The Role of Society in The Development of Anorexia in Teen Girls

In society, many teen girls struggle to love themselves in terms of their body along with who they are as a person. Society often shapes people's opinions on how they should look in a sense that it is considered pretty. In America and Western Countries people believe that being skinny is a way to be pretty which cause many girls to aim for that body type and do anything for it such as starving themselves. But most importantly, this idea of being skinny to pretty impact many teen girls mentally and physically in a way that it is cutting their life short. Which is a idea that is called anorexia which is a illness where people starve themselves and not eat so that they can be extremely skinny to the point that they are underweight but even though they are underweight they will still think that they are skinny which will cause them to continue to drive to lose more weight than they already lost. Furthermore, anorexia is a type of mental and physical illness that occur in teen girls ages 14-17 than anyone else. With all these problems and outcome that a teen girl can get due to the society's opinion of ideal body it is not safe for the Society and that the Society should change in a sense that everyone will believe that they are pretty no matter how they look along with what size they are because this idea of being skinny to maintain prettiness cause many teen girls to have physical health problem like low blood pressure, osteopenia, organ failure, diabetes, and other health problem, along with that it is genetic which means that if one in your family member is anorexic there is a chance that you can also be anorexic but most importantly with anorexia it can lead to depression and many more mental disorder. Overall, all of these possible outcomes can cause someone's life to be cut short and that a change should be made so that not a lot of teen girls will have to go through this process along with putting their life in danger.

It’s hard to understand how society can impact a person life so much that their life is cut short. More and more people are becoming anorexic in today's society due to the way the society depicts prettiness along with how to become pretty. When trying to become skinny and becoming obsessed with your body and what you want it to look like it can cause many physical problems in your body which can be anything from heart problem to low blood sugar, with all of these problems it will cause your life to be shorter than what it supposed to be since your organs and body are not working the way they should be working. Having anorexia can lead to having a heart disease called Bradycardia which is one of the major cause of death in people. “Bradycardia is an abnormal slowness of the heart rhythms, below 60 beats per minute. A normal resting rate can range anywhere from 60 to 100 beats per minute. When the flow of blood is reduced and blood pressure drops to a dangerous rate, the heart becomes weaker and shrinks to a smaller size.” (Center for Discovery) Having Bradycardia can hurt and damage one’s body because it is impacting the heart and the heart is the center of everything without a heart you will be dead which means that having a weak heart can cause people to die because it is so weak that it can fail in any minute and with anorexia your heart can get very weak due to the amount of food you are eating which is unable to give the heart the number of nutrients it needed to foil up the heart along with the rest of the body and other organs. But most importantly if your heart is weak the rest of your body and organs will be weak as well because your heart is the center of everything if your heart can get enough nutrients it is hard for the rest of the body to also get nutrients. Which means that anorexia can cause organ failure which means that body’s organs will stop working which can cause you to slowly die because if one organ stop working soon other organs will also stop working but most importantly it is hard to get new organs because there are very little people in the world that are willing to donate their organs to someone else. Along with that going back to the heart if your heart is weak it will be very hard for it to pump blood throughout the body which can cause major blood problems which are created by dangerously low levels of vitamin B12 which can cause tiredness, weakness, and megaloblastic anemia which is a condition where your body don't have enough healthy red blood cells which provide oxygen to body tissues. Without the amount of oxygen your body needs it can lead your life to be cut short because you need a certain amount of oxygen in order for your body to work the way it should work for instance, an average person should inhale and exhale something around 7 or 8 liters of air per minute and 11,000 liters of air in a day. Without inhaling and exhaling a certain amount of air your body can get damaged very badly in a sense because it is not receiving and giving the amount of air it is supposed to give off. Along with that anorexia can lead to more illness and health problem other than heart and organ failure it also impacts the bone which is a condition that is known as Osteopenia which is a condition that causes your bone to be weaker than what it was normally. With this condition of the weaker bone, a fall can be much more dangerous because there will be a bigger chance of you breaking your bone than before. Furthermore, anorexia can also cause a type of diabetes called Diabulimia which can lead to more health problems such as severe dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, peripheral artery disease, uncontrolled glucose levels, diabetic ketoacidosis, bacterial skin infections, retinopathy, neuropathy, and stroke. (Eating Disorder Hope) Along with that anorexia also cause gastrointestinal issues because “Anorexia puts incredible stress on the digestive systems. Stomach bloating and constipation are very common among people with anorexia because anorexia often pairs with bulimic behaviors, the purging, or vomiting this involves can expose the digestive system to excess stomach acid and lead to conditions such as reflux esophagitis” (center of recovery) Reflux esophagitis is a condition that causes inflammation or irritation of the esophagus which then can lead to many symptoms that include trouble swallowing, sore throat and heartburn. Lastly, anorexia can cause hormones and fertility which can cause a woman reproductive hormone levels to go significantly lower than it should which can cause them to not be able to get pregnant and have a baby.

