Реферат: Anorexia Nervosa Essay Research Paper In American

below the expected body weight of a healthy person at the same age and height of

the eating disorder patient. The anorexic may often becomes frightened of

gaining weight and even of food itself. The patient may feel fat, even though

their body weight is well below the normal weight for their height. Some may

even feel they do not deserve pleasure out of life and will deprive themselves

of situations offering pleasure, including eating. This fear becomes so

difficult to manage that the sufferer will gradually isolate themselves from

other people and social activities. This happens so the sufferer can continue

the exhausting anorexic behaviors. Although the mortality rate is high (30% of

anorexics will eventually die from the disease), approximately one third are

able overcome the disease with psychiatric help (Pirke & Ploog, 1984).

Warning signs to look for in someone you suspect of anorexia. Physical signs are

intolerance of cold due to the absence of the body`s natural insulator (fat),

dizziness and fainting spells, dry skin, loss of muscle, and the most obvious, a

weight loss of about fifteen percent. There are also behavioral changes in a

person when they becomes anorexic including restricted food intake, odd food

rituals, an increased fear of food, hyperactivity, dressing in layers, and

regular weighing. Some "odd food rituals" include things like cutting

food into small pieces, counting bites or even talking to their food. Anorexics

are not repelled or revolted by food, in fact their minds are often dominated by

thoughts of food. While the exact cause of anorexia is still unknown, a

combination of psychological, environmental, and physiological factors is

associated with the development of this disorder (Cove, 1998). The most common

cause of anorexia in a woman is an incorrect self-perception of her weight.

Anorexics feel as if they are heavier than the others around them, and believe

the quickest way to lose weight is to simply stop eating. Anorexia survivor

Nanett Pearson (Miss Utah 1996) explains I became obsessed with body image. I

kept journals and in one pathetic passage I described how I went for sixteen

days on water, and only about two glasses a day (1998). At first, this method