Anorexia is one of the most serious eating disorders. This disease is no joke – it is one of the most deadly mental illnesses. It is assumed that it applies only to women, most often teenagers, but this is not true. Increasingly, men and children under the age of twelve also suffer from anorexia. Voluntary starvation and destruction of one’s own body is most often encountered by people who have problems with self-acceptance, social relations, functioning in everyday life.
Otherwise known as anorexia nervosa, it is diagnosed when a person weighs about 15% less than their ideal weight. Starvation and a large weight loss often lead to various health impairments, and in its long-term and extreme form – even to death.
What is anorexia? Symptoms
Although the term anorexia is associated with discouraging from eating, in the case of people suffering from anorexia it is more about consciously denying yourself food, despite feeling hungry. The affected person often has a distorted self-image in which they see their body as too fat, even if it is appallingly unimportant. The fear of gaining weight is so great that he denies himself meals and often exercises a lot at the same time.
Contrary to appearances, anorexia it often affects people who from the outside seem perfect in terms of, for example, grades at school, diligence, success. At the same time, inside this person there is a fight against everyday fears, anxieties or obsessions (often patients with anorexia suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder). Excessive slimming is in many cases accompanied by perfectionism, following rules and principles, the need to control everything around, or difficult contacts with other people, fear of rejection, shame, striving for acceptance. Controlling the body is therefore a way to forget the fear of not being in control of other aspects of life.
According to doctors, cause of anorexia has not been clearly defined, because it consists of certain types of personality, accompanying emotions, the environment in which a given person lives and the cultural patterns that surround him. Untreated anorexia leads to weakening of the bones (osteoporosis), hair loss, kidney, brain and heart damage, problems with blood pressure, breathing, and death by starvation or suicide. That is why it is so important to start appropriate treatment as soon as possible, although it is difficult to convince the sick person that the problem exists.
To the symptoms of anorexia mainly include:
- Eating away from other people, “in secret”,
- Fast weight loss in a short time (weeks, months),
- Continued slimming and following a diet, even though the weight is already too low,
- Sudden interest in nutrition, calories,
- Intense fear of gaining weight
- Irregular menstruation or complete cessation of bleeding
- Feeling overweight when underweight,
- lack of self-acceptance,
- Excessive striving for perfection
- Fears, phobias, depression, nervousness,
- Addiction to laxative and slimming drugs,
- Weakened body immunity, susceptibility to infections,
- frequent physical exercise,
- Deterioration of appearance: brittle hair, nails, dry or yellow skin, tooth decay, swollen joints.