Anorexia nervosa, along with bulimia, is one of the eating disorders. The constant increase in the incidence and the decrease in the age of the sick are alarming — sometimes the disease is detected even in ten-year-old children. Also worrying are the numbers showing an increase in the number of suicides among those with anorexia.
According to expert sources, people with an eating disorder use food as a way to deal with their emotional problems. Thus, a person tries to get rid of his unpleasant and often inexplicable feelings with the help of food. Food for him ceases to be just a part of life, it becomes a constant problem that dangerously affects the quality of his life. In anorexia, mental problems always accompany uncontrolled weight loss.
What is Anorexia Nervosa?
Anorexia nervosa is characterized as a deliberate reduction in body weight, when the minimum weight due to age and height, the so-called BMI, falls below 17,5. Weight loss is provoked by the patients themselves, refusing food and exhausting themselves with excessive physical exertion. Do not confuse anorexia with refusal to eat due to lack of appetite, a person simply does not want to eat, although he often denies this and does not admit it to himself or to others.
Often this behavior is based on an illogical fear of «fullness», which may be hidden behind the desire to eat healthy food. The trigger can be anything, for example, a reaction to a new life situation or an event that the patient cannot cope with on his own. To cause such a reaction of the psyche can:
- change of educational institution;
- divorce of parents;
- loss of a partner
- death in the family and so on.
According to most experts, people who suffer from anorexia are smart and ambitious, striving for excellence. However, excessive zeal in matters of improving one’s own body often leads to a lack of vitamins and minerals in the diet. Well, the imbalance of substances in the diet causes brittle bones and nails, the development of dental diseases, alopecia. They are constantly cold, bruised all over the body, and other skin problems, swelling, hormonal disruptions, dehydration and low blood pressure occur. If there is no timely solution, all this can lead to heart failure.
Fashion trend or psychological addiction?
The essence of diseases of this type is more mysterious than it might seem at first glance, and it is very difficult to find and name the true causes of eating disorders. In most cases, eating problems are the result of a serious psychological problem.
By the way, the contribution of the media to the occurrence of these diseases is undeniable. Thanks to them, the erroneous idea that only slender and beautiful women can be admired, only they can be successful, constantly penetrates into the subconscious of people. Completely unhealthy and unrealistic complexions are in fashion, more reminiscent of dolls.
Overweight people, on the contrary, are credited with failure, laziness, stupidity and illness. In all cases of eating disorders, timely diagnosis and subsequent professional treatment are very important. There is another approach to treatment that is explained by Peggy Claude-Pierre, author of Secret Speech and the Problems of Eating Disorders, in which she introduces the reader to the concept of the state of confirmed negativism, which she considers to be the cause of these diseases, and describes her method of treatment.
How can I help you?
Experts agree that any form of eating disorder is one big vicious cycle. The disease comes slowly, but it is very insidious. If there is someone in your environment who suffers from anorexia or bulimia, do not hesitate to lend a helping hand and try to solve the situation together.