In their desire to have a perfect figure, women sometimes go too far. Striving to get as close as possible to the ideals imposed by the community or close people, they can cross the line beyond which they can no longer adequately control themselves. Anorexia is a mental illness in which the patient ceases to objectively perceive his figure, regardless of whether he looks normal or not.
What is anorexia
In academia, anorexia is called an eating disorder. Those suffering from this ailment are obsessed with the thought of their own fullness, and strive by all available means to reduce the amount of food consumed. In most cases, the following factors can cause this disease:
- Low self-esteem or self -doubt.
- Excessive demands on yourself and your figure.
- Imposed by the public opinion.
- The desire to become like an idol.
- A genetic predisposition is possible.
- Stressful situations can also cause anorexia.
Anorexia itself is an obsession with the imperfection of one's own figure and, as a result, the desire to correct it. The insidiousness of this disorder is that even when certain results are achieved, the subject is not stopped and continues to deplete the body. After some time, such a lifestyle can firmly gain a foothold in the patient’s mind, and after that even a long treatment may not have an effect.
The consequences of anorexia
Mental consequences include: constant depression, followed by bouts of euphoria, inability to concentrate, irritability, and sometimes thoughts of suicide.
In addition to mental changes, the body will also be subject to destructive effects. For full-fledged work of the body, he needs the energy that he draws from food. Therefore, prolonged anorexia can lead to the following: cardiac arrhythmias, frequent dizziness and fainting, chills, hair loss on the head and the appearance of facial hair, slow heart rate, infertility in women, decreased sexual desire in men and women, frequent convulsive pains in the stomach, brittle bones and vertebrae, a decrease in the brain, and even death.
How to identify anorexia
At the initial stages, it is difficult to identify a disease such as anorexia in the patient. A diet that includes an almost complete rejection of food is the first manifestation of this disorder. In people affected by this disease, the attitude to food changes at a mental level. To maintain and improve their figure, they rarely eat and often force vomiting after eating. By this they strive to get rid of excess calories.
The main feature by which anorexia can be distinguished from ordinary fasting is the complete denial of the problem by patients. They tend to not notice or, more correctly, force themselves not to see changes in their body. Even when the bones begin to protrude from the skin, they are still inclined to consider their figure too full. Since anorexia is a disorder that occurs primarily in the head of patients, they never notice even obvious changes. At the first symptoms of anorexia, relatives and friends should try to dissuade the patient themselves. In the first stages of the disorder, it is possible to do without the intervention of doctors.
Some Symptoms of Anorexia
Hyperactivity is another sign of anorexia. With this disorder, the patient seeks to achieve the desired result with the help of exhausting workouts. Especially male anorexia is subject to it. Although there are significantly fewer cases of this disorder among the male, they do occur. When this ailment appears in men, they tend to spend as much time as possible after training, up to overwork. Men become more irritable and even aggressive, so it is much more difficult to make them believe in their own illness and undergo treatment.
One of the symptoms of the disease is supposedly a constant lack of appetite and unwillingness to eat with someone. In this case, patients may show excessive interest in everything related to cooking. So, the anorexia of a girl can cause her a great desire to cook food for her friends and relatives, but at the same time she will not participate in the meal herself. She can answer all invitations quite sharply and roughly, which may be another indicator of the disease.
In the later stages of anorexia, the patient can easily detect unnatural thinness. Everyone has an idea of what running anorexia looks like. Photos showing models with clear signs of malnutrition can be seen in many fashion magazines. The saddest thing is that if these models in most cases are already quite old and can take care of themselves, then many of their fans are still teenagers. It is in adolescence (from 16 to 22 years) that this disorder appears in 90% of all cases. Therefore, in many countries there are special laws that do not allow the publication of photographs of girls with signs of anorexia.
Early stages of anorexia
In the initial stages of anorexia, treatment is possible without medical intervention. If family or friends notice psychological changes in time, then even a normal conversation can be enough to stop the progression of this disorder.
Since this disease is mostly common in adolescence, parents should pay more attention to their children. However, as mentioned earlier, since anorexia is a mental illness, the cause of its occurrence can be ordinary stress caused by both insufficient attention from the parents and its excess, so it is important not to show excessive obsession.
Anorexia before and after treatment
But in advanced cases, the situation is completely different. The most dangerous in this disease is that it proceeds at a psychological level. Even if, for example, through force to feed the patient, it will help only in part, without eliminating the cause itself.
When contacting a doctor, depending on the stage of the disease, hospitalization in a special hospital may be prescribed. Psychotherapy will be prescribed, with the help of which doctors can make the patient realize their problem. Effective treatment is possible only if the patient can admit to himself that he is sick. Until then, any treatment attempt will have no effect. In addition to psychotherapy sessions, pharmacological agents are sometimes used. As a rule, they are all sorts of antidepressants and drugs that promote weight gain.
Effects
The consequences of anorexia may be different. Perhaps even after completing the full course of treatment in a hospital, the disease may return. Therefore, those who even once showed signs of anorexia should always pay great attention.
There are fatal cases when the disease was discovered too late, and destructive processes in the body reached an irreversible state. The most common causes of death are starvation or heart failure.
Anorexia: before and after bulimia
Bulimia is a mental disorder that is the opposite of anorexia. With the disease, the patient feels bouts of insatiable hunger, which can occur even after eating. An incredible appetite and its subsequent satisfying is replaced by a feeling of shame and fear of getting fat.
This disorder also appears mainly in the female part of the population, and becomes a real test for her. Cases when bulimia and anorexia occur simultaneously in the same person are quite common. Exposed bulimia tend to control their weight through constant forced vomiting or excessive use of laxatives.
It often happens that after another attack of overeating, the patient temporarily refuses any food. He can stretch without food even several days, after which he is not able to restrain hunger and again eats up to the dump. Such dashes from one extreme to another become more destructive for an organism than each of them individually.