Dying to be Thin; 

Causes and Symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa

Introduction:

According to the Medical Encyclopedia, Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder in which a person refuses to stay at even the minimum body weight considered normal for their age and height.  Persons with this disorder may have an intense fear of weight gain and a distorted body image.  Inadequate eating or excessive exercising results in severe weight loss.  ^[1] When diagnosing a person with this eating disorder, doctors look for the previously noted symptoms, but in women who have gone through puberty there is also an absence of thier menstral cycle. This disorder is very serious. It results in the highest death rate of any psychiatric disorder. ^[2]

Biological Perspective of Anorexia Nervosa:

There are many aspects of biology that can play in the development of Anorexia Nervosa. Puberty could play a key role because of all the changes taking place in a teen's life. Their bodies are changing, and new chemical and hormones are floating about, as well as others around them and the changes in their enviroment. These drastice changes, in such a fast paced part of life, can take a toll on a young adult. There has been twin studies using pre-puberty 11-year-olds, and post-puberty 17-year-olds that show a significant increase in levels of eating disorder symptoms between the two age groups. Sex can also effect the development of this deadly eating disorder. It's thought that the rise of estrogen levels in puberty could be related because estrogen modulates serotonergic function, leaving this disorder to effect more women than men.

Serotonin, and other monomine neurotransmitters, regulate our daily behaviors. Serotonin is especially important in most psychiatric disorders because of its involvment with regulation of sleep, eating behaviors, impulsive behavior, and aggresion; sound familiar? In studies using recovered anorexia nervosa patients and current women battling the disorder, researchers measured cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of different neuropeptides. There was quite a difference, suggesting that much of this illness is caused by abnormal amounts of many chemicals, like neurotransmitters and neuropeptides. The malnourishment of these women can only make these levels worse, too. These disturbances are trait-related and can foreshadow the onset of anorexia nervosa. ^[3]

Behavioral Causes and Symptoms:

Preoccupation with food, unusual eating habits, wearing baggy clothes to hide the amount of weight loss, increase consumption of liquids,labeling food as "good" or "bad," fear of weight gain, substance abuse, the inability to tell whether they're full or hungry, and a severe disturbted body image.  Causes may include excessive decrease in self esteem about conscieniciousness of their weight, and increased compliments  on maintenance of their weight loss( even when a person believes that they haven't lost weight).  According to Weiten (2008), no matter how frail they become they, insist that they're too fat.  with little control over their lives,  their weight seems the only thing they can control.  The  constant control leads to compulsive disorders.  If a pound is gained there usually is a panic.  People entering treatment for Anorexia Nervosa are typically 25%-30% below their normal weight (Hsu, 1990).  The most critical behaviors stem from the distorted body image.

Social Causes and Symptoms:

A person's social environment and culture can often determine the amount of importance a person puts on physical appearance. Those who have a poor self-image can be greatly affected by the strong emphasis the media places on being thin and having the "perfect" body.^[4] In addition to the cultural pressures to be thin, there is also other family and social pressures that can contribute to anorexia. Such pressures include participating in events that demand slenderness. Ballet, gymnastics, and wrestling are among a few. Parents who are to controlling, put a lot of emphasis on looks, diet themselves or criticize their child’s body can also pressure people to become anorexic. Other things that have been found to contribute to anorexia is stressful life events such as the onset of puberty, a break-up or moving away to go to school. ^[5] The chance of somone having anorexia increases if someone else in that person's family suffers from it. Anorexia is more prominent in women than it is is men because the media places such high pressure on women to be thin. many people consider beauty to be synonymous with being thin and some young girls believe they must be thin to be attractive. Images of women in magazines and on television have been blamed for reinforcing this stereotype. Some girls become anorexic as a form of copy-cat behavior. Some young girls are known to imitate the behaviors of women they admire and extreme dieting my be one of them.^[6]

Cognitive Thinking:

Cognitive biases and cognitive distortions have been implicated as important factors in the development and maintenance of many disorders.^[7]  Cognitive thinking is the established view of how someone views the world around them. Anorexia is an eating disorder where people starve themselves. Anorexia ties into cognitive thinking by a person psychologically thinking that they are over weight, and they need to be thinner when they already are at a dangerously low weight. They see themselves in the mirror unhappy about their physical appearance, like in the video clip above, and they try to change it with starvation. Thinking of eating a forbidden food increases the person’s estimate of weight/size, makes them feel fat, and that they are doing something wrong. So they perceieve good as being in control of their body. Taking in thoughts of how good they think they look, and how much they weigh. Deciding not to eat so they will lose a couple more pounds, being motivated by positively reinforcing themselves.

 Conclusion:

There is a lot more to an anorexic person then what meets the eye. Looking at studies of these 4 reasonings; biological, behavioral, social, and cognitive, we can only hope that someone can aquire a better understanding of why someone with this disorder act the way they act, think the way they think, and live the way they live. Like any other person with a disorder, disease, or any illness, someone who is diagnosed with anorexia nervosa really cannot help their own situation. They don't even realize that they are sick, that's just an idea of how bad this disorder is. If someone doesn't realize they are sick, they can't get help. We can only hope that someday, this information we provided will help someone. Whether its someone suffering with this illness, or someone trying to simply understand it. Even if it makes you think differently before judging a deathly skinny young women, just think of her as someone who literally can't help herself. She's dying to be thin, dying from the inside-out, and doesn't even realize it.

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