Another problem that is caused by anorexia is that it is genetic which means that people that have family members that are anorexic it can also put them in danger for having anorexia as well. Which cause anorexia a perplexing illness that has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disease. In addition to that 40% to 60% of developing the risk of eating disorder and anorexia is that it is connected and related to many genetic factors-meaning that genes have a big part on what you going to have in terms of health problems and more. Furthermore, there are more studies that also gave the similar results in terms of facts about genetic form of anorexia a article, The genetics of eating disorder also state how more than 50 percent of eating disorders like anorexia are impacted by genetic effects and that less than 40 percent are caused by the environment and the idea of what body type is pretty. Along with that scientist found out many things while comparing different groups that can help them in a way of figuring out the genetics of anorexia and it comes to the conclusion that they realize that “with the control group of 11,000 people, anorexics had a significant locus on chromosome 12 which contributes towards an elevated risk of developing anorexia nervosa.” Which means that genetics play big factors in terms of being most likely to have anorexia or not and that people that have family members that are anorexia have a big chance in having anorexia, which proves that if fewer people are anorexia the rate of people having anorexia are low because the biggest part of anorexia is that it is genetic and that you can’t choose to have it or not because it is determined by your DNA if your parents are anorexia and it is in their DNA there is a chance that there is also a gene in your DNA that link to you having anorexia in a way. Furthermore, there are many studies about anorexia and how it is genetic which cause people like scientist and doctors to find out that there is a tremendous increase in rate that involved eating disorder and anorexia to be link to relatives that have/had anorexia in a way because not only that it is genetic they can also influence and confidence people in their family from generation to generation by telling them that they are fat and ugly even though they are not when they are young which can cause them to think that same and believe them in a way that they will also act anorexic by not eating and trying to get pretty and skinny as people in their family say which then can cause her to be obsessed with losing weight. But not only that they will continue the path of being anorexic and obsessive about weight not because of their parents especially but also the society because in society to in order to be pretty you must be skinny and that if you are not your not as pretty with cause people to drive for the body type which isn’t that realistic because of the way we approach things that we want in term of seeing instant change. Lastly, there is a lot of information about anorexia that scientist and doctors are still trying to figure out and that there is a lot about the genetics of anorexia and that there is more to find when it comes to the genetic side of anorexia and that there is not a lot of questions answers in terms of knowing pieces of information about anorexia and its genetic form along with how anorexia can be caused by genetic factors. But despite that, a lot of scientist and doctors are currently trying to figure everything out about anorexia along with the factors of it and how it can affect one person more than others. In an article, The genetics of eating disorders it states how scientist and doctors are all trying to look through this mystery and everything around the mystery of genetic impaction of anorexia, “In addition, we are currently in the process of collecting genetic data on approximately 700 AN individuals and their parents. This homogeneous sample will be used to conduct association analyzes such as those described above and will provide additional power to detect genes of modest to large effects.” But despite some answers not being found regarding to the genetic side of anorexia it is certain that genetics play a big role and that people that have anorexia most likely have a family history of being anorexic and that there is a higher rate for you to become anorexia if one of your family members or relatives are anorexia.

