A 13 year-old girl stands in front of the
bathroom mirror, turning sideways to look at a profile view of what she sees as
fat. Everyone else around her saw a fit, athletic girl who was a healthy
weight, but she saw it differently. She put herself on a 40-day water fast to
lose weight, but refuses to tell anyone that she's lost almost 15 pounds. She's
5'4" and only weighs 80 pounds, which is dangerously underweight for her
height and age. She refuses to admit that she has a perilous, unsafe eating
disorder -- anorexia.
Anorexia is a adolescent disease that
typically occurs in 13-24 year olds (South Carolina Department of
Mental Health) .
Although it normally occurs in girls with obsessive or narcissistic
personalities, it can happen to anyone with low self-esteem (University of
Maryland Medical Center) . People with anorexia have a fear of
gaining weight, even if they are already underweight, and refuse to remain at a
height or weight that is considered normal for their height and age (Medline Plus) . Anorexics also have
a very distorted body image and refuse to confess or reveal their weight loss (Medline Plus) . Most anorexics will
also deny they have an eating disorder, and instead consider themselves to be precautious
and dedicated to their health and weight (Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia) .
Just as anorexia affects your mental state,
it also affects your health and overall wellbeing. People with anorexia may get
dry, blotchy, or yellow skin that is covered with fine hair (Medline Plus) . They will
experience confused or slow thinking with poor judgment skills and possibly dry
mouth, depression, sensitivity to cold, loss of bone strength, or lack of
muscle or body fat (Medline Plus) . Anorexia may also
slow or stop growth and body development (Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia) . Lastly, anorexia
causes low potassium, leading to heart problems, increased risks of infections
from lack of white blood cells, severe dehydration and malnutrition, seizures
from loss of fluid or sodium, thyroid problems, and tooth decay (Wikipedia:
The free encyclopedia) .
People all over America experience these
symptoms and more; over 8 million Americans have an eating disorder (Mirasol
Eating Disorder Recovery Centers) . The severity of
this disease is unknown to many, but
5-10%
of anorexics die within 10 years of acquiring the disease, 18-20% die within 20
years, and only 30-40% ever fully recover (South Carolina Department of
Mental Health) .
Half of all anorexic deaths are from suicide, which is attempted by 20% of
anorexics (University of Maryland Medical
Center) .
Thoughts of weight and body image begin far before most people acquire
anorexia; 50% of 11-13 year olds see themselves as overweight, and 80% of 13
year olds have attempted to lose weight sometime in their life (South
Carolina Department of Mental Health) . Anorexia clearly
affects people of all ages and weights.
This disease debilitates your body and your
brain, yet society causes more and more young people to be affected by it. With
modern technology, magazine pictures, billboards, and most social media is able
to be edited and photo shopped. Models are airbrushed and made to look skinnier
in most pictures, but young girls wouldn’t know that, so they make it their
ultimate goal to look just like that person. Everywhere around them, there is
images of what they wish to look like; store mannequins, reality shows, and
even Barbie dolls torture them every day. Studies show that the number of
people with an eating disorder has majorly increased in the last fifty years
simply because of the increased amount of social media and beauty suggestions (Katzman and
Morris) .
This young girl, like many of her age, has
been influenced by society to become seriously anorexic. She suffers from heart
disease and serious depression. Each and every morning she wakes up, not
wanting to get out of bed, not wanting to talk to anyone, and not wanting to
eat, despite being starving. Hidden behind her closet door, she has a collage
of posters out of magazines, of all the people she wants to look like. Models
and celebrities whose pictures have been severely edited, causing young girls
like this one to starve themselves -- sometimes to death. So tell me society,
is it really worth it?
Bibliography
Katzman, Debra K and Anne M Morris. The impact of
the media on eating disorders in children and adolescents. May-June 2003.
28 2 2013.
Medline Plus. Anorexia nervosa: MedlinePlus
Medical Encyclopedia. 13 2 2012. 11 2 2013.
Mirasol Eating Disorder Recovery Centers. The
Learning Center: Eating Disorder Statistics. n.d. 11 2 2013.
South Carolina Department of Mental Health. Eating
Disorder Statistics. 1 1 2006. 13 2 2013.
University of Maryland Medical Center. Patient
Education: Eating disorders - Complications of Anorexia. 22 1 2009. 21 2
2013.
Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia. Anorexia
nervosa - Wikipedia. 1 2 2013. 11 2 2013.
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