ANOREXIA

Anorexia is a psychological disorder in which a distorted body images causes a person to believe they are fat, even though their weight is at or below accepted limits (Sifton, 2001). It is most common among young women, and usually starts in adolescence or the early 20s. It occurs across all social classes and ethnic groups. There may be a familial link to anorexia, and there is recent evidence of a genetic linkage (McCaffree, 2001). Researchers in the Netherlands and Germany have found a link between the agouti-related protein (AGRP) gene and the susceptibility to anorexia. Health professionals usually believe there are a variety of factors involved in the development of anorexia, including genetic and/or biological factors, while psychologists tend to believe children learn food behaviors from their parents. A cultural factor may come into play because anorexia is not found in developing countries where food is in short supply.

In the United States, most anorexics are young white women, although there is an increasing trend among African American and Hispanic women, and even men to become anorexic as the media constantly plays up the model of thinness as the ideal (McCaffree, 2001). Males are often under-diagnosed because of the common thought that it is a disease affecting young women (Eliot and Baker, 2001). In a study by these researchers, 55 percent of the eating disorders diagnosed in males were anorexia. Males tend to diet defensively, either b

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nue to battle a distorted body image. He stresses the treatment goal of enhancing the patient's motivation to cooperate in their treatment and in correcting maladaptive thoughts, attitudes and feelings related to anorexia, and enlisting the entire family as a support group. This kind of treatment is based on a belief in a psychological cause for anorexia. Those who believe in a genetic cause in some cases of anorexia are holding out the hope that, with modern methods in genetic engineering and gene therapy, a new treatment for anorexia may be on the horizon (McCaffree, 2001). In this area, researchers are looking at modifying the proteins which genes release, such as corticotropin releasing factor which is released in response to stress. This may provide a treatment for anorexia. BULIMIA Bulimia, once thought to be another aspect of anorexia, is now believed to be an entirely separate disorder (Sifton, 2001). Unlike anorexics, bulimics have no special desire to become thin, but just want to maintain their weight. They are given to binges in which they consume large amounts of food. They tend to prefer foods with high-fat, high-sugar content, which are easy to swallow and easy to vomit afterwards, such as ice cream, cand

Category: Psychology - A