Health

Anorexia: The Tyrant Within

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Princess Diana.

Princess Diana struggled with anorexia and bulimia. Photo by Vera Kratochvil.

Anorexia and its subtype, bulimia, are insidious illnesses that devastate your mind and body. Approximately 7 million women and 1 million men in America suffer from an eating disorder. Anorexia affects 1 in 200 women. Bulimia occurs more often, affecting 2 to 3 out of every 100 women in America. Among adolescents, anorexia is the third most common chronic illness. Eating disorders occur most often in young women, but there are men (such as Sir Elton John) and elderly persons who struggle with this disorder.

Because the culture of fashion and prevailing concepts of beauty promote an ideology of thinness that is compelling to young people, it is important for those involved in the lives of young people as well as those in the fashion industry, to become more knowledgeable about eating disorders. Knowledge is a powerful instrument for prevention, and many lives could be saved by early detection and treatment.

What Is Anorexia?

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DMS), published by the American Psychiatric Association has established the following criteria for anorexia:

  • Refusal to maintain a body weight that is at or above the minimum normal weight for your age and height
  • Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though you’re underweight
  • Denying the seriousness of having a low body weight, or having a distorted image of your appearance or shape
  • In women who’ve started having periods, the absence of a period for at least three consecutive menstrual cycles.

Causes of Anorexia

Evidence suggests that eating disorders have a genetic component although there is a strong cultural component as well. Young women have an increased risk of developing an eating disorder if there is a twin or family member that is similarly affected. Low self-esteem, obsessive compulsive disorder and other anxiety states are associated with anorexia and bulimia. Cultural factors both stimulate and support the association between thinness, beauty and self-worth.

Risk Factors for Anorexia

According to the Mayo Clinic, risk factors for anorexia include: being a young (anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents female (anorexia is rare after the age of 40), having a first degree relative with an eating disorder, weight changes, transitions such as a relationship breakup or other causes of emotional distress, sports work or artistic activities, and promotion of thinness by media and society.

Symptoms of Anorexia

People with anorexia obsess about food and what they eat. They refuse to acknowledge excessive thinness, and may exercise excessively. They are sometimes withdrawn or irritable, and will deny being hungry. Vomiting, laxative, diuretic and enema use and abuse are often used to control calorie intake. People with eating disorders can even prepare elaborate meals for others while refusing to share the meal. Other symptoms are: extreme weight loss, thin appearance, fatigue, insomnia, dizziness, fainting, bluish discoloration of fingers, brittle nails, dry skin, constipation, complaints of feeling cold, swelling of arms and legs and failure to menstruate.

Anorexia Can Be Deadly

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 5 to 10 percent of people with anorexic die within 10 years of onset for the disease, and 20 percent die within 20 years of contracting the illness. Women with anorexia nervosa have a death rate that is 12 times greater than all causes of death for women aged 15 to 24. Although eating disorders have the highest death rate than any other mental illness, only 1 in 8 Americans with eating disorders actually receive treatment. Even fewer receive the full length of prescribed treatment. Treatment for eating disorders is expensive. The cost of outpatient therapy can exceed $100,000.00 and the average cost for a month of inpatient therapy is $30,000.00. Only 30 to 40 percent of people with anorexia fully recover from their illness. To make a bad situation worse, treatment for eating disorders is usually not covered by insurance. The death rate from eating disorders would decline if treatment was more accessible.

What You Can Do

If any of the above symptoms fit someone you know, then you should consider talking with them and being supportive. Your involvement and support might help them to seek professional help and explore more positive ways of living and dealing with stress and low self-esteem. Early intervention will help someone you care about to avoid an early death.

References

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