Therapy Analysis - Anorexia & Bulimia
Anorexia nervosa
Although historically anorexia is defined by a severe reduction or cessation in caloric intake, it draws parallels with bulimia. Binge eating is less likely, but regimented exercising and purging through vomiting and laxatives are common. As with bulimia, anorexia can be a long-haul disease and in its late stages, results in the characteristic emaciated appearance so readily associated with anorexia. At this stage, much of the internal damage has already occurred, and excessive hair growth on the body and face accompanies the dry, flaky skin and thinning scalp hair. Long-term anorexia is also a leading cause of infertility and impotence in women and men, respectively.
..a 22 year old Uruguayan model, Luisel Ramos, died of heart failure as a direct result of anorexia nervosa. She reportedly adopted a diet of lettuce leaves and Diet Coke..Anorexia is considered a very serious illness, putting strain on many of the body's organs, and has a correspondingly high mortality rate. There has been continued awareness of the disease since the 1980s, when Karen Carpenter famously died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 32, weighing only 80lbs (36kg). Even the potential for death does not seem to faze sufferers. More recently, a 22 year old Uruguayan model, Luisel Ramos, died of heart failure as a direct result of anorexia nervosa. She reportedly adopted a diet of lettuce leaves and Diet Coke for months prior to her death, resulting in a BMI of around 14.5 at the time of her death, well below the WHO starvation index value of 16. Tragically, just 6 months after Luisel's death, her 18-year old sister Eliana, also a model, died of a heart attack believed to be related to malnutrition. Drawing widespread media attention, such deaths highlight the overwhelming pressure in society to be slim, particularly for celebrities and young women, and although devastating, perhaps the increased media coverage of the fatality risks and the subsequent banning of size 00 models on the catwalk will help decrease the social pressures that are currently so prominent in causing eating disorders.
As with other mental diseases, there is no single cause of bulimia or anorexia, but they are often both accompanied by depression. It tends to begin in late adolescence or early adulthood, transitional periods that can be accompanied by emotional upheaval and peer pressure.
Although there is no known single cause for the development of eating disorders, it is most likely to arise from a culmination of socio-cultural, psychological and biological factors.
