Anorexia Nervosa Research Paper

rexia Nervosa (AN) is a complex eating disorder with roots stemming from a combination of the forces of nature and nurture. Gaining a deeper understanding of the pathogenesis of AN is essential in order to facilitate its treatment. Genetic factors, neurobiology in anorexics, the role of media & culture, and restlessness in familial relationships. Although there are cultural influences associated with the development of AN studies analyzed fall more towards with the nature side and how there isn't a specific cause of AN, but it's rather a mesh of different factors and personal variations. At the core of the disorder lies an severe need to restrict what one eats. In societies today we can clearly see the tendency through which individuals judge self worth in terms of their physique, and weight overlaps with the need for self-control. Anorexia Nervosa (AN) goes unnoticed by many medical health care practitioners. The patient is usually a young woman who is hesitantly brought to the clinic by her parents; usually extremely thin and suffers from menstrual irregularities but …show more content…
As explained in the article “Anorexia and the brain” by Rachel Cantrell, anorexics tend to display attention seeking behaviors, anxiety, obsessiveness, and wanting to be thin from a very young age and it continues to persist even after recovery (2013). Anorexia has also been seen as a result of environmental and social factors. The image of women portrayed in today’s media is getting thinner by the day, which is extremely different to the body structure of the average woman. It is an assumption that women who eat less food and have slender body types are more feminine. This presumption has played a vital role in initiating the development of correlated mental illnesses, due to resentment and comparison of oneself with that of the ‘ideal image’ depicted by the