Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa Essay -- Essays on Eating Disorde

  Ã‚   Imagine starving yourself to the point of death. Imagine throwing up repeatedly after every meal. This may seem too harsh of a reality to comprehend, but between 30-60% of all United States females are on calorie restrictive diets. (Reel, 3) These diets eventually lead to obsessions about their desired weight and often result in an eating disorder. The two most prevalent disorders today are; Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. Bulimia Nervosa affects 2 to 3 % of all women 15 to 40. Many young women between middle and high school develop often these bad habits to cope with the insecurities developing around them. These two disorders are affecting individuals younger and younger each year. Anorexia generally begins between 12 and 20 and coincides with the beginning and ending of high school. Recent studies have shown that Bulimia tends to affect 5% of all high school girls. (Levine, 132-4) These girls either have a serious Bulimic disorder or have routine weekly binges. Why are eating disorders so prevalent among young women? This question plagues many teachers, parents, and even friends of victims. There are many controversial causes surrounding this very question. Three major causes seem to dominate the minds of researchers worldwide. One's family factors and social scene ultimately effect one's psychological factors, which could eventually lead into the development of a serious eating disease. Each of these factors tend to effect everyone differently, but from various research they all have the same outcome; an eating disorder.    Bulimia, or "ox hunger", is a disease characterized by abnormal increases in hunger whereby an individual binges rapidly, then attempts to undo the effects by vomiting, taking laxatives,... ... Every disease can be cured with love and patience. With these eating disorder patients life has seemed to treat them wrong, all they need is some reassurance that everything will turn out fine.    Works Cited Ask NOAH about Mental Health. "Eating Disorders: Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa." http://noah.cuny.edu/wellconn/eatdisorders.html How Serious Are Eating Disorders (16 March 1999) Berg, Frances M. Afraid to Eat. Hettinger: Healthy Weight Journal, 1997. Costin, Carolyn. Your Dieting Daughter, Is She Dying for Attention? New York: Brunner/Mazel Publishers, 1997. Eating Disorders Recovery Group. "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Fattest of Them All?" http://www.mirror-mirror.org/eatdis.html (17 March 1999) Levine, Michael P. Student Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia. Washington: National Education Association, 1987