Anorexia Nervosa Research Paper

Words: 491
Pages: 2

What is an eating disorder? An eating disorder is a psychological disorder characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating habits. There are all different types of disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, and purging disorder. I am going to focus on anorexia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa causes people to obsess about their weight and what they eat. Many people are affected by this disorder, there is lots of symptoms and health complications that goes with it.
More than 200,000 people per year are affected by anorexia nervosa. Approximately 90-95% that suffer are girls and women. It usually appears in early teenage years. Between 5-20% of people that are anorexic will lose their life to this disorder. Anorexia nervosa has one of the highest death rates of any other mental health condition. It is believed that biological, psychological,and/or environmental abnormalities contribute to develop an eating disorder. Biological factors could be irregular hormone functions or genetics. Psychological factors are negative body image or poor self-esteem. Some Environmental factors are sports, childhood traumas, or peer pressure. This is how many people and how people are affected by anorexia nervosa.
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The general symptoms is to maintain a below-normal weight through starvation or too much exercise. But there are more specific signs to look for such as development of food rituals or refusal to eat certain foods. Food rituals might include eating foods in certain orders, excessive chewing, or rearranging food on a plate. Besides physical symptoms there are behavioral changes. It can be social isolation to compulsive behavior. Avoid social functions with family and friends. Also a change in mood. There whole body may be affected by fainting, feeling cold, or dizziness. Plenty more of symptoms but here are just few to be aware