Anorexia: Dying to Fit in - Essay Example

Anorexia, Dying to Fit In Anorexia nervosa is a well known but often misunderstood disorder. It is a serious and sometimes fatal condition caused primarily by social expectations. Society has become increasingly health conscience and thin has been “in” for at least 40 years. Overweight persons are shunned and ridiculed partly due to television, magazines and other types of media constantly reinforcing the thin body frame ideal. In the meantime, inexpensive, high-calorie and generally unhealthy “junk” foods are relentlessly marketed. The media sends mixed messages regarding body image and food intake which only acts to confuse the public. Although all types of people, men and women, old and young, rich and poor suffer from Anorexia it is young women that are the most vulnerable. Anorexia is a complex eating disorder caused by several factors and can be effectively treated with the help of dieticians and therapists. A person is characterized as anorexic if they will not sustain their body weight to within 15 percent of what their normal weight should be. An anorexic is also identified as a person who has a distorted body image and an abnormal fear of weight gain, even the slightest amount. Other important features of Anorexia include denying the significance of the disorder, weight loss, starvation, and the associated health complications are severe and can cause death. People who are experiencing a continuing preoccupation with their weight and amount of food intake food even when they weigh less than what is considered normal would likely benefit from seeking a therapist who specializes in eating disorders. The word Anorexia means “loss of appetite,” but that is not an accurate definition. Persons with Anorexia frequently ignore their body’s hunger signals therefore control their food cravings. An anorexic might love to cook, experimenting with different recipes and food combinations but will not eat what they have prepared. It’s not a disdain for food, Anorexia is a negative body image issue. The anorexic may also be obsessed with exercise which accompanies the starvation habit. This can lead other people to falsely assume that the anorexic is thin and healthy. Anorexia is a more severe form a weight control than Bulimia, an associated eating disorder. The Bulimic is obsessed with maintaining their weight but cannot keep themselves from overeating so they “binge and purge” their food. They eat to excess them vomit. Anorexics are averse to eating and have a distorted body image; they think they are always too fat no matter how skeletal they appear to others. (Susic, 2012). Though obsession regarding body weight is the source for eating disorders, no one cause can be identified to fit all afflicted persons. Many factors can play a role including social and cultural, psychological and behavioral in addition to neurobiological and genetic reasons. Theories that parenting causes eating disorders persist but no clinical evidence yet conclusively supports the argument although common sense assessments do. Numerous studies have confirmed a genetic link. “Anorexia is eight times more common in people who have relatives with the disorder.” (“Anorexia Nervosa,” 2010) Research involving twins demonstrates a propensity to share specific eating disorders including obesity, Bulimia and Anorexia. In addition, scientists have recently identified particular chromosomes that are known to be linked with Anorexia and Bulimia. Biology, irregularities is the body’s functions; specifically the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) can be a major factor for some who are struggling with the disorder. This complex structure within the brain involves the hypothalamus which controls behavior, such as sleeping, sexual conduct, regulation of body temperature, hormone secretion in addition to hunger and eating functions. The second part of the axis is the pituitary gland which controls the adrenal glands, thyroid functions, sexual maturation and growth. The third is the Amygdala, a small structure located deep in the brain that regulates emotion and is associated with affection, aggression, depression and anxiety. “The HPA system releases certain neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) that regulate stress, mood, and appetite. Abnormalities in the activities of three of them, serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine, may play a particularly important role in eating disorders.” (“Anorexia Nervosa,” 2010) Serotonin is concerned with appetite, anxiety and well-being. The hormone Norepinephrine is associated with a stress. Dopamine is connected with reward-seeking activities. Dopamine and serotonin imbalances may partially explain why anorexics cannot seem to find the same pleasure eating foods as most other people. An obvious symptom of Anorexia is appearance, an emasculated look generally associated with starvation. Another is