Essay/Term paper: Eating disorders

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Medicine

Imagine a thirteen-year-old girl who weighs 60
pounds because she is starving herself. Every time
she looks in the mirror, she sees herself as fat.
Picture her parents watching their daughter literally
disintegrating into thin air. This is the life of a family
dealing with an eating disorder. Eating disorders
are a major problem with the young people of
today's society. While anorexia and bulimia are
sociological problems plaguing the world's youth,
there are also other eating disorders. This "fat
phobia", or fear of being over-weight, disturbs
people to the point where they are in a way,
committing suicide.
Eating disorders have been termed the disease
of the 1980's. An eating disorder is defined as "a
dangerous and intense striving to become thin
(Macionis 350). Even though it has been found
that "95% of people who suffer anorexia or
bulimia are woman, mostly from white, relatively
affluent families" (Macionis 350), "the
pre-occupation and obsession with food are not
limited to women" (Meadow 24). Although some
men also deal with eating disorders, most research
has been done on women. In 1985, 95% of
women felt they were overweight, while only 25%
were actually considered medically overweight
(Marshall 124). By the age of thirteen
approximately 53% of females are unhappy with
their bodies, and by the age of eighteen
approximately 78% are unhappy (Marshall 124).
Are culture could be seen as a narcissist society.
Narcissism is a preoccupation with one's self, a
concern with how one appears to others, and with
living up to an image (Meadow 127). It seems that
appearance is an important factor in our everyday
life. According to Michael Levine, who in 1987
said, "Our culture transmits powerful messages
that, just as men can not be too rich, women can
not be too thin" (Macionis 350). While all women
want to look as perfect as "Barbie", for some it
just isn't possible. For women, being slender is
almost synonymous with being successful
(Macionis 350). It is also thought that 40% of the
adult US population is significantly overweight
(Meadow 24). Some experts feel that eating
disorders are reaching epidemic proportions and
estimate the national rate to be as high as 12% of
women (Meadow 24). In fact, according to the
Phoenix Gazette on November 7, 1985, "Almost
one out of three women diet once a month, and
one in six considers herself a perpetual dieter"
(Meadow
24). It is considered that 54-86% of college
women binge eats (Eating and Sexuality 24). They
do this and still research shows that most college
aged women: 1) widely accept the idea that "guys
like thin girls", 2) think being thin is crucial to
physical attractiveness, and 3) believe that they are
not as thin as men would like them to be
(Macionis 350). While in fact most college women
want to be thinner then most college men say
women should be (Macionis 350). In the United
States alone, our society spends $33 billion on the
diet industry, $20 billion on cosmetics, and $300
billion on plastic surgery (Marshall 124). This just
proves the fetish Americans have with their looks.
Unfortunately being thin does play a role in our
society. According to Dr. John R. Marshall, it is a
fact that attractive defendants seem to receive
more positive courtroom judgements and a
company is more likely to hire a tall thin man then
a short pudgy man (Marshall 125). These factors
are just increasing the chance of eating disorders
throughout society.
The most common eating disorder being
experienced in today's youth is anorexia nervosa.
Anorexia is usually defined as "willful
starvation-deliberate and obsessive starvation in
the pursuit of thinness (teenhope.com 1). This
"willful starvation" is seen as the only way to lose
weight. Anorexics who are close to their deaths
will show you the spots on their body where they
feel they need to lose weight (Thompson 1). An
estimated 10- 20% of anorexics will eventually die
from complications related to the disorder
(Thompson 1). Some signs and symptoms of
anorexia are: noticeable weight loss, becoming
withdrawn, excessive exercise, fatigue, always
being cold, muscle weakness, excuses for not
eating, guilt or shame about eating, mood swings,
irregular menstruation, evidence of vomiting,
laxative abuse, or diet pills, and the frequent
checking of body weight on a scale (Thompson
2). Some theorists believe that these disorders
may be caused by the mass media's presentation
of the ideal body. But according to the ABNFV
or the Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa Foundation
of Victoria, "it is over simplification to blame the
mass media's presentation of the 'ideal' shape;
though western society's increased emphasis on
the slim, fit body places pressure on many people"
(vicnet.net.au 2). So there is no conclusive
evidence on exactly what causes anorexia.
