At some point in time, every person on earth suffers from anorexia. By definition anorexia is merely a loss of appetite. Anorexia nervosa on the other hand is quite serious. According to the fourth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, anorexia nervosa is characterized as a disorder in which people refuse to maintain a minimally normal weight, intensely fear gaining weight, and significantly misinterpret their body and its shape. It is estimated to be the third most common chronic medical illness in girls aged 15-19 years (Russell, 1445). However anorexia does not discriminate based on sex although it does affect many more women than men. Also it carries a mortality rate up to 20 percent (Walling,2528). There is a drastic difference between the terms anorexia and anorexia nervosa. We need to educate our youth on the seriousness of anorexia nervosa and nurture them from the womb to protect them from this life-threatening disorder.
There are two types of anorexia nervosa. The first is referred to as the restricting type. With this type a person restricts their caloric intake to almost nothing and often leads to starvation. The second is known as binge-eating purging type.
Some of the behaviors shared by patients who suffer from anorexia nervosa are obvious only to those who know what to look for. For Example, ritualistic exercising, hiding food all over their houses, disposal of food in napkins or hiding it in their pockets, and cutting their food into rather small pieces and rearranging them all over their plates. If patients are confronted about these behaviors they either deny them or refuse to discuss them. Also they may steal compulsively whether it be of candies or clothing. Poor sexual adjustment is frequently described in patients with this disorder. (Kaplan, 722) While the list of features can go on for quite some-time, fears of eating in public, a need to Smith 4
All concrete, medical terms in a chart I could read
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