Pro Anorexia Essay

A substantial number of people undergo the debilitating effects of anorexia each year. Although the term means lack of desire to eat, individuals suffering from anorexia physically feel hunger until the later stages of the disease. A majority of these victims are female and between the ages of 15 and 19. The characteristics of this mental illness include limiting food intake, purging, or intense physical activity due to the immense fear of gaining weight. The victims suppress their desire to eat and the symptoms of hunger to induce weight loss. This is due to a distorted view of their body in which they believe themselves to overweight. (Kazmierczak, Patryn, and Niedzlielsk, 2013)
This disease is pervasive between approximately 1.2% and 4.2% …show more content…
Pro-anorexia websites, or “pro-ana” as they have been coined, included anything in the realm between healthy lifestyle habits to advice on how to maintain the detrimental illness. People who repeatedly visit these sites were more susceptible to dissatisfaction with their bodies, which is generally related to eating disorders. However, it was made clear the research was based on the short-term relationship between body-perception and the media. This is mainly due to the difficulty of obtaining long-term …show more content…
In order to achieve a greater insight of the people struggling with this illness, interviews were executed as part of the process. Through these inquiries, it was shown the media is only one of many factors which contribute to anorexia. The research displayed society’s standards of being stick-thin influences those who view it to have similar thought processes. Furthermore, it made people believe being thin would help them prosper in life by giving them exceptionally more confidence and maintaining long-term relationships with