Another common eating disorder seen in society is
bulimia. Bulimia involves binge eating
accompanied by induced vomiting to inhibit weight
gain (Macionis 350). The average women in the
United States between the ages of 19 and 39
periodically go on food binges where they eat
extremely high quantities of high calorie foods in a
short space of time (Eating and Sexuality 24).
Bingeing varies for all people, for one person a
binge may range from 1000 to 10000 calories, for
another, one cookie could be considered a binge
(Thompson 1). Bulimics are usually people that do
not feel secure about their own self worth, and
usually strive for the approval of others
(Thompson 1). Food becomes the only source of
comfort for a bulimic, and usually serves as a
function for either blocking in or letting out feelings
(Thompson1). Unlike anorexics, bulimics do
realize they have a problem and are more likely to
seek help (Thompson 1). The likely hood of a
bulimic seeking help decreases the percentage of
people who die from this disorder.
A third eating disorder experienced in our society
is body dysmorphic disorder. This is defined as
"imagined ugliness", or where the person sees
herself/himself as ugly no matter what (Marshall
124). This disorder is much harder to recognize
then anorexia or bulimia. "Clues to this disorder
are slight and often subtle", says Dr. John R.
Marshall, "but they indicate an estrangement from
the body and a distorted self-image that reflects an
underlying mental illness" (Marshall 127). Some
people feel this is a new disorder because they
haven't heard about it as much, but the truth is that
in 1891 an Italian physician named Morselli
discovered it, the root word dysmorfia literally
means ugliness, so this disorder is actually the fear
of one's own ugliness (Marshall 127). "This
pre-occupation with ones looks tends to be
persistent and eventually leads to marked social
dysfunctional and, occasionally, behavioral
extremes" (Marshall 127). This disorder can
literally drive people crazy.
The number of eating disorders in athletes is on
the rise, especially in sports like gymnastics, figure
skating, dancing, and swimming. According to a
1992 American College of Sports Medicine study,
eating disorders affected 62% of females in sports
like
figure skating and gymnastics (Thompson 1).
Famous gymnasts such as Kathy Johnson, Nadia
Comaneci, and Kathy Rigby, a 1972 Olympian
who fought eating disorders for 12 years, have
come forward and admitted to fighting eating
disorders (Thompson 1). It got so bad for Rigby
that she went into cardiac arrest twice because of
it (Thompson 1).
Many female athletes fall victim to eating
disorders in a
desperate attempt to be thin in order to please
coaches and
judges. Many coaches are guilty of pressuring
these athletes
to be thin by criticizing them or making
reference to their weight.
Those comments could cause an athlete to
resort to dangerous
methods of weight control and can do serious
emotional damage
to the athlete. (Thompson 1)
In 1988, at a meet in Budapest, a US judge told
Christy Henrich, one of the world's top gymnasts
that she had to lose weight if she hoped to make
the Olympic Squad. Christy resorted to anorexia
and bulimia as a way to control her weight and her
eating disorders eventually took her life. On July
26, 1994, at the age of 22, Christy Henrich died
of multiple organ failure (Thompson1). It had
gotten so bad for her that at one point she
weighed as little as 47 pounds (Thompson 1).
Athletes with eating disorders can be at a higher
risk for medical complications such as electrolyte
imbalances and cardiac arrhythmias (Thompson
1). Coaches need to educate themselves on the
dangers and the signs that an athlete may be
suffering from an eating disorder, and not only
coaches, but athletes, need to remember no gold
medal is worth dying for.
There are many ways of helping someone with an
eating disorder. If you suspect that your child or
anyone you know has an eating disorder you
should never: tell them their crazy, blame them,
gossip about them, follow them around to check
their eating or purging behavior. You should also
never ignore them, reject them, tell them to quit the
ridiculous behavior, or feel you need to solve their
problems (teenhope.com 3). Some things you
should do are to listen with understanding,
appreciate their openness and the risk they took to
tell you, support them and be available. Two of
the most important things you should do are to
always give her hope, and continuously, but gently
suggest counseling.
Roughly two million young women suffer from
the symptoms of anorexia nervosa or bulimia
(Meadow 127). Eating disorders are caused by a
striving to "look good". This need to "look good"
is so bad that in the mid 1980's 477,000 esthetic
surgeries were done, that was up 61% from 1981
(Marshall 127). Although not all is known about
eating disorders, we must keep studying them, and
the effect society has on causing these problems,
so we can someday be able to control and prevent
these diseases.