Anorexia NervosaAnorexia Nervosa

By: Kevin FengBy: Kevin Feng

AP PsychAP Psych

55thth Period Period

Anorexia Nervosa

What Is Anorexia Nervosa?• For starters, anorexia

nervosa is a psychological eating disorder

• It involves the idea that if you limit what you eat, then you would be the “perfect size” that society wants you to be

• It leads to starvation and inability to stay at a minimum body size considered for a healthy person

Anorexia Nervosa

What is Anorexia Nervosa? (Cont.)

• People with anorexia nervosa have an intense fear of weight gain

• They starve themselves and constantly exercise even when they are underweight

• They also trying and vomit or throw-up what they eat so they don’t gain any weight

Anorexia Nervosa

Symptoms

• Blotchy and/or yellow skin• Confused or slow thinking• Dental cavities due to self-induced

vomiting• Depression• Dry mouth

Anorexia Nervosa

Symptoms (Cont.)Symptoms (Cont.)

• Extreme sensitivity to coldExtreme sensitivity to cold• Fine Hair, loss of hairFine Hair, loss of hair• Low blood pressureLow blood pressure• Poor memory, poor judgmentPoor memory, poor judgment• Significant weight lossSignificant weight loss

Anorexia Nervosa

Behaviors Associated with Anorexia Nervosa

• Cutting food into small pieces

• Exercising compulsively

• Restricting amount of food

• Using laxatives, enemas, or diuretics inappropriately in an effort to lose weight

Anorexia Nervosa

Treatment• Treatment include

antidepressant drug therapy if it develops into depression

• Behavioral therapy in order to extinguish unwanted behavior

• Psychotherapy would help the client deal with the problems that they have with living

• Supportive care would help the client get through hardships

Anorexia Nervosa

Causes• The exact causes are unknown for there

are many factors that influence this psychological eating disorder

• Genetics for one and social attitudes for could be involved, also

• Anorexia nervosa is common in someone whose other family member has it

Anorexia Nervosa

General Facts• The term “anorexia” was first coined by Sir

William Gull, one of Queen Victoria’s personal assistant

• The term is Greek with “a” meaning a prefix of negation and “orexis” means a lack of eating

Anorexia Nervosa

Environmental FactorsEnvironmental Factors

• There are sociocultural factors that have highlighted the role of cultural factors; how a certain culture influences your likelihood of obtaining such a disease like anorexia nervosa

• A recent study of 989,871 Swedish residents indicated that gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status were large influences of the chance of developing anorexia

Anorexia Nervosa

Men’s Relationship With Men’s Relationship With Anorexia NervosaAnorexia Nervosa

• Over some time now, Over some time now, there has been there has been increasingly more increasingly more men suffering from men suffering from anorexia nervosaanorexia nervosa

• Among the men, Among the men, eating disorders are eating disorders are most common in the most common in the gay or bi-sexual gay or bi-sexual communitiescommunities

Anorexia Nervosa

Other Methods of Treatment

• It has been used, with quite some success that zinc supplements help the patient regain weight

• Intake of the omega-3 fatty acids have also helped the patient gain weight and the use of medical nutrition therapy (MNT)

• Medical nutritional therapy is a therapeutic approach to treat medical conditions and their symptoms with a specialized diet which is monitored by a registered dietician

Anorexia Nervosa

Statistics of Eating DisordersStatistics of Eating Disorders• According to the South

Carolina Department of Mental Health, it is estimated that 8 million Americans have eating disorders, over 200 women suffer from anorexia and 10-15% of people suffer from anorexia or bulimia

• Nearly half of Americans knows someone with an eating disorder