Anorexia is loss of hunger. This term is also referred to attempting to refuse eating due to sharp appetite suppression; humans lose the ability to be aware of the feeling of hunger. At the level of the human psyche, a person experiences a consistent desire to lose weight.
Anorexia Symptoms
As a symptom, anorexia is considered very common: it happens not only as mental illness, but in case of some somatic lesions.
Who’s in the Risk Group?
In their desire to meet the imposed fashion for models, many young girls suffer from anorexia and weight reduction. Reducing weight turns into pathology. Those who suffer from anorexia achieve weight loss as they keep to the most severe diets, do intense physical exercise and tend to vomit after meals. It is not easy to get rid of this disease. Untreated cases of anorexia lead to death. So it is important to start the treatment as early as possible.
Anorexia Signs
At an early stage, it is possible to notice the following signs:
- fear and panic when thinking about weight gain;
- feeling guilty about eating;
- rapid weight loss for no apparent reason;
- attempts to break up the food into small pieces;
- constant feeling of fullness;
- depression because of being stout;
- menstrual irregularities.
It should be understood that anorexia is a mental illness, and each anorectic person has a distorted perception of his/her body. Even in case of an abnormally low weight, anorectic people perceive themselves as plump.
What Causes Anorexia?
As a rule, the emergence of anorexia can be influenced by all three of the following factors:
- biological – biological and genetic predisposition to the disorder;
- psychological – when the influence of the family is felt and there are internal conflicts;
- social – when the surrounding people influence the person and lead to certain expectations and imitation.
Anorexia Treatment
In addition to seeing the doctor and taking prescribed medications, patients with anorexia cannot do without psychotherapeutic support. Communication with the psychoanalyst will reveal the origins of this mental illness; it will help find the way to cope with anxiety and depression, which are usually accompanied by anorexia.
In case of anorexia, psychological support in the form of family and individual therapy is an important condition. It is important to also take into account that anorexia nervosa is difficult to treat, unlike panic attacks or depression.
