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Eating Disorders In Western Culture

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Eating disorders in Western culture are slowly increasing. Anorexia nervosa is one of the three major eating disorders; the other two are bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. So, then what is Anorexia nervosa? Anorexia nervosa (AN) literally means “nervous loss of appetite” (Barlow, Durand, & Hofmann, 2015, p. 273). This eating disorder is the fear of being overweight, so then these individuals dramatically decrease their intake of food. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the criteria of having AN is restricting energy intake that leads to outstanding low body weight based on the age, sex, and physical health of the person, extreme fear of becoming gaining weight and feeling of disturbance in one’s body shape or weight (2013, p. 338). AN often begins when an individual starts a diet. The positive feeling of having control of their eating habits overcome the reality of how much weight is being lost. Soon after, the individual has lost a substantial amount of weight that it can be both unhealthy and dangerous. Anorexics tend to count their calorie food intake. Food intake decreases with time and soon enough individuals are hardly eating at all. In their eyes, they will not be perfect until they lose a little bit more weight or fat. People who are anorexic …show more content…

In many cases, mothers, and sometimes fathers abuse their authority and force their child to become skinnier; hence the mentality of always wanting to lose weight to be their definition of being slim. Adolescence are more susceptible to have an eating disorder since they are not capable of making proper decisions. Since their prefrontal cortex has not fully developed, they cannot make rational choices in their lives. With so much hormones, they can be sensitive about their body image changing, for the better or for

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ANAD (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders) was founded in 1976 by Vivian Meehan. ANAD was created in honor of Vivian's daughter, who struggled with an eating disorder but had no support to help her through it. ANAD’s mission is to help anyone with an eating disorder feel heard and guide them through recovery. ANAD helps anyone who has or has had an eating disorder, while they may not have recovered every single person who seeks help from them, they do make sure that nobody feels alone. ANAD offers online support groups, helplines, resources, and guides open to anyone and for free.

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In “The Globalization of Eating Disorders”, written by Susan Bordo in 2003, the author declares that eating and body disorders have increased rapidly throughout the entire globe. Susan Bordo, attended Carleton University as well as the State University of New York, is a modern feminist philosopher who is very well known for her contributions to the field of cultural studies, especially in ‘body studies’ which grants her the credibility to discuss this rising global issue (www.wikipedia.org, 2015). She was correspondingly a professor of English and Women Studies at the University of Kentucky which gives her the authority to write this article. “The Globalization of Eating Disorders” is written as a preface to her Pulitzer Price-nominated book “Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body” which was similarly written in 2003. Through the use of many logical arguments and evidence, Bordo successfully manages to convince her audience that the media, body images and culture have severely influenced the ‘so-called’ trending standard of beauty and how it leads to eating disorders across the world.

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There are many different opinions regarding eating disorders whether they are genetic, ethnic, cultural problems, or a culturally reactive problem. Stereotypes from the past believe that white middle class adolescents have the most related problems to eating disorders because of their anglo-saxon cultural backgrounds. Research has shown that imagery of the ideal Western body has had a chain reaction of body shape and eating habit conflict between all ethnicities, cultures, and sexes. The issue between the two viewpoints is whether the problems associated with eating disorders is cultural or culturally reactive.

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Anorexia is a pathological fear of weight gain leading to faulty eating patterns, malnutrition, and usually excessive weight loss and a refusal to maintain a healthy weight B. Bulimia is repeated binge eating followed by behaviors aimed at preventing weight gain C. Over eating is the action of repeatedly eating past the appropriate amount of food or eating past the point of fullness II. Ways eating disorders effect people (healthandwellness.edu) A. Weight loss, fatigue, dizziness/fainting, brittle hair and nails, menstrual irregularly B. Dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, heart and other organ problems, tooth damage C. Death III. Ways to treat eating disorders A. Therapy to talk about why they began struggling with an eating disorder 1. Eating disorders are normally present from past issues 2.

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American Psychiatric Association (1993), “Practice Guidelines for Eating Disorders.” American Journal of Psychiatry, 150 (2), pp 212-228. Arthur-Cameselle, Jessyca N., and Paula A. Quatromoni. " Factors Related to the Onset            of Eating Disorders Reported by Female Collegiate Athletes." Sport Psychologist         25.1 (2011): 1-17.

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EPIDEMIOLOGY Eating disorders and related behaviours are a common problem in pre-adolescents and adolescents. A recent study on a large sample of American young people (aged 9-14 years) found that 34% of boys and 43.5% of girls had some eating disorder trait. The pivotal effect on health has led to the inclusion of eating disorders among the priority mental illnesses for children and adolescents identified by WHO. The lifetime female prevalence rates (percentage of the population) are approximately 0.9% for AN, 1.5% for BN, 3.5% for BED, and 10% for subclinical disorders.

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Throughout time the cultural perspective of his disorder has greatly changed. In the beginning it was unknown and undiagnosed. People were believed to be just fasting in some regions and in others it was paid no mind. Now Anorexia Nervosa is often viewed as bad and a bad influence on others. With society portraying that ‘beautiful’ is skinny a lot of girls starve themselves to become what society wants them to be.

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Sadly, there are people who build up a long desire to look slim causes them to develop eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa is a complex eating disorder in which the person obsess about her or his weight and what they eat. In contrast, bulimia is an eating disorder in which people practice binging, followed by methods to avoid gain weight. It is important to understand similarities and differences of anorexia and bulimia which include their symptoms, causes, health consequences, and

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There are so many adolescences and young adult that suffer and struggle with these eating disorders one disorder is Anorexia Nervosa. According to the Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), a third of the most common long-term illness among teenagers is Anorexia (ANAD). Anorexia nervosa is type of eating disorder in which a person limits themselves on the intake of food and drinks on purpose because they have a strong drive to become thin and have a great fear on gaining weight. Many people that have this disorder are usually already thin but due to their perception of their body weight and shape it becomes a obsession over their on self-concept of themselves. People with this illness have great obsession over food

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Specifically, two main types of eating disorders are those known as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. Anorexia Nervosa is a disorder where someone has an extremely large fear of gaining weight and/or becoming fat. People with anorexia tend to starve themselves by skipping meals often, restricting food choices and dieting intensely. Similarly, Bulimia Nervosa is categorized by people that are also very afraid to gain weight, but instead of simply starving themselves, they will eat a lot of food in a short amount of time, also known as binging, and soon after they will somehow eliminate the food and calories, also known as purging. One can purge by means of vomiting, exercising excessively or by using laxatives, diet pills or diuretics to get rid of the weight and calories.

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