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Beauty And The Beast: Anorexia Essay, Research Paper

Julie Mallon

Psychology 310

Beauty and the Beast : Anorexia

It seemed to me that the older I got, the more obsessed people seemed about their bodies. Whether it was the diet soda boom of the 80’s, or the fact everyone has always been unhappy with his or her natural bodies; it just took me a while to comprehend. It always seemed like there were diets here, diets there; these drugs can do this, or these herbs can do that? “Stop the insanity!” This paper is going to discuss anorexia nervosa, an alarming disease that is usually developed during puberty of both boys and girls. Like bulimia, in which the subject binges and then disposes of ingested food by purging or use of laxatives, those suffering anorexia nervosa have an obsession with the amount of fat on her body (although one of every ten suffering this disease are male, I will use the female pronoun since they are the majority). This results in the loss of appetite completely and dangerous weight loss.

More than thirty years ago one of this century’s major sex symbols sang, “Happy Birthday, Mr. President,” on television.

With her size fourteen to sixteen figure, it is doubtful that society’s standards would approve Marilyn Monroe today. Back in those days men and women alike ate what tasted good or what the body needed and simply bought clothes that would hide any unwanted weight gain. Today the story is different. Psychologists that study the influence of television on children say that television is the most influential medium in our “visually orientated” society (Velette, 1988, p.3). With the influence of television and celebrity role models, children don’t care that they see a variety of sizes outside of their home, what they care about are the majority of people shown on the television set, perfect. Teenagers have typically watched 15,000 hours of television in their lifetime (Valette, 1988, p.4), absorbing the opinions on the shows or the commercials burning into their retinas. The message transmitted: “To be successful, beautiful, popular, and loved you must be thin, you must be thin, you must be THIN.” After a lifetime of hearing this message over and over and over again, children may not think there is any reason to be happy with what they are and feel thinness is the ultimate goal to be happy and accepted by others. As a result, some children may skip breakfast, eat a little for lunch, or even adopt some form of diet. This may only last for a week or so, but for others, the obsession of thinness is higher and the price they pay is frightening. This paper is going to discuss the cycles of anorexia nervosa. It will detail the symptoms, behavior, and clinical observations. It will describe the possible causes of anorexia nervosa through childhood growth and puberty, childhood eating and social behavior, and the maturation of children during puberty. Finally, I will discuss the treatment and results of treatment for anorexia nervosa.

Before diving into the details of anorexia nervosa, there are a few individual traits that may appear in a person that may have an eating disorder: low self-esteem, feelings of ineffectiveness or perfectionism, issues of control, and fear of maturation. The more physical description is chilling. The anorectic victim does not look “thin” as society’s standards

portray, but are in fact a walking skeleton with the absence of subcutaneous fat. Her weight may range from as little as 56-70 pounds or 77-91 pounds. Though clothes are likely to cover most of her figure, her face appears gaunt and her skin is cold and red or blue in color. Do to the lack of fat in her body, her menstrual cycle is likely to have ceased. Despite these conditions, she still sees herself overweight and thus unacceptable. Thinness is idealism and perfection. It is her independent choice that no one else can take away from her.

At the beginning of anorexia nervosa the subject will first change her diet, restricting how much she eats and usually cutting out starchy foods. Seventy-percent of a particular study claimed they were simply dieting. The rest used excuses of abdominal pain, difficulty swallowing, or simply a lack of appetite (Dally, 1979, p.14). Those dieting had innocent intentions at first, even the approval of family members or peers, but as they reached their target weight the dieting did not slow down. In some cases it only became more intense.

Hunger does not just disappear into thin air. There is a long and hard battle against stomach pains, sometimes resulting in lapses. However, the guilt or disgust felt from giving into the temptation of food results in more willpower for resisting food in the future. The process of eliminating hunger usually takes up to a year (Dally, 1979, p.14). Sometimes hunger cannot be ignored. The girl will think about food all day long as if in pleasure. Ritualistically, she’ll eat very slowly, savoring each bite of food that is cut into small pieces. She will insist on cooking food for herself and sometimes preferring to eat only alone, where she can enjoy her food without feeling self-conscious. Another approach towards hunger is indirect satisfaction by reading cookbooks, reading about healthy foods and ways to eat, cooking for others, or just watching others eat. Though an anorectic avoids fattening foods by all costs, oddly they enjoy cooking fattening feasts for family members to enjoy and are even offended if any food is not eaten.

A majority of anorectic patients are above average in intelligence, physically attractive, and of the upper class. They have low self-esteems and strive for perfection. The family they come from usually tends to be weight-conscious, such as a mother that is always on diet plans, and somewhat controlling over the daughter’s life. Although there are two types of anorexia

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