noticeable restrictive, excessive dieting. Other symptoms of Anorexia might include: Won’t eat in front of other people Slowed or confused thinking Thinning head hair Dry skin Sensitivity to cold weather Swollen or cold or hands and feet Odd eating habits such as cutting food into tiny pieces Stomach issues Yellowish skin, particularly on the soles of the feet and palms of the hands Poor judgment or memory Excessive exercising coupled with an obsession for being thin Sporadic or no menstrual periods (“Anorexia Nervosa,” 2010) Treatment objectives for Anorexia include: Improve behavior, self esteem and self-control Re-establish a healthy weight Heal physical problems and any connected psychiatric issues Alter patients’ dysfunctional beliefs regarding Anorexia Make family counseling available Teach patients to develop healthy meal plans and eating patterns (“Anorexia Nervosa,” 2010) The mental condition of the Anorexia patient is usually treated first in concert with nutritional counseling. Psychiatric approaches differ widely and are tailored to the anorexics specific needs. “Nutritional rehabilitation counseling is essential for recovery. It can help patients develop structured meal plans and healthy eating and weight management.” (“Anorexia Nervosa,” 2010) Family-based treatment involving the parent’s help in feeding their adolescent anorexic child has shown to be successful. Medications such as antidepressants and serotonin inhibitors are successful in the treatment of Bulimia but not for Anorexia. Although Anorexia is usually more difficult to treat than Bulimia, long-term studies have proven patients can recover from the disorder if given individualized treatment. Studies indicate that most Bulimic patient and about half of Anorexia patients are free from eating issues 10 years after treatment. Starvation of the body cause several severe issues. Anorexics can and often do suffer damage to critical organs such as the brain, kidneys and heart. Blood pressure and pulse rate drops and patient may have irregular heart rhythms or complete heart failure. Nutritional deprivation causes electrolyte irregularities leading to low sodium and potassium levels. Nutritional deprivation also causes loss of calcium making bones brittle and easier to break (osteoporosis). It also leads to smaller brain capacity. People with severe cases of Anorexia have starved themselves to death. More die from Anorexia than any other psychiatric illness. The most common causes of death are complications stemming from malnutrition and suicide. Anorexics may or may not have genetic predispositions to contract the disorder but what is common to all persons with eating disorders is media and social influence which are powerfully persuasive, particularly for young, self-conscience women. Public perceptions set the cultural standard for beauty and for what a healthy body should look like. This standard is largely distorted in comparison to cultural realities. In other words, images of women on television and in magazines do not represent the norm of society, or even close. Research by the Social Research-Social Trends Analysis (SRTA) on body image found that prejudice directed toward overweight people in our society is so prevalent and venomous that obese women are among the most reviled segment of society. For this reason they are among the most depressed, more so than severely disabled or chronically ill persons. The depression isn’t a direct cause of obesity but by social demands and the ingrained cultural connection of thinness with beauty. The SRTA illustrates the standard society is setting as one that cannot be achieved, and studies show that the problems are becoming worse as time goes on: “25 years ago, top models weighed only 8 percent less than the average woman; now, they weigh 23 percent less.” (Manning, 2012). Fewer than five percent of women have the physical ability to achieve what is considered bodily perfection. The increase in demand for the flawless body by the modeling, performer and typical teenager girl sectors of society is due almost exclusively to the influences of various media types. Women are continually exposed to the perfect body image during their day such as when on the internet, watching television, reading a magazine or even playing a video game. “Thanks to the media, we have become accustomed to extremely rigid and uniform standards of beauty.” (Manning, 2012). The media forces us to view ‘beautiful people’ constantly, so often that the exceptional, ideal figure seems normal and attainable. The consequences of this steady exposure to perfection are affecting not only Anorexia sufferers but average woman too. “An increasing number of normal, attractive women with no weight problems or clinical psychological disorders look at themselves in the mirror and see ugliness and fat.” (Manning, 2012). 