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Family Structure & Eating Disorders The purpose of this paper is to ex

The purpose of this paper is to examine the literature on eating disorders and family structure. The review begins with brief reviews on the characteristics, history and origin of the two major diagnostic categories of eating disorders: (1) Anorexia Nervosa; and (2) Bulimia Nervosa.

The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM III, 1980) provides five defining diagnostic criteria for Anorexia Nervosa:

(1)Intense fear of becoming obese, which does not diminish as weight loss progresses; (2) Disturbance of body image (e.g. claiming to "feel fat" even when emaciated); (3) Weight loss of at least 25 percent of original body weight; (4) Refusal to maintain body weight over a minimal normal weight for age and height; and (5) No known physical illness that would account for the weight loss.

Although the diagnostic criteria seem clear, Herzog and Copeland (1985) have pointed out that there is controversy surrounding the cause, prevalence, and even treatment of Anorexia Nervosa; further, there is a good deal of disagreement as to whether it represents a distinct disorder or a variant of other disorders.

Onset of the illness usually begins before age 25, and often before age 15 (Habermas, 1989). Prevalence rates are at about one out of every 170 girls; and extrapolations into adulthood put one in every 450 to 750 adult women at risk for life-long chronic primary anorexia (Halmi, 1988). Behavioral and emotional characteristics include bizarre eating habits, a general obsessive preoccupation with food and cooking, hoarding or hiding of food, eating alone, monotonous or eccentric diets, secretiveness about eating, strenuous exercise, counting calories and avoidance of carbohydrates, and food refusal.

Individuals diagnosed with the disorder exhibit several diagnostically important features. For example, they steadfastly refuse to maintain body weight over a minimal normal...

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Family Structure & Eating Disorders The purpose of this paper is to ex. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:06, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1705094.html