According to the NEDA (National Eating Disorder Association), anorexia nervosa is described as a serious, life threatening eating disorder represented by self- starvation and extreme weight loss. It is one of the most common psychiatric diagnoses in young women and has one of the highest death rates of any mental health condition. It usually appears in early to mid-adolescence and approximately 90-95% of people who suffer from this disorder are girls and women. In America, between 0.5–1% of women will suffer and between 5-20% of individuals struggling with anorexia nervosa will die. The probabilities of death increases depending on how long one has lived with the disorder.
Types of Anorexia Nervosa …show more content…
In society, today it is heavily focused on the physical aspect of our bodies. There is no such thing as an ideal or perfect body. Trying to achieve the perfect female body image seen on television, billboards and magazines, is leading an increasing number of teens to develop eating disorders. Because of the description that society gives of beauty, we are lead to believe that we are not pretty or sufficiently handsome enough Women need to stop allowing themselves to feed into what society considers an acceptable appearance and start becoming what they were meant to look like. In North America, men and women are made to believe at a very young age that you have to be thin and fit to be happy and successful. Teenage girls are trying to attain what the fashion industry considers to be the “ideal” figure by starving themselves even to death. Four out of 10 middle/ high school boys exercise regularly with the mindset of increasing their muscle mass as to where the world sees them as “in shape” (Society and Eating …show more content…
CBT helps change unhealthy thoughts and behaviors. Its goal is to help you learn to cope with strong emotions and build healthy self-esteem. There is no cure for eating disorders but treatment is available, and recovery is possible. Eating disorders can be managed or terminated through a combination of therapy, medical treatment, and nutritional education. However, eating disorders experts have found that prompt intensive treatment significantly improves the chances of recovery (National Eating Disorders Symptoms) and without treatment, more serious medical complications can arise, thus affecting every cell, tissue, and organ in the body, which leads to irreversible physical damage such