80 percent of women18 and over are greatly dissatisfied with their appearance and are inclined to over-estimate their weight, at least in their own mind. Research conducted by Harvard University revealed that young children also experience a constant media barrage exposing them to the perfect body image. As many as 66 percent of underweight 12-year-old girls think they are overweight. Dieting habits by teenagers is also influenced by peer pressure which is, in turn, influenced by media. Most girls who are dieting have friends who are also dieting. Consider the continuous media exposure teens experience in addition to their normal low self-esteem issues and then add peer pressure. It’s a recipe for dangerous eating disorders which, due to societal pressures unique to women, affects teen girls disproportionately, practically exclusively. Women have historically been treated as inferiors and subservient to men who have cast them into roles that society is not fully past, at least not mentally. As a result, women still feel inferior on some level of their psyche, a condition forced on her by society. A permanent lowering of self-esteem is the result which contributes to eating disorders. On the other hand, because women are usually depicted as more emotionally vulnerable and as the “weaker sex,” Anorexia and other eating disorders are diagnosed much more often in women than men. “Clinicians may be biased to believe that eating disorders are associated with a characteristic female weakness and thus are less likely to diagnose eating disorders in men, instead writing them off as mere manifestations of depression.” (Schmerler, 2012). Studies investigating eating disorders have deservedly focused on the many types of media and popular culture. The Barbie Doll has been the ideal that young girls have aspired to since it premiered in 1959. Barbie is a prime example of societal expectations for body type being unrealistic and unachievable for real girls. The average American girl owned, and idolized, seven Barbie Dolls in her lifetime. If Barbie were a real she would be a severely underweight 110 lb., 5’9” tall woman with an 18” waist, 39” bust and wear a size 3 shoe. She would probably have to walk bent over on both her feet and hands and could not menstruate. She’d be a depressed freak not wanting to venture outdoors. However, the plastic version remains the model of perfection for impressionable young girls who as women still consider Barbie the ideal somewhere deep in the psyche. There has been much discussion regarding the connection between eating disorders and the Barbie marketing sensation. Young girls and women wanting to look like Barbie are aspiring to be excessively thin. A girl with Anorexia explained her mindset with regards to Barbie in an interview with MSNBC, “I’m blond and blue-eyed, and I figured that was what I was supposed to look like. She was my idol. It impacted the way I looked at myself.” (Schmerler, 2012). One of the controversies surrounding Barbie and its connection with eating disorders came about when Slumber Party Barbie hit the store shelves. The doll came packaged with a copy of a booklet called “How to Lose Weight.” One example of the advice provided to young girls in the book was “Don’t Eat.” Barbie’s maker, the Mattel Corporation, received criticism because of their insensitivity to the problem, one that is caused, in part, by the Barbie Doll itself. The National Eating Disorders Association reports the two main media sources for portraying the female thin ideal are the television and magazine industry. 60 percent of white adolescent school girls regularly read fashion magazines. 74 percent of the articles in fashion magazines suggest “to become more attractive” as the main motive to lose weight.  Additionally, women typically watch up to four hours of television every day on average and about 25 percent of commercials contain the underlying message of “attractiveness” as an incentive for women. These messages encourage the “ideal” body type. Doing the math, women get this message from television 5,260 per year. A study reviewing the ten most read magazines by young adults of both genders revealed that the articles and ads targeting women are more than 10 times more likely to advocate weight loss rather than changing body shape via exercise. The opposite is the case for material targeted for men. The effects of body image messages from television were the subject of an interesting study performed by Brown University psychologists who evaluated teenaged girls living on the isolated island of Fiji in 1998. Television had been introduced to the isolated South Pacific Island just three years earlier. Prior to 1995, there were no reported cases of eating disorders in Fiji and teenage girls, by and large, were satisfied with their body image in spite of having a higher average weight than girls in most other societies. By 1998, when the study was performed, “several cases of eating disorders had been diagnosed and girls reported that they felt compelled to reshape their