Having anorexia can cause many mental health disorders along with that anorexia can also impact one’s life due to the action that they make as a result of their disorders. People that are anorexic were found suffering with many mental health disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar and bipolar 2 disorder, borderline personality disorder, panic disorder and anxiety, and dissociative disorder and Multiple personality disorder which have many effects because all of those mental disorders are hard to control because you don’t have any control over it and that things happen as a result of the disorder as the days go by. All of the mental disorders that are connecting to anorexia have a big impact in a sense of their actions and what they do on a daily basis, for instance, obsessive-compulsive disorder is a disorder that can cause children and adult to have unwanted and disturbing thoughts, images and obsession that can cause them to have anxiety or discomfort which the led them to try in a sense of reducing it by repeating a behavior, connecting it to anorexia people that are anorexic usually have a image of a very skinny person in mind causing them to have a type of anxiety about their weight and my reducing the anxiety they often starve themself so that they can be skinnier. Furthermore, this is not the only mental disorder that can harm and affect people that have anorexia, another disorder that can happen is that they can have more than one personality known as a dissociative identity disorder which is due to the mood they are feeling that is cause by the amount of food that they are eating on a daily basis along with how they feel due to what happen that day that evolve around food and only food. Along with that when being anorexic it can also led to another disorder called the dissociative disorder which is a disorder that “involve experiencing a disconnection and lack of continuity between thoughts, memories, surrounding, actions and identity. People with dissociative disorders escape reality in ways that are involuntary and unhealthy and cause problems with functioning in everyday life.” 

This disorder can be present if you are anorexic because people that are anorexic usually care about the future and not the past along with that they don’t care about if they were happy or not because they are so focus on losing weight and trying to look a certain way to please people in society which can be very unhealthy and dangerous because it can cause many other health problems and link to harmful side effect. Not only that it can also cause depression as well due to the thought that they have of being fat along with being sad about being fat and wanting to be skinnier but most importantly no matter how skinny they are they are still not satisfied about their weight which cause them to be more devastated as they go by. PTSD can also develop in a person that have anorexia because the events of them not being skinny enough can cause them to have a traumatic experience in a way of battling to be skinny and pretty. People that are anorexic fear to be fat and often battle to be skinny which can hurt the way they think about themself which often can be view as a experience that is traumatic because it give them bad thoughts especially when looking back to the actions that happen in the past in terms of trying to lose the extra weight that they think they have even though they don’t. Not only that it can also link to a bipolar disorder as well which is also known as manic depression that affect one’s mood a lot for instance, it will cause you to bring severe high and low moods and changes in sleep, energy, thinking, and behavior which is connect to anorexia because if you don’t have the amount of energy in your body it will cause your mood to change because our mood and the way we feel is connected to food because it is a fuel that everyone need in one body without food it can cause people to feel tired and be moody because when being tired you don’t want to do anything and when someone told you to do something and you don’t feel like it due to your energy level you will go from happy to angry in just seconds. Furthermore, it can also link to borderline personality disorder which is a disorder that is connected to bipolar disorder, both disorder involves mood and how they feel within themself but borderline personality is a disorder that interpersonal relationship , self-image, and behavior which can cause an disrupts family, and work life along with long-term planning. Which is a common disorder in someone that have anorexia because people that have anorexia often revolve around weight in a sense that they don’t really care about anything in terms of being with family and friends and enjoying life with people like their family and friends because they are so focus on their goal that nothing matter to them at all and that the only thing that actually to them is their weight and if they are able to lose their weight or not. Along with that not being able to lose the amount of weight that is wanted to be lost can lead to a panic disorder which is cause by having an anxiety over weight and how fat they are which can lead to having sudden attacks of fear and panic due to thinking that they are fat along with thinking about being fat and not wanting to be fat the thought of that cause them to have anxiety about it which then can lead them to panic about it. Along with that panic attack happen a lot when being anorexic because they overthink about themself and how people view them in a way that they beginning to panic about it in terms of feeling a type of way when it comes to