Anorexia nervosa

1992/10/01 Agirre, Jabier - Medikua eta OEEko kidea Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna

norexia: norexia: It is a disease of psychic origin, characterized by the total renunciation of food by the irrational and illogical desire to lose weight.

It is a disease of psychic origin, characterized by the total renunciation of food by the irrational and illogical desire to lose weight. In other words, they say no to eat so as not to fatten.

Anorexia can be considered as the luxury of the richest and technologically advanced societies, among which the cult of physical image and thinness acquires a disproportionate appreciation and importance. Obtaining food, on the other hand, is not a problem for these societies.

Psychic anorexia is a difficult and complex disease, since in its creation and development hardly weigh organic, but psychological and mental factors.

Age and sex

It is almost totally feminine, 95 out of 100 anorexic people are women. And another statistical data to understand the evolution of the disease is that adolescent anorexias and women aged 12-25 are the most affected, with ages of greater risk between 14 and 18 years.

Possible causes Possible causes

As in almost all the diseases in which anorexia, intelligence or deficit have something to do, it can be due to many different causes. Each case is a world.

• However, at the statistical level, of the reasons that make a woman (or a man) stop eating and distrust until that size, it can be said that the main one is a clear personal inflation, the non-acceptance of the body and the low self-esteem.
• An emotional problem that has not been properly controlled, the death of a relative, a dislike or disenchantment in love or family conflicts, are factors that can push a person to this situation (anorexia nervosa). From a psychological point of view, anorexia would be the anguish that the person lives and the way of expelling those sufferings.
• The fashion of thinness, fondness and enthusiasm for young and perfect bodies, the constant empowerment of the media and advertising, are other factors that can lead an unstable and not yet mature teenager to a depressive situation.
• Among people suffering from anorexia, according to statistics, one in three people were obese. Hence, it follows that anorexia can also occur as a reaction against obesity.

Symptoms of symptoms and symptoms

The obvious physical symptom that the anorexic person usually presents is his appearance: aesthetic, thin. Anorexic, in her desire not to eat, can tread 50% less than the weight corresponding to her body, size and age.

The anorexics usually have the face before aged and marched, with a sad appearance.

The skin (dry and cold by dehydration) is covered with a veil or a very thin laun, highlighting the blue-blackish glasses.

As for the situation of ariete, in the first phase, anorexic is a very active person who leads it practicing sport or making spectacular walks or walks. But as the disease advances, that initial hyperactivity becomes apathy and indifference, because it has no value for anything else.

The anorexic person cannot sleep normally and has other depressive symptoms: crying, sadness, social withdrawal, low self-esteem, emotional instability, irritability and control difficulty, in addition to anxiety.

The anorexic woman, due to lack of nutrition, disappears the rule (amenorrhea) and loses the tendency to sexual activity.

These patients usually have vomiting almost always intentional, with the intention of expelling the last meal that has been made before the body absorbs. And these peaks are of great help for diagnosis.

Evolution of evolution

Except for a few benign cases, often caused by the crisis of the time of adolescence and resolved by themselves, the natural evolution of anorexia leads the patient to malnutrition, which can die if it is not subjected to adequate treatment.

How can it be cured?

Anorexia, being a mental illness, needs adequate treatment, guided by specialists, with the intention of losing weight and stop eating and discarding the causes that have caused this painful dinner.

If the patient does not voluntarily accept treatment (usually, in addition to a balanced and complete diet, sedatives and antidepressants are also administered), the anorexic should be transferred to a hospital or hospital center.

It is important that the patient not only achieve an adequate standard of living, but make it clear that to completely cure the disease, he must accept food freely and voluntarily, assuming and controlling the psychological cause that has led to the anorexia.

The clinical and psychic treatment of anorexia is long and necous, but the problem has a solution. That is why it should be noted that there is no magic solution. No home remedy for this psychic disease. Psychiatry and psychoanalysis are the most effective resources we have in our hands.

What to do to prevent?

Anorexia is a situation of very difficult prevention, as everything related to the psychic world, which is very complex. Faced with certain causes, some people react in a way (negative) and others assimilate them, incorporating them into their lives.

In the case of adolescents, it is up to parents to take steps as soon as the first symptom of their children appears, such as helping them accept their own body and their own identity.

Escape from the topics of social trends that claim thinness as the only model of beauty (today). Other qualities (range of hand, love, intelligence, etc.) teaching to value so that the physical aspect does not take all the importance.

Adverse family behaviors before an anorexic

• This disorder is a deliberate attitude of the patient.
• Force the patient to eat with violence or deceit.
• Permanent concern for the weight and appearance of the patient.
• Try to solve the problem only with vitamins and/or special food measures.
• Isolate and refuse admission to a hospital, if required by the doctor.

Points to take into account

• Anorexia also affects all those around the patient. Therefore, it is essential that parents consult a psychologist or psychiatrist to help them better in the therapy of their teenage daughter.
• Patience and enthusiasm are necessary, since a relative affected by anorexia totally alters the relationships and habits of the whole family. First of all, it is necessary to know that the way to cure, besides being long, is difficult and full of obstacles.
• Will is the best way to heal.
• The refusal to eat, despite the risk of loss of health, is an unconscious way to draw the attention of others. Therefore, it is essential to go to the doctor when the first symptom appears.
• Risk derived from uncontrolled consumption of diuretics and laxatives. Two of the best collaborators of those affected by anorexia.
• Finally, remember that 6% of anorexics die from this disease, since if anorexia is not caught on time it is a disease that can have serious consequences.

Questions and answers

• The girl diagnosed with anorexia nervosa needs to be admitted to a hospital center to receive treatment or can be treated at home?It has been shown that it is essential that she withdraw from the family environment and enter a center suitable for the treatment of anorexia nervosa to have good results. On the other hand, bodily conditions and weight loss will also be treated better in the hospital environment than in the domestic environment.
• I've always been a jangartu and very thin… Does that have something to do with anorexia nervosa? On the one hand, there are people who eat enough with their constitution and activity. In them there is no transtorno; food is adapted to the needs of the body. Therefore, there is no reason for concern.
• When a child begins like this (sad, just try nothing, etc.) Does it serve to do nothing hard and force to eat?Almost certainly, that attitude will be the opposite. First of all, we should get a good relationship and communication with that child, so we can know where the key to the problem is. The hard and authoritarian attitudes of parents must be obviously discarded in order not to increase this feeling of victim.
• From an anorexic mother, will the daughter eventually receive the same disease?In fact, genetic inheritance plays an important role in diseases of psychic origin. But today, concreting, it can be said that anorexia does not inherit, even if there is a predisposition... If the daughter copies her mother's behaviors, there is no doubt that there will be danger, but it is not an indispensable condition, since parents and children are not always exactly the same.
• When can the person be considered to be totally cured of anorexia nervosa? Normally, when you do not take care of the amount and weight gain of someone who eats at lunch time. When meals are not expelled by vomiting, intentional or involuntary, and when the rule is normalized when she is a woman. But especially when it accepts and assimilates the problem or the issue that got sick.
• Can it be said that anorexia is a kind of suicide? The anorexic screams to the whole world that there is something that does not work well in his life. That is, in his own way, the path he uses to say he disagrees. And that's why the anorexic needs psychological help, which helps him to redrive and solve the discomfort that has caused him.