treated. This paper will help anyone to get the basic information about the disease and how it could be cured.

Definition

As used today, anorexia is an abbreviation of anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder characterized by severe weight loss mainly brought about by restricting one's intake of food to a level much below that required to maintain body weight that is normal for one's height, age, and sex. Formerly, anorexia meant loss of appetite and was defined as such in nineteenth-century medical dictionaries. It was acknowledged as a symptom of a range of physical illnesses, rather than as constituting an illness in its own right. Anorexia was also observed to occur among the mentally ill, and forced feeding of severely underweight patients was practiced in mental asylums. During the later decades of the nineteenth century, an interest in the classification of mental illnesses developed apace with the idea that asylums should have a therapeutic function. By the 1870s, the fasting practices of some young women had been identified in France as constituting a morbid condition termed l'anorexie hysterique, and anorexia nervosa—which became the term of preference—had been introduced to medical circles in Great Britain. Severe fasting practices among young women were thereafter seen as constituting an unusual and morbid illness in its own right. Anorexia and other eating disorders are often taken to be symptomatic of consumer maladies, in this case a consequence of idealized mass media representations and celebrations of “thin bodies” in contemporary consumer culture.

Characteristics of Anorexia

Anorexia nervosa most frequently develops during adolescence; it is most common in women between 13 and 25 years of age and is rare among older women; the average age of onset is 17 years. Anorexia is more likely to occur in those whose appearance and body size is the focus of their careers, such as dancers, actors, models, flight attendants, jockeys, gymnasts, and runners. It occurs at a much lower frequency in men than women.

Anorexia is a psychological disorder that has a behavioral component and physical and nutritional consequences that can be life-threatening. Ways to tell if someone has anorexia include psychological, behavioral, and physical considerations. Signs that support a diagnosis of anorexia include a refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height, an intense fear of gaining weight even when the person is underweight, disturbances in how body weight and shape are perceived, and abnormalities in the menstrual cycle (for women). There are two subtypes of anorexia, referred to as the "restricting type" and the "binge-eating/purging type." Those who have the restricting type limit their food intake but do not regularly engage in binge-eating or purging behavior as those who have the binge-eating/purging type do.

Effects of Anorexia

The most obvious physical and nutritional consequence of anorexia is dramatic weight loss. By definition, anorexia is characterized by weight loss ...