The Humaniation of Anorexia

This is a paper I wrote a while ago, its not that good but oh well.

Katrina

Professor Perala

English 101

30 September 2011

The Humanization of Anorexia

Out of all adult Americans; nineteen percent have a mental disorder. Three percent of those have Anorexia. Even if three out of nineteen doesn't seem like a lot, it makes Anorexia a major contributor to the fields of mental illness. Those who do have anorexia are subjected to a lot of criticism due to their illness. The most common generalization of anorexia is the person is white, middle class, heterosexual, woman in her twenties. This suggestion is not entirely true. This disease had no boundaries, anorexia can occur within any race, class, sexuality, sex, and age. It is a disease that can happen to any unsuspecting guest. Why does anorexia occur? It happens for multiple reasons, the most popular belief is to be thin, but it can also emerge from stress and past events. Anorexia is a very dangerous illness; it can cause death and depression which can then lead to suicide. There are many ways for someone affected by anorexia to get help. There is no true cure for anorexia, just therapy and support groups. Hospitalization can be both a good and a bad thing for the patient, it can cause depression but it can also help someone gain the weight they need to become healthy. Research is a big problem for anorexics, there is not enough information for them to get the special treatment. Therefore, I would suggest we put our time and money into becoming more aware of anorexia and to find a way to treat it properly.

Anorexia has been stereotyped by many doctors and civilians alike, the most familiar bias is that anorexia is a woman's disease. By restricting anorexia as only a "Woman's" disease half the population on the earth is left without a defined sickness and an unattended health issue. This desensitizing definition not only strikes a bigot point of view that singles out a particular sex, it is harmful and dangerous to those who are not in the 'standard' of anorexia and are not able to receive treatment. The mainstream concept of anorexia makes it difficult for other ethnic groups to receive the proper identification for their specific illness, whether anorexia or any other illness. In the book Anorexia Nervosa: A Guide to Recovery, by Lindsey Hale and Monika Ostroff, they give real life examples and experiences explaining this fault in the stereotype. They talk about how many different races suffer from anorexia, and when attempting to receive appropriate information, they ended up getting turned away. Cultural differences have no meaning to anorexia; it can happen in any country or family. Where someone belongs on the social latter does not affect the risks of anorexia. Celebrities often show signs of anorexia due to social pressures just as any other person endures the pressures upon men and women to be thin.

People throughout the world should attempt to become aware of anorexia. We should, as a country work to find true understanding of this mental illness. Anorexia is defined by the stereotype as a fear of weight gain. In reality anorexia is more, it is an illness that takes over a person's life, and it is addicting and very life threatening. Anorexia is the fear of weight gain but it can also appear because of a past experience or from stress. Anorexia is like a drug, once you start, it is very difficult to stop. The affects on a person who develops anorexia are extreme weight loss, weakness, and occasionally in women it stops the menstrual cycle. What causes someone to become anorexic at this moment is unknown; it could be because of some chemical within the brain that is reacting to food in a bad way, it is strange for a human to want to cause physical harm to themselves.

Marya Hornbacher, author of Wasted wrote about her experience of being anorexic, she stated that she was branded by her many doctors and peers, as vain, immature, and mad. She was once told that anorexia was a phase adolescent girls go through. Anorexia is not as simple as a person being called 'fat' by her peers, it develops from society. Propaganda shown to the public, as in seize zero models, who are said to have the perfect bodies, but in fact most of what is seen on television is due to picture editing. All over the media, there are commercials all based on the idea of thinness. There are pills specifically for losing weight many people end up abusing these while trying to attain the 'perfect body'.

When a person becomes anorexic, they begin to feel isolated from their friends and family. People begin to judge them based on their thinness, and thus they are never satisfied with themselves. In the scholarly essay Hospitalization for Anorexia Can Do More Harm Than Good by Theresa Defino she speaks about anorexia patients and the likely hood of becoming suicidal. It is more than likely that a little less than half of the anorexic population becomes suicidal. The most common age of deaths are said to be between twenty to thirty years of age, but that does not leave out that rest of the population. Everyone is capable of suicide. These statistics do not count those who die from fragile health. These people were using highly lethal methods with no real chance to be saved. These methods include guns, hangings, poison, drug overdoses, carbon dioxide, and even jumping in front of trains. The manner in which they killed themselves were all ways in which they have the least chance of survival.

There are many ways for someone diagnosed with