Losing weight not eating: Anorexia Nervosa
In the hype surrounding slim women, like say Marlene Monroe, or such others, any person would want to look as glamorous as them. It has been reported that the late Lady Diana of United Kingdom, also suffered from this disease. It is more in women, who try to lose weight by stopping their food intake, completely, or with hesitancy. This is generally known as "Anorexia Complex”.
It is treated more as a mental disorder relating to lifestyles, and it is called mental illness because the patient wants to achieve that figure that her/his cult "figure” has. Generally, men are not known to be severely affected by this disease.
This disorder can, not may, cause heart and kidney problems, to death. The patient must be treated as early as possible, and involves mental health treatment, nutritional counseling, and sometimes medicines.
Disorders in eating are complex. They arise from longstanding behavioral, interpersonal conditions. It may also evolve from inter-personal and social factors. Medical professionals and researchers are still delving into the subject as to its latent cause.
Most times, these persons use food as a tool to compensate for their internal feelings and emotions which they are often unwilling to share. Over-dieting, binging on food, etc., is also symptomatic of this disease. Ultimately, these symptoms lead to physical damage, emotional damage, further lower self-esteem, and also reinforce their feeling of incompetence.
Generally these symptoms are because of trouble in the family, and personal relationships. These patients generally are diffident about their emotions, feelings, have been victims of mental torture because of being teased about their size, and sometimes also physical abuse, and also sexual abuse.
The good news is that it is treatable and patients can recover. Remember in the earlier paragraph of this article we mentioned Lady Diana? She overcame it with medical help.
Psychotherapy, counseling, jointly with careful control of medical and nutrition form the crux of treatment. Since this is a mental disease, treatment varies from patient to patient, and is often custom built for the patient. Counseling addresses both the eating disordered symptoms and the underlying symptoms that have been described. Typical care is provided by physicians, psychologists, psychiatrist, nutritionists, and social workers and also from self-help groups who have been through this traumatic mental illness. Some patients suffering from this disease have to be taken to hospital because the illness has become a threat to life or the other symptoms are extremely severe. Hospital Based Care (including inpatient, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient and/or residential care in an eating disorders specialty unit or facility) is necessary when an eating disorder has led to physical problems that may be life-threatening, or when it is associated with severe psychological or behavioral problems.
The need for individuals suffering with this disease, and including their families to immediately seek professional help cannot be overstated.
