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Anorexia nervosa is a serious eating disorder and it should never be taken lightly because it can seriously jeopardize health and well-being of sufferers. Modern society rules constantly push us to strive for excellence and require us to be better, faster, stronger and more attractive every single day. What was good enough yesterday doesn’t seem to count today any more, and nobody wants to risk to lose the mad race for not keeping up the proper pace with the best and coolest world trends that send constant messages that only a slim body is an acceptable body. If flooded by images of pale bony models who enjoy the best things life has to offer, it is easy to start trying out one diet after the other and reducing and skipping meals up until you realize that you crossed that fine line between health and illness and don’t know how to reverse the process. Let’s take a deeper look at what anorexia actually is and how dangerous it can be!
Anorexia: Definition and Surprising Facts
Anorexia nervosa is defined as both nervous and eating disorder, primarily marked by a dramatic weight loss and difficulties to achieve and maintain what is considered healthy body weight corresponding to a person’s gender, height, age and overall physical appearance. People suffering from anorexia often have a distorted image of their own bodies and tend to perceive themselves fatter than they actually are, which perpetuates the cycle of drastic reduction of the amount of food they are eating. It can be accompanied by compulsive exercising, feelings of shame and guilt if they eat more than acceptable by their own standards and end up with induced vomiting and use of laxatives to get rid of even those small quantities of nutrients they managed to ingest.
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You would be probably surprised to know that more and more children are diagnosed with anorexia these days as well, most probably driven by the urge to be accepted by their thinner and more popular peers, or to imitate the behavior of the adults in their immediate surroundings. Fashion industries each year hire younger and younger models with extra slim bodies, and it is hard to resist to this newly imposed canons of beauty. On the other hand, healthy eating trends tend to push even little kids to deprive themselves of necessary nutrients to avoid being overweight, in spite of what is known to be vitally important for a growing body of a young person. Even though there is a common opinion that a person suffering from anorexia must be extremely slim, there are also many cases of bigger individuals diagnosed with anorexia as they certainly meet the criteria for the diagnose.
Criteria for Diagnosing Anorexia Nervosa
Not all thin or weight conscious people are anorexic – in order to be diagnosed with this disorder, there are well defined criteria that must be met:
1. Constant and severe restriction of calorie intake that leads to very significant loss of weight which becomes inadequately low for a person of certain height, gender and body structure;
2. Distortions in self-perception – a person with anorexia usually perceives himself or herself as bigger or fatter than he or she actually is;
3. Constant state of vigilance over the amount of one’s weight, increased self-consciousness and self-monitoring and denial of having any particular issues related to severe decrease in overall body mass;
4. Never-ending fear of gaining extra weight, even though the person is usually moderately or even severely underweight according to accepted medical standards;
5. Experience of high levels of disturbance connected with the idea of putting on even a small amount of weight and primary life focus on the way the person is being perceived by others, marked by the lack of interest in what once used to be the source of fun and excitement in the person’s life.
Common Causes of Anorexia
While the actual mechanisms of developing the disorder aren’t entirely clear, there are some common biological and environmental factors that contribute to the onset and reinforce the ongoing course of the illness:
Biological factors:
1. Genetics: The connection between certain genes and the development of anorexia is still researched, but it’s been noticed that a certain number of patients have strong family history of the disorder, which led doctors believe that at least some forms of anorexia could be inherited;
2. Biochemistry: Alterations in biochemical functioning of the brain, especially those considering decreased levels of serotonin and norepinephrine can lead to the impossibility to regulate stress, mood and appetite in an adequate way and facilitate the development of eating disorders, including anorexia;
3. Hormonal imbalance: Irregular functioning of the endocrine system causes various physiological and psychological deviations, which in turn can trigger the onset of anorexia nervosa or prolong the course of the illness.
Environmental factors:
1. Peer and media pressure: The society and medias impose the distorted picture that we all must be thin in order to be properly accepted by those around us and excel in our professions, social life and interactions with potential and current partners. This generates the fear of refusal and rejection and increases the need to do something in order to prevent any possible negative outcomes.
2. Professional career: The opinion that is almost impossible to excel in certain professions, such as modeling, ballet and various types of sports make people constantly research the ways to lose weight in order to become faster, lighter and more dynamic and flexible. Both potential and well-established models, dancers and sportsmen are encouraged to lose sometimes even drastic amounts of weight in order to achieve better results, without being warned that thus they can spiral down into a dangerous territory from which it can be extremely hard to get back on the track.
3. Psychological traumas: Various forms of childhood or family abuse can lead to inability to love yourself the way you are and face yourself with the image of your body in a proper way. Also, traumas can be linked with the lack of appetite and GI problems that can severely interfere with food intake and desire to eat.
Why Is It Important to Take Anorexia Seriously?
Anorexia nervosa mostly affects young adolescents, predominantly girls in what happens to be the most important age for their proper development into healthy and happy adults. Food deprivation can seriously disrupt their menstrual cycle and affect young women’s possibilities to have children some day. In addition to that, the statistics have shown that anorexia is becoming more and more common, being currently the 3rd most common chronic condition among teenagers after asthma and diabetes 1 – this definitely warns the society that this issue should be taken very seriously. Teenagers and young adults with anorexia have unfortunately 10 times higher risk of premature death in comparison to their healthy peers, especially if not diagnosed and treated on time. Nutritional deficiencies caused by anorexia seriously disrupt biochemical functioning of people’s bodies, which deprived of energy, glycogen and fat stores experience numerous alarming symptoms, starting from cognitive and mental disturbances, digestion issues, loss of strength, consciousness and appearance of various heart problems that if left untreated or treated too late can have a fatal outcome.
Available Treatments for Anorexia Nervosa
There isn’t a single or both short and effective treatment for a disorder that has been destroying a person’s health over a considerable amount of time – it takes constant vigilance, time and patience to reverse the damage provoked by this serious chronic condition.
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1. Medical treatment: The first thing to consider when dealing with a patient suffering from anorexia nervosa is to determine the severity of the disorder and all the consequences of prolonged malnutrition in order to prescribe the right kind of therapy that will replenish body stored and stabilize the person’s condition;
2. Nutrition: Once the patient is feeling better, it is vital to work with a nutritionist and determine a healthy eating plan that must be correctly implemented and strictly followed in order to obtain significant results. The patient must be willing to collaborate and stay on the healthy track by eating prescribed quantities of food every day;
3. Psychological therapy: It is extremely important to discover possible underlying psychological issues that led to the development of anorexia nervosa in the first place, because if they don’t get properly addressed the patients risks to relapse in spite of all the efforts, advice and good practice invested in his or her recovery. In case of severe traumas, sufferers need to be helped to learn better and healthier ways to cope with strong and sometimes unbearable emotions and change their ways of thinking and attitude towards life-challenging events. In case of the pressure imposed by the patient’s surroundings, the psychologist must work on strengthening the patient’s self-esteem and self-love in spite of often unrightful claims from the outside to change in order to be accepted. In case of severe mental disturbances, it is necessary to visit a psychiatrist as well and take medications that will help balance the brain chemistry to achieve the necessary well-being.
Anorexia nervosa isn’t just about being skinny in order to be attractive – it is a very serious disorder which needs to be treated and taken care of so that the sufferer can experience a healthy and happy life. If you know someone who needs to be given a hand, be there for him or her and do you best to make sure that this person gets proper treatment. Anorexia is very dangerous but there is help, don’t hesitate to ask for it.
Have you met somebody who managed to overcome anorexia? Share success stories with us to encourage those in need for help!
