Anorexia

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Katherine Ochy
Professor Ricardo Acosta
English 101
13 April 2011.
How Anorexia Affects a Person’s Everyday Life
Anorexia Nervosa is a disease classified in the eating disorder category. It is a disease, which is characterized by the refusal to eat. This refusal is completely by the person's own will. Generally, they deny their appetite and enjoyment of food. The cause of the refusalto eat is a direct result of the fact that no matter how thin they actually are, anorexics see themselves as fat people. To say the least, they have a distorted sense of reality, especially when it comes to their own appearance. People who like to be thin should be aware of the consequences they might bring upon themselves; if their desire to be thin becomes extreme and they happen to developanorexia.

Anorexia nervosa is an illness that can control the mind. Anorexia nervosa is an illness that usually occurs in teenage girls, but it can also occur in teenage boys as well as adult women and men. People with the disease anorexia are obsessed with being thin. They lose weight excessively and are terrified of gaining weight. They believe they are fat even though in reality they are notfat at all; in fact they are very thin. Anorexia is not just a problem with food or weight. It is an attempt to use food and weight to deal with emotional problems they have with in them.

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The four diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa are as follows:
-Refusal to maintain 85% of normal body weight as applies to individual height and body size.
-Intense fear of becoming 'fat' despitethe fact that they are underweight.
-A disturbance in the way in which one's shape and weight are experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation or denial of the seriousness of the low body weight.
-In females, missing at least three consecutive menstrual cycles. (HelpGuide).

Early symptoms for this disease are sometimes difficult to determine because it generallystarts out as innocent dieting. Anorexia is a direct result of family stress and other social pressure. Parents are often overprotective and over-controlling, the child seeks a form of control of her own by controlling food intake. Not all of the negative pressure comes from family however.
Society in general provides the very impressionable youth with many negative signals by various media. Thoseon television and in magazines are especially successful at telling the youth that those who are successful are so
because they are beautiful, handsome, and thin. This tells the youth that if they are not beautiful and thin that they will not succeed. (Smith, Kovatch and Segal).

Girls that suffer from anorexia usually stop having menstrual periods. People with anorexia also have dry skin andthinning hair on their heads. They may have a growth of fine hair all over their body. They may feel cold all the time, and they may get sick quit often. People with anorexia are often in a
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bad mood. They have a hard time concentrating and are always thinking about food. It is not true that anorexics are never hungry, actually they are always hungry. Feeling hunger gives them a feelingof control over their lives and their bodies. It makes them feel like they are good at something; they are good at losing weight. People with severe anorexia may be at risk of death from starvation. (Smith, Kovatch and Segal).

The reason that some people get anorexia is unknown. People with anorexia may believe that they would be happier and more successful if they were thin (Merrill). Theywant everything in their lives to be perfect including being thin because that is what society portrays the successful to be. People who suffer from this disorder are usually good students. They usually are all involved in many school and community activities. They blame themselves if they do not get perfect grades, or if other things in life are not perfect. (Merrill).

According to EDReferral,...