Dying To Be Thin Video Analysis Essay

Incidences of Anorexia Nervosa have appeared to increase sharply in the USA, UK and western European countries since the beginning of the 60s (Gordon, 2001). The increasing prevalence of the disease has led the World Health Organisation to declare eating disorders a global priority area within adolescent mental health (Becker et al. 2011). Anorexia has in many ways become a modern epidemic (Gordon, 2000) and with a mortality rate of 10% per decade (Gorwood et al. 2003), the highest of any mental disorder (Bulik et al. 2006), it is an epidemic that social and biological scientists have been working tirelessly to understand.

With Anorexia Nervosa, there is a strong fear of weight gain and a preoccupation with body image. Those diagnosed may show a resistance in maintaining body weight or denial of their illness. Additionally, anorexics may deny their hunger, have eating rituals such as excessive chewing and arranging food on a plate, and seek privacy when they are eating. For women, they go through immediate body changes from abnormal to no menstruation periods and develop lanugo all over their bodies. Characteristics of an anorexic individual also consist of extreme exercise patterns, loosely worn clothing, and maintain very private lives. Socially, to avoid criticism or concern from others, they may distant themselves from friends and activities they once enjoyed. Instead, their primary concerns revolve around weight loss, calorie intake, and dieting. In regards to health, many will have an abnormal slow heart rate and low blood pressure, some can develop osteoporosis, severe dehydration which can result in kidney failure, and overall feel weak (Robbins, 27-29). It has been reported that Anorexia Nervosa has one of the highest death rates in any mental health condition in America (www.NationalEatingDisorders.org).

A single father watched his daughter, 17 years old, dwindle down to 72 pounds. He begged her to eat, but she would cry and push the plate away. He was irritated and turned to his friends at work complaining his daughter was taking dieting way too far. He would scream at her “Stop! This is nonsense, just eat!”. This father, like many other Americans, did not understand that his daughter could not just stop being Anorexic. The common misconception is that Anorexia Nervosa is just someone obsessed with losing weight. Many people believe that Anorexics look in the mirror and smile at their thinness and progress. This is so untrue, they look in the mirror and wish for a way out.

Thesis Statement: It is important to understand eating disorders and the types of eating disorders to overcome them and seek the proper treatment.

     Studies have shown that over one million males are affected with anorexia nervosa yearly. (Crosscope-Happel, Hutchins, & Hayes, 2000) Some have suggested that these numbers are on the rise as the media continues to assert a more and more unattainable goal of beauty on the public.

Dying To Be Thin, Anorexia: Friend or Foe?, and Bulimia Nervosa: Friend or Foe? The Pros and Cons of Bulimia Nervosa discuss the eating disorders anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). Each is valuable to the clinician because they explore the attitudes, both pro and con, of those afflicted with eating disorders.

After viewing the video “Dying to be Thin” and reading the articles on eating disorders, I felt as though my knowledge was broadened on this topic. Because I plan to work with adolescents, this awareness is crucial to my future career. Some of the statistics that the video shared were alarming; 8 million people suffer from eating disorders, with majority being women. The video shared that 80% of women are unhappy or not satisfied with their body. Eating disorders also hold the highest death rate of any psychiatric illness, with anorexia nervosa being the deadliest. The video also gave me insight as to what professional athletes and dancers experience, as well as valuable feedback from survivors.

In my research, I explored the world of eating disorders. I wanted to see if there was anything specifically encouraging eating disorders and if there was a way to stop it. Eating disorders affect the community greatly because often times, they go unchecked or unrecognized. As a recovered anorexic, I feel it’s very important to address this issue. It’s a very big problem that is often not addressed at all, or is seen as normal, like counting calories. I hoped to find a way to improve the way that eating disorders are viewed and explain to people about what defines an eating disorder, because many people will never know if it is not explicitly explained to them. My study’s purpose is to bring light into the dark world of eating disorders

After watching the PBS documentary dying to be thin I learned a number of new things about eating disorders. The affects an eating disorder can have on the human body are catastrophic in all aspects. Research shows that eating disorders start as early as eight years old in the brain. Children have the beginning ideas at about this age and by a couple years later are fully submerged in bulimia or anorexia. There are different types of eating disorders some people over eat and try to make themselves seem unattractive. While others actually control their food so greatly they lose a massive amount of weight. Either one of these types of eating disorders have negative effects on a person’s body. Unfortunately, most people suffering from eating disorders have been sexually

After reading the two studies by Serpell from 1999 and 2002, as well as watching the movie Dying to be Thin, I have several opinions about the people diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and Bulimia Nervosa (BN). In addition, I understand where certain types of therapy and practices could be introduced to help change the thought process of these individuals.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that consists of self-regulated food restriction in which the person strives for thinness and also involves distortion of the way the person sees his or her own body. An anorexic person weighs less than 85% of their ideal body weight. The prevalence of eating disorders is between .5-1% of women aged 15-40 and about 1/20 of this number occurs in men. Anorexia affects all aspects of an affected person's life including emotional health, physical health, and relationships with others (Shekter-Wolfson et al 5-6). A study completed in 1996 showed that anorexics also tend to possess traits that are obsessive in nature and carry heavy emotional

Eating disorders are severe disturbances in eating behaviors, such as eating too little or eating too much. “Anorexia nervosa affects nearly one in 200 Americans in their lives (three-quarters of them female)” (Treating anorexia nervosa). Anorexia, when translated into Greek means “without appetite” which is not true for all suffering from anorexia most people with this disorder have not lost their appetite they simply have to ignore it. People with anorexia have an intense fear of gaining weight and have convinced themselves that they are overweight even if they are the opposite of overweight. Since the way that they view themselves is in a negative light they starve themselves and put their lives at risk. “In the most severe

Fairborn (2005) points out that there is a range of treatment options and a variety of treatment settings for anorexia nervosa, however there is inadequate empirical support for this abundance of options as what minimal research on the treatment has been inconclusive. One reasoning behind this is that anorexia nervosa has been an uncommon disorder and sample sizes for studies have been low. Furthermore, the lack of evidence based treatment research can be attributed to the individual’s avoidance of treatment and dropping out of treatment. Many individuals with anorexia nervosa are unwilling to change as their identity and self-worth are intertwined with their distorted body image; they tend to deny that anything is wrong with their weight and are ambivalent on changing (Abbate-Daga, Amianto, Delsedime, De-Bacco & Fassino,

Given that anorexia nervosa is associated with high rates of mortality, relapse, suicide, and a diminished quality of life, long-term prognosis does look very tragic, with recovery rates ranging from 25-70% (Guarda, 2008). The extant of anorexia nervosa long-term outcome studies have reported, “only one-third of individuals (37%) recover within 4 years after disease onset; this figure rises to almost half (47%) by year 10 and to 73% after 10 years post onset” (Zerwas et al., 2013). These statistics suggest that the road to recovery is possible, but only over very long periods of time. Zerwas and colleagues’ (2013) study on the prognostic factors associated with anorexia nervosa recovery found that higher levels of trait anxiety, and

The purpose of the two studies about anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) from 1999 and 2000 respectively, was to ask clients diagnosed with AN or BN to write two letters to the disorder, one seeing it as a friend and other seeing it as an enemy. In other words, to write the pros and cons of the illness. I was not surprised when I read the cons. After reading and watching videos about eating disorders, how and why they originate, and their physical and emotional consequences, I understood the participants’ feelings towards the illness. Moreover, when I read the pros, they gave me a more comprehended picture of the ambivalence, and how this ambivalence contributes to relapses when trying to recover from an eating disorder.