Eating Disorders and Anorexia Nervosa
WHAT is Anorexia Nervosa?
Anorexia- is a serious mental illness, which can affect anyone of any age, gender or background. This is the biggest killer of any mental illness and early intervention is the key to recovery. People with Anorexia restrict their food intake and often use other behaviors to get rid of the food by laxatives miss use, over exercise. They also often experience a very deep overwhelming fear of gaining weight.
Anorexia impacts not just of a person mental but also the person physical wellbeing. A person who is suffering from an eating disorder is often unable to consider the severity of the illness and go to great lengths to hide the problems.
What Are the Warning Signs?
Most early signs of anorexia center on preoccupation with food or dieting. Behavior may appear obsessive or compulsive, and begin to consume more time. Eventually, disordered eating patterns will become more noticeable to others and potentially disrupt schooling, career, and relationships with family and friends.
If you’re concerned that you or someone you love may have an eating disorder, watch for these early warning signs of anorexia:
- Refusal to eat.
- Denial of hunger, even when starving.
- Difficulty concentrating.
- Skipping meals.
- Making excuses for not eating.
- Eating only a few certain foods considered safe, usually those low in fat and calories.
- Adopting meal or eating rituals, such as cutting food into tiny pieces or spitting food out after chewing.
- Weighing food.
- Cooking elaborate meals for others but refusing to eat.
Psychological signs:
- Fear of fatness or pursuit of thinness.
- Excessive focus on body weight.
- Distorted perception of body shape or weight – for example, thinking they are much larger than they are.
- Underestimating or denying the seriousness of the problem, or believing there isn’t a problem at all, even after diagnosis.
- Spending a lot or most of their time thinking about food.
- Anxiety, particularly about eating in front of other.
- Low confidence and self-esteem.
- Perfectionism and setting very high standards for themselves Other mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
