Eating Disorders

An eating disorder is a way of using food to work out emotional problems. These illnesses develop because of emotional and/or psychological problems. Eating disorders are the way some people deal with stress. In today’s society, teenagers are pressured into thinking that bring thin is the same thing as being happy. Chemical balances in the brain that may also result in depression, obsessive compulsive disorders, and bi-polar disorders may also cause some eating disorders. Other causes may be emotional events, illnesses, marital or family problems, manic depression, or ending a relationship. Over eight million Americans suffer from eating disorders. Over 80% of girls under age thirteen admit to dieting, one of the main factors linked to eating disorders. Although eating disorders are mainly found in middle- to upper class, highly educated, Caucasian, female adolescents, no culture or age group is immune to them (EDA HP, n.p.). The three major eating disorders are anorexia!

nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and compulsive over-eating or binge-eating.

The most dangerous eating disorder is anorexia nervosa. “Anorexia nervosa translates to “nervous loss of hunger”. It is a mental illness involving the irrational fear of gaining we

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Sa the illness progresses, the victim will suffer from a form of exhaustion from food deprivation. If left untreated, anorexia can result in death as the body literally feeds off the person’s organs, muscles, and tissue.

Anorexics use food to focus on controlling their life by starving to death.

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**Bibliography**

. An American neurologist, Silas Weir Mitchell saw anorexia as a form of neurasthenia, a nervous disorder characterized by nervous exhaustion and lack of motivation. These scientists conducted an experiment with 22 volunteers, ten of which were recognized as anorexics. The Children of this time were expected to and forced to clean their plates. A person who goes off the diet and binges may purge to relieve himself from the guilt because of it. In order for bulimia to be classified, certain criteria must be met, including the food binge must be ingested within a two-hour time frame, terminated by sleep, social interruption, abdominal pain, or self-induced vomiting, and!

the episodes must occur at least twice a week for over three months. The family life was suffocating, but a young woman was able to protest in a semi-acceptable manner by not eating. Depression is a common symptom, and in some cases, is the main cause. Compulsive over-eating, or binge eating is believed to be the most common eating disorder.

In addition to anorexia, another dangerous eating disorder is bulimia. There are many treatments for eating disorders today.

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