On Anorexia - Essay Example

weight, excessive anxiety concerning weight gain, distorted image of one’s own body, and in case of females, absence of three or more consecutive menstrual cycles (NEDA, 2009). According to statistics an estimated 8 million Americans comprising of seven million women and one million men, are likely to suffer from eating disorders. One in 200 American women suffers from anorexia. It is regarded as the third most common chronic illness among the adolescents with approximately 95% of them falling in the age group of 12 and 25 of which 50% of girls fall in the age group of as young as 11 to 13.

It is estimated that almost 80% of 13 year olds have attempted to lose weight owing to their distorted image of their bodies. In terms of race and ethnicity, whites and minorities display similar behavioral characteristics towards weight loss exhibiting similar patterns of eating disorders (DMH, 2009). According to a nationwide survey conducted by Centre for Disease Control, approximately 12.3% of high school students have admitted to have skipped meals for over 24 hours in order to lose weight, 6.

3% of adolescents have admitted to have taken diet pills, and other medical aids for weight loss, and 4.5% of high school students of which 6.2 % were females as compared to 2.8% males, have vomited or consumed laxatives to prevent weight gain (CDC, 2009). As mentioned in the previous section, young adolescent girls and women are more likely to fall victim to this disease. There are several causes which are a combination of social, psychological as well as physiological in nature, that lead to such strong dislike for one’s own body image often culminating in severe eating disorders.

Several researchers have focused their studies on the psychological perspectives of anorexia for instance, Chris (1967) described anorexia as “weight phobia” while Russell (1970) described it as “morbid fear of fatness” (Ogden, 2003). While some other researchers have referred to anorexia