their body because they often will body shame themself but most importantly they don’t care about their own feeling and thoughts about their own weight and on the other hand they only care about someone else opinion about how they look in term of prettiness and skinniest which can trigger to panic attacks because they will panic about how someone think about them especially when they can’t control anyone opinions about them and they have to assume people opinions about them by looking at their own weight and thinking about how others will see their weight and how they look. Most of the time assumptions that are made by an anorexic person is very different from what people actually think about them which cause they to be very very skinny to the point that they are very unhealthy and the truth is that not everyone like someone that is very very skinny along with that not everyone like someone base on their looks and that everyone don’t have the same set of mine. Furthermore, not only that it can also then led to another disorder called the impulse disorder which is a disorder that is “Impulse control disorders are characterized by a lack of self control that goes beyond just an inability to control harmful impulse” which cause anxiety and depression which led to other disorders like kleptomaniac, pyromania, and interinittet. Kleptomaniac is a disorder that cause people to steal items that they don’t need and have little value along with that pyromania is a disorder that cause people to start fire for no reason at all and lastly Intermittent disorder is a disorder that cause people to be aggressive for no reason at all. But most importantly, all of these disorder is a disorder that is affected by the brain that lead to people doing this uncontrollably in a way along with that their actions also varies because throughout the there day their mood will change which is affected by the amount of food they eat everyday.

Although there is a lot of physical and mental illness and disorders that are connected to anorexia there is also many ways to cure the disorder of anorexia so that not no one have to go through the pain along with having more physical and mental illness on top of anorexia. When trying to cure someone from anorexia you have to keep in mind that there is not medications at all to help with anorexia and that the only way there is to cure anorexia is to ask for supportive help and guidance from doctors and other health professions. Along with that the main goal of curing anorexia is to try to get the person that is anorexic back to a healthy weight but it is not as easy as it sounds because people that are anorexic never admit or want to admit that there is something wrong with them in way that they are alway denying it along with thinking that they are perfectly fine. But most importantly when trying to recover from anorexia the only way to recover it is to return to healthy weight if the person is not return to a healthy weight it means that they didn’t recover from anorexia yet. When trying to cure from anorexia it is important to see a doctor offend because they can guide them along with providing them medical care and supervising their calories so that they can gain the weight they need to gain in order to become healthy. Along with that it is also very important to see a psychologist as well because they can work with you in a sense of helping you developing behavioral strategies that can help you return to a healthy weight in a way that you don’t have to struggle with any other illness and disorder in the time being because it can be painful emotional and physically. Furthermore besides a psychologist someone that is anorexic can also get a dietician to help them with gaining weight along with curing the illness and the disorder of anorexia because just like a psychologist a dietitian can also offer many type of guidance when it comes to trying to getting you back to a normal and healthy weight which start with trying to help you to get back to a regular eating pattern. When trying to get you back to a regular eating pattern a dietitian will also try to help by providing and giving a lot of specific meal plans as long as calorie requirements that can help you meet you weight goals when it comes to coming back to a normal and healthy weight. And on top of that there are also many types of therapy that can help you when it comes to supporting you in gaining weight and becoming more healthy in a sense that you will stop being anorexic. For instance, individual therapy which is a type of therapy that will help with enhancing cognitive behavior. When trying to enhancing cognitive behavior their main goal is to help people along with supporting them and when it comes to helping a patient with a eating disorder the goal is to support then on gaining weight as well as trying to normalize the eating patterns along with trying to stop their thoughts on losing weight and thinking that they are fat. Another therapy that can help people that are anorexic is a family based therapy which can help teenagers that have a eating disorder because they will try their best to help teenagers as they know that teenagers that are anorexic or have a eating disorder are not able yo make good choices when it comes to eating and health because they are so focus on others people opinions about them. But although there are many supports out there like family based therapy the hardest part of the whole process of helping someone that is anorexic is to make them realize that they need treatment and that they shouldn't be fear of weight along with making them see that anorexia is a illness and that it is