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Vella Schoedinger
10 March 2015
Grammar and Research
Research Paper
Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder that makes people want to be
thin and they wont eat food. Anorexia Nervosa affects females and males
but is more common in females. This disorder is the third most common
mental illness in teenagers. There are three types of eating disorders: Binge
Eating disorder, Bulimia, and Anorexia Nervosa which is the most common.
Anorexia Nervosa is a false picture in your head of your body size. The
false picture that is in your head of your body size makes people refuse to
eat and a severe loss of weight that can be long term and very dangerous
(Complete Home). The person who has anorexia will lose more weight that is
not considered healthy for their age. The person who has anorexia has a fear
of gaining weight, eating in public, and eating in general (Teen Health).
People who have Anorexia will work out to much and will often go on diets so
that they will be thin. Anorexia Nervosa is characterized by a persons refusal
to maintain a healthy body weight and is too thin and not a healthy body.
Often a parent or a close friend will notice the person getting thinner and not
eating food (Complete Home).

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Around 5 million people in America are affected by an eating disorder.

Anorexia disorder usually will begin before puberty and the typical age of
people getting anorexia or becoming anorexic is between the ages 14 and 18
(Binkerhoff). The majority of people with the disorder are teenage girls
between age of 14 and 18 (Complete Home). Most of the people who have
Anorexia Nervosa are females and they make up 95% of those who have the
disorder and the male numbers are increasing (Teen Health). The male
number accounts for only one-tenth of eating disorders (Brinkerhoff).
Anorexia is more common in female and in young women then in males
(Complete home). People who will or have Anorexia are 56 times more likely
to commit suicide then people who do not have anorexia (Teen Health).
These are some of the Symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa. Anorexia
Nervosa is a refusal to eat, and exercising to much (Complete Home). The
person who has Anorexia will say no to food and they will only eat a little bit
of food or they wont eat at all. A symptom that occurs in females is that
there will be an absence of menstruation. Anorexia can cause changes in
hormones and it can cause hair loss. They will work out to much and when
they work out they dont eat which is bad for the body because you need to
have energy and food in your body or you could pass out. Anorexia will
cause distorted body image, which means that the person looking in the
mirror will see a much bigger size of their body then it actually is. People can
also tell if someone has Anorexia if they start to have drastic weight loss and

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they will wear baggy clothes because they have lost so much weight
(Britanica).
There is no known cause of Anorexia but some people think that these
are the reasons why people want to be Anorexic (Anorexia Nervosa Fact
Sheet). It has been blamed on skinny models and parents that push their
kids to be in shape and be a better athlete, but more than half of the cause
has been inherited (Born to be thin). The media is blamed on this disorder
because magazines show models that have been edited to make them have
a perfect body (The Encyclopedia of Obesity and Eating Disorder). Social
media can also take a part of this disorder because social media shows
pictures of famous people being thin and working out a lot, and being edited
but people who see those pictures still feel the need that they need to have
the perfect body. Family dynamics has a role in this because if another
person in their family has Anorexia or if one of their parents or siblings are
thin, the person will feel like they need to look like that. Stressful life
situations can also play another role because you just lost someone in your
family, switching to new schools, getting teased by classmates, and breaking
up with someone.
The consequences of someone have Anorexia can be bad. You will stay
away from the topic of food and they will not get involved in activitys with
their friends (Rogge). You will get abnormally slow heart rates and low blood
pressure. You have a very high chance of having a heart failure as the heart

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rate and blood pressure level go down (Health Consequences of Eating

Disorder). They will start to have muscle loss and become very weak. Their
hair will become very dry and their skin will too. They will start to have hair
loss, fainting, and weakness. When you start to lose weight and not eating
that much they will have a decrease in white blood cells, and that will lead to
a higher risk of a infection in your body. Anorexia will cause a severe lack of
water and fluid in the body which leads to dehydration (Rogge).
Most people who have Anorexia will deny that they have it and will only
go get treatment when it is serious and they have a possible chance of
dying. They will only go to if there family member wont stop asking them
about it or a friend will tell them they need help (Rogge). The treatments for
Anorexia Nervosa are medical therapy, behavioral therapy, and
pharmacological therapy (Brinkerhoff). When the person will go get help the
doctor will set a weight target for the person and they will check with them
once a week (Britanica). The person can gain weight by increasing social
activity, reducing the amount of physical activity, and making sure they are
on a normal base for eating. The biggest challenge in helping a person who
has Anorexia is telling them that they have it or that they need help (Rogge).
These are the treatments that people will do or use if they have Anorexia
Nervosa.
Anorexia is a very serious eating disorder that can cause deaths. It is
happening all over the country and it is getting worse every year. Since

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Anorexia Nervosa is the most common in the Eating Disorder group people
are start to realizing what is going on. Some of the models have been going
on to talk shows to tell people that they dont have to be skinny to be
perfect. February the month is declared the Eating disorder month, and it
goes from February 1st to the 7th. On that week people make groups and have
other people who are anorexia or have had it and they talk about what it can
do to you and why they need to stop.

Works Cited
"Anorexia Nervosa." Britanica Concise Encyclopedia. elibary, 2011. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
"Anorexia Nervosa." Complete Home Medical Guide. elibary, 2004. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
"Anorexia Nervosa." Teen Health and Wellness. Rosen Group, 2015. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
"Anorexia Nervosa Fact Sheet." Womenshealth.gov. Office on Women's Health, U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, 16 July 2012. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.
Brinkerhoff, Shirley. Eating Disorders. Philadelphia: Mason Crest, 2014. Print.
Cassell, Dana K., and David H. Gleaves. The Encyclopedia of Obesity and Eating Disorders. 2nd
ed. New York: Facts On File, 2000. Print.
Laurance, Jeremy. "Born to Be Thin." The Independent. SIRS Issues Reasercher, 7 Oct. 2014.
Web. 6 Mar. 2015.

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Rogge, Timothy, ed. "Anorexia Nervosa." MedlinePlus. National Institutes of Health, 1997. Web.
4 Feb. 2015.
Wexler, Barbara. "Health Consequences of Eating Disorders." Opposing Viewpoints in context.
Detroit. Gale, 2007. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.