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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : April 1, 2015 10:40 AM IST
Do you idealise a particular body image and are obsessed with achieving a specific size? Nowadays many young women suffer from issue with body image and resort to unhealthy eating habits. Restricting food and wayward notions about body image. People suffering from it are termed anorexic and they usually suffer from variety of other physical conditions like cack of energy headaches, drowsiness and dizziness and in the long term conditions like hormonal imbalance, cardiac arrests, reduction of bone and even death.
Bulimia nervosa on the other hand is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterised by a cycle of recurrent episodes of binge eating followed by extreme weight-control behaviours. (Read:Get inspired: How a woman beat bulimia and got fit )
These eating disorders are considered to be a result of personal choices. But lack of awareness about these disease often leads to them being diagnosed late. People don't realise that such disorders can even be life threatening. There is clearly a need for increased awareness about anorexia and our expert Dr. Samir Parikh, Consultant Psychiatrist, Director, Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Healthcare enlists some facts about anorexia. (Read: Yoga can help treat eating disorders like Anorexia and Bulimia)
1. Self-starvation = anorexia: Anorexia nervosa is a type of an eating disorder that is characterized by an intense fear of gaining weight. People suffering from this disorder restrict their eating habits to an unhealthy degree, be preoccupied with losing weight to the point of starvation and have a distorted body image. (Read: Revealed - How anorexics resist temptation of food)
2. Anorexia is more common in teenage girls: Anorexia usually affects young people in their teenage or pre-teenage years and is more commonly found among girls. The etiology if eating disorders is a complex amalgam of biological, social, cultural, familial and personality factors.
3. Peer pressure and social media makes women more susceptible to anorexia: Without doubt there is an increasing influence of the Western culture on Indian population. The portrayal of an idealized but unrealistic body image by the media is the main reason teenagers start perceiving themselves as overweight. Women suffering from anorexia give physical appearance give prime importance as the means to gain popularity and acceptance. They make thinness into a tremendous ideal which is associated with high achievement, better social standing and hence ultimately relating to a high self-esteem and body-esteem.
Teenage girls with changing bodies due to puberty and in the process of forming cognition and feelings about their own body are most susceptible to anorexia nervosa from a psychological and sociological perspective.
4. Anorexia can kill you: According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in ten anorexia cases ends in death from starvation, suicide or medical complications like heart attacks or kidney failure. Anorexia nervosa by definition refers to the person restricting eating habits to the point of starvation. As a result it is associated with a variety of health concerns, including death due to the same. Some health effects can include but are not limited to anemia, irregular menstruation, dehydration, blood pressure irregularities, kidney disease, liver disease and many other related health complications.
5. Anorexic people may start hiding and lying about their eating habits: One of the most obvious signs of anorexia nervosa is that the person becomes very thin and beings to look emaciated. The weight loss may be drastic and sudden. Obsession towards weight loss becomes so intense that the person may consumes very little or no food at all. This makes them defensive to an extent that may start hiding or lying about eating.
6. Anorexia makes a person more likely to be depressed: Anorexia affects a person psychologically as well. Even though everyone around the anorexic girl may tell her that she is too thin or under weight, she may still feel fat or that she needs to lose more weight. This person can go into depression, get convinced that happiness will only come to her when she loses weight or does not gain any weight.
It is very important for people suffering from this disorder to find correct treatment as early as possible due to the critical health risks associated with it. Medication and psychotherapy are a combined treatment of choice, in some cases hospitalization may be recommended. Nutritional counseling to instill healthy eating habits and psychotherapy to understand the problem and unlearn patterns learnt as part of the disease are important aspects of treatment for the same.
Image source: Getty Images
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