Media and the Causes, Symptoms, and Health Complications of Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is defined as a mental disorder which “include weight loss that brings the weight to less than 85% of ideal, intense fear of weight gain, self-evaluation highly influenced by perceived weight and shape” (Chan, 2008, p.332). “Dead Celebrity Status” is a song related to anorexia nervosa, which describes an anorexic girl who loses weight because she is pressured by the social cultural ideals of thinness. The song “Dead Celebrity Status” accurately exemplifies the causes, symptoms, and health consequences of anorexia nervosa. Peer-reviewed articles from Nelson et al. (1999), Chan and Ma (2002), and Chan (2008) are used to support the argument presented …show more content…
In the song “Dead Celebrity Status”, as the girl stops eating for weeks to lose weight, she starts to look like a skeleton and is terrified by her body image when she looks at herself in the mirror: “Now she looks like the skeleton she sees in her closet. So close to death she can taste it, body looks wasted” (“Dead Celebrity Status”). The fact that she goes on extreme diet to lose weight does more harm than good: it turns out that the girl gets stressed out because she does not look as good as she expected. This extreme diet weight loss method also causes her body discomfort and disrupts her daily routine: “Now she’s feeling drowsy, lousy...she traded in the morning workouts for morning sickness. Feeling nauseous… Her body’s aching, shaking, from sweaty palms, and cold sweat” “Dead Celebrity Status”. When the girl does not eat properly, her heart starts to shrink and creates circulation problems, which leads to low blood pressure and causes her to feel fatigue and tired. …show more content…
In the article “Anorexia Eating Attitudes and Behaviors of Male and Female College Students”, Nelson et al. (1999) states that not only women but men also endorse fat phobia. However, in the song “Dead Celebrity Status”, the artist does not discuss this aspect which may lead to a misunderstanding that eating disorders are just the domain of women. The song could have been more well-rounded if the artists mentioned that anorexia nervosa is a common mental disorder for both genders. Before I approached the research, I simply defined anorexia nervosa as a physical disorder that makes people not want to eat, and leads to weight loss. On the contrary, the peer-reviewed articles regarding anorexia nervosa and the song “Dead Celebrity Status”, have changed the way I view the disorder: I have acquired a deeper knowledge about anorexia nervosa and found out that it is a fatal mental disorder that has an estimated mortality rate around 10 percent (National Institute of Mental Health, 2012). Especially after reading the article “The secrets of self-starvation” by Chan and Ma (2002), I have more sympathy for problem eaters because some of them do not lose weight to satisfy their desired body image, but there are many more factors contributing to anorexia nervosa, such as financial hardships, impaired relationships with family members, and
Anorexia nervosa is defined as a mental disorder which “include weight loss that brings the weight to less than 85% of ideal, intense fear of weight gain, self-evaluation highly influenced by perceived weight and shape” (Chan, 2008, p.332). “Dead Celebrity Status” is a song related to anorexia nervosa, which describes an anorexic girl who loses weight because she is pressured by the social cultural ideals of thinness. The song “Dead Celebrity Status” accurately exemplifies the causes, symptoms, and health consequences of anorexia nervosa. Peer-reviewed articles from Nelson et al. (1999), Chan and Ma (2002), and Chan (2008) are used to support the argument presented …show more content…
In the song “Dead Celebrity Status”, as the girl stops eating for weeks to lose weight, she starts to look like a skeleton and is terrified by her body image when she looks at herself in the mirror: “Now she looks like the skeleton she sees in her closet. So close to death she can taste it, body looks wasted” (“Dead Celebrity Status”). The fact that she goes on extreme diet to lose weight does more harm than good: it turns out that the girl gets stressed out because she does not look as good as she expected. This extreme diet weight loss method also causes her body discomfort and disrupts her daily routine: “Now she’s feeling drowsy, lousy...she traded in the morning workouts for morning sickness. Feeling nauseous… Her body’s aching, shaking, from sweaty palms, and cold sweat” “Dead Celebrity Status”. When the girl does not eat properly, her heart starts to shrink and creates circulation problems, which leads to low blood pressure and causes her to feel fatigue and tired. …show more content…
In the article “Anorexia Eating Attitudes and Behaviors of Male and Female College Students”, Nelson et al. (1999) states that not only women but men also endorse fat phobia. However, in the song “Dead Celebrity Status”, the artist does not discuss this aspect which may lead to a misunderstanding that eating disorders are just the domain of women. The song could have been more well-rounded if the artists mentioned that anorexia nervosa is a common mental disorder for both genders. Before I approached the research, I simply defined anorexia nervosa as a physical disorder that makes people not want to eat, and leads to weight loss. On the contrary, the peer-reviewed articles regarding anorexia nervosa and the song “Dead Celebrity Status”, have changed the way I view the disorder: I have acquired a deeper knowledge about anorexia nervosa and found out that it is a fatal mental disorder that has an estimated mortality rate around 10 percent (National Institute of Mental Health, 2012). Especially after reading the article “The secrets of self-starvation” by Chan and Ma (2002), I have more sympathy for problem eaters because some of them do not lose weight to satisfy their desired body image, but there are many more factors contributing to anorexia nervosa, such as financial hardships, impaired relationships with family members, and