bodies as a result of exposure to television that portrayed the ideal female body type.” (Schmerler, 2012). The causes for eating disorders such as Anorexia are multifaceted and not limited to genetics, personality, societal pressures or media influences. Usually it’s a combination of factors which interact with a range of environmental and family issues. All play a significant role, many times in concert together, to produce and prolong Anorexia and other eating disorders. Researchers have discovered that, in a number of instances, a teenager who has developed Anorexia is the products of parents who are over-involved with their child’s day-to-day activities. Teenagers that feel their parents are controlling micromanagers of their lives may feel helpless to have an identity separate from their over-involved parents. As a result the teen attempts to exercise autonomy for themselves and independence from their parents by controlling the only aspect of their lives they feel they can, their own bodies. The following hypothetical example can illustrate this point. A teenaged girl is somewhat athletic so she tries out and wins a position on the high school volleyball team. As a member of the team she will be away from home more due to practices and games played after school hours. This separation may be “emotionally threatening to an over-involved parent, who compensates by sharing the (sports) identity with the daughter via attendance at daily practices, games and any related social gatherings.” (Engel, et al., 2012) The teen is incapable of developing her own identity separate from the over-involved parents, so she attempts to exercise control over her life the by the only method she knows, by controlling her body, specifically the amount of food she puts in it. This behavior is all too typical and can gradually develop into a severe eating disorder such as Anorexia. Research has demonstrated conclusively that parents of teenagers who have developed Anorexia tend to be rigid perfectionists who are overprotective and are overly focused on success. These parents have “high, sometimes unreasonable expectations for achievement and may place exaggerated attention on external rewards.” (Engel, et al., 2012) Many teenagers that are raised within a family dynamic such as this try to achieve success, or at least the appearance of self accomplishment, by becoming thin and therefore what they have led to believe is attractive by external forces, such as media influences discussed earlier. “If children perceive that they are failing to live up to family expectations, they may turn to something that seems more easily controlled and at which they may be more successful, such as food restriction or weight loss.” (Engel, et al., 2012) Some people with Anorexia currently live in or grew up in dysfunctional families where negative behavior, such as drug and alcohol use is the norm. Marriage problems, continued instances of domestic violence and divorce are common family issues for persons suffering with Anorexia. As a result of extreme and prolonged incidences of stressful situations including physical abuse or neglect, some people, particularly teenagers, begin a descent into depression and eating disorders, Anorexia being the worst type. (Engel, et al., 2012) The root causes of Anorexia are wide-ranging. Each case is specific to the individual and the causes as complex. Genetics have been shown to be a determining factor in predicting eating disorder tendencies. Schools and parents, along with living conditions, also are contributing factors for many but it’s social pressures instigated by the relentless media barrage that is the most prevalent underlying cause for Anorexia. Psychological shackles forced upon mostly teenage girls via various types of media are more to blame than environmental (schools/parents) pressures or biological circumstances. Whatever the main root cause, Anorexia is a disorder that kills if not treated successfully. As more people understand Anorexia, the causes, treatments and dire results of not addressing the problem, the fewer cases will occur. Works Cited “Anorexia Nervosa.” New York Times (2010). Web. October 31, 2012 Engel, Bridget, Psy.D., Staats Reiss, Natalie Ph.D., and Dombeck, Mark Ph.D. “Causes of Eating Disorders - Family Influences” Seven Counties Services 2012. Web. October 31, 2012 http://www.sevencounties.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=11751&cn=46 Manning, Julia. “Eating Disorders — An Illness, Not A ‘Lifestyle Choice’” Nextgen Journal. February 22, 2010. Web. October 31, 2012 Schmerler, Jessica. “Eating Disorders: Women’s increased vulnerability as a byproduct of biology and society.” Yale Journal of Medicine and Law. May 21, 2012. Web. October 31, 2012 Susic, Paul. “Eating Disorders: Bulimia Nervosa vs. Anorexia Nervosa.” Psychtreatment.com. January 1, 2012. Web. October 31, 2012 Read More

 

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