Anorexia

Anorexia Is Not Just a Fancy Word for “Slim”

“Look at how thin she is! She’s so anorexic!”

If we haven’t outright made this statement, we’ve all thought it about someone we’ve thought was overly thin. Haven’t you ever seen a celebrity that looks unusually thin, or at least a lot thinner than they were since their last public appearance? How about an athlete who looks like they haven’t eaten in a week? Maybe it’s a friend or family member that looks like they’re wasting away?

Whether it was a celebrity, an athlete, a friend or a family member. While the word “anorexic” is pretty much a household word used to describe someone who looks really, really skinny...a lot of people don’t truly know what anorexia is.

Anorexia is commonly defined not by a by a normal desire to be a healthy weight, but by a relentless obsession to be thin. “Obsession” is another household word that isn’t usually understood entirely. Let’s look at that word: obsession. The dictionary defines “obsession” to means “the domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, or desire; a fixation; a compulