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Individuals who suffer
from anorexia see themselves as fat when they may actually be rail thin.
Imagine your self image if you always thought you were fat, but nothing you
did, including starving yourself to death, did anything
to change it. Mentally healthy, balanced people enjoy a positive self-image.
Sometimes life events may lead to a distorted self-image. People in this
situation see themselves in a disproportionately unrealistic way. This is
the case with people with anorexia. This distorted sense of reality becomes
a mental life sentence in prison.
Anorexia is an eating disorder that causes individuals to starve themselves.
Their distorted sense of their physical appearance forces them to constantly
diet to become thinner and thinner. Yet, no matter how thin they become,
they will continue to see themselves as fat, and continue to take more and
more desperate measures to lose more weight. As this cycle continues, mere
dieting eventually becomes a refusal to eat and without treatment, can
eventually result in death, as the body shuts down from lack of nourishment.
The average anorexic is at least 15% below the recommended weight for their
age, height and build. Besides refusing to eat, or eating barely enough to
survive, they will very often embark on a grueling exercise program and even
resort to using laxatives to disgorge themselves of the food they
do eat, all in an effort to lose more weight. These lethal combinations in
all too many cases lead to death, as the body is starved of essential fuel,
physically pushed beyond its limits, and then pumped with medicine that,
when used to excess, damages the internal alimentary and digestive organs,
and can cause them to shut down.
The profile of an anorexic individual is: Caucasian female in early or late
puberty, and from a high socio-economic class. They will usually be engaged
in activities that stress the need for thinness and also seem to breed
anorexia. Theater, dancing, especially ballet, and certain
sports activities such as track and field usually attract people with a
higher than average rate of anorexia.
Extreme and rapid weight loss, refusal to eat in public, followed by the
refusal to eat at all, disruption of menstrual cycles (three or more
consecutive missed periods) shortness of breath, weakness, fatigue, anxiety,
brittle skin and obsessiveness regarding food intake are all symptoms to
look for in diagnosing anorexia. Not all of these symptoms present in every
individual who has anorexia but if a young, healthy girl exhibits any of
these symptoms, one should be concerned in any event. It is therefore
important to consult a physician immediately. They indicate a serious health
problem, and whether it is anorexia or some other illness, it should be
attended to.
Since those who suffer from anorexia aren't seeing reality on the same plane
as others, they can become angry, combative, secretive and resistant to
assistance. Although they're sometimes known to cook large meals for others,
without eating any of the meal themselves; they, somehow only see themselves
as obese, which will worsen until their very death, unless confronted and
treated.
There are treatments to help anorexics overcome this condition. If anyone
notices a loved one exhibiting the above signs of this illness, they should
immediately contact a physician to take the necessary steps to get them
help. It is also important to provide a strong support system them
throughout their recovery period.
If you are helping someone with this disease, you have to remember that fear
and denial leads them to say anything, so do not take anything personally.
Just offer as much love and support as you can. |
