Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa

Every year there are 1300 new people suffering from anorexia in the Netherlands. This eating disorder has great consequences for those people's social lives and physical health. 

Anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder, which means people consciously decide not to eat so they can lose weight. It is an addiction which leads to so much weight loss that you can see their bones through their skin. This disorder is most common among young women between 15 and 30 years old. They compare themselves to extremely thin women, which causes them to believe they are too big.

People who suffer from anorexia are obsessed with everything related to weight. They decide what they are allowed to eat every day and do not divert from this. When they cannot control themselves they start bingeing: eating as much food as possible. Afterwards they regret this and throw it back up. People suffering from anorexia will sometimes also use laxatives to lose even more weight, and they exercise extremely often.

The consequences

People suffering from anorexia will hide from the outside world. They keep coming up with excuses so why they don't have to eat and they feel like they are worth less than others. This causes a lot of stress which makes them isolate themselves even more. Anorexia also has severe consequences for the body: because the hormones are disturbed, the menstruation can stop. This can have consequences for a woman's fertility. The body temperature will gradually get lower because so little food is being digested. Because of this, anorexia patients are often cold. Their hair can start to fall out and sleeping problems can also occur. Many of the complaints disappear once the patient reaches a normal weight again, but sometimes anorexia can cause irreversible damage to the body.

Anorexia in men

Recently, anorexia has been occurring in men more and more often. In 2007 it was shown that approximately a quarter of the anorexia patients were male. They are mostly men from the higher social classes.

Treatment

Curing anorexia nervosa is difficult, because many patients do not admit they have an eating disorder. When they look in the mirror they do not see that they are skinny, but still see themselves as being too big. It is only when the patients themselves admit that they are ill and want to do something about it that the treatment can begin. During this treatment they slowly learn to eat more again. This is a long process and often people who have had anorexia will fall back in their old pattern after a while.

Sources: www.todio.nl