not a lifestyle choice. People that are anorexic can also get help and support from their friends and family as well and that it doesn’t only have to the doctors and other health professions. Even though friends and family don’t really know a lot about anorexia and have very little tools and information to cure it they still can do many things in terms of helping the out. One thing they can do is to offer on going support no matter what which can include many things like listening, reassuring, comforting and assistance when it comes to getting help. Along with that you can also give the person hope for recovery by trying to reassure them that people with eating disorders can get better no matter what and it is the matter of trying. Lastly, if the person has not responded to treatment for eating disorders you can support and help them by reassuring that it doesn’t mean that they will not succeed in the future and that they can get better slowly and it is just the matter of time. Furthermore, along with that you can also encourage them to get help from a professional along with supporting them in a way throughout the treatment by telling them that they will do good and that they will get better throughout the treatment and that they will come out better than ever. But most importantly when trying to help and support a friend that is anorexic you should avoid fat talking because it won’t help at all and most of all it will hurt them more than before because now they will think about weight more than they used to. Along with that going back to treatment there are many levels of care when it comes to treatment for anorexia. There are many treatments and programs for anorexia such as inpatient treatment, residential treatment, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, extended day treatment and transitional living and on top of that all of the treatment are helpful in many ways as it is going to do different stuff to you along with that each treatment also help support you differently no matter what it is and how hard it is. An intensive treatment is a treatment that will provide a patient with a 24 hour care at a live-in facility where they will check in with patient and make sure that they are okay no matter what along with healthy as time past by, along with that an residential treatment is a treatment that specialize in only one illness and it can be anything for example it can be eating disorders or substance abuse but most importantly this treatment focus on the illness in terms of trying to get the illness better by doing anything as possible such as researching about it along with finding the best tools for it when it comes to treating it and making the illness less severe. As well as that there is an another treatment that can also help when it comes to curing anorexia and helping people with anorexia which is called a partial hospital programs which is a program that organize a lot of intensive ambulatory treatment severe in less than 24 hours which is good because not everyone want to stay in a hospital for more than 24 hours or 24 hours because sometime it can get miserable at times especially when there is barely anything to do in the hospital other than waiting for a doctor or a nurse to check on you. Along with that intensive outpatient treatment is also a treatment that can help people with anorexia when it comes to treating it, this treatment is a treatment program which can help people recover from their illness by supporting them along with trying to give them therapies and more so that they can be able to realize what they need to do along with getting guidance to getting and becoming in shape along with being in healthier than before. Besides treatments there is also many programs that also help people that have anorexia for instance, there is a program called the program description which is a program that offers many treatments from structured to intensive and along with that it is also a service that provided a year long help that have many health professions that will help you out such as a psychiatrists, master’s level clinicians, and paraprofessional direct care staff these health professions will try their best in trying to help you become non anorexic along with becoming healthier as they know a lot about the illness of anorexia. Lastly there is also another program that will also help people with anorexia just as much and the program is called the transitional living program which is a program that will let people that are anorexic and homeless to have a safe place to live as long as guidance and tips on what to do in terms of getting back to their feet and being able to be stabilizes no matter what, but most importantly with all the guidance they are able to receive it is possible that they can get better from their illness as people are trying to watch over them in terms on their actions and if they are eating or not.

Overall, anorexia is a very dangerous illness that can cause many people to die each year but lucky even though it is common it is also very possible to cure it along with preventing it in a sense that less and less people will have anorexia. Society has a big impact when it comes to people having anorexia and if society is able to have a big impact on people in being skinny and anorexic society should have the strength and power to stop people from being anorexic along with believing that being skinny is the only thing that define beauty. In society we can do so much to prevent this illness and one of them is to express and tell people that no matter what body type they have and how they look they are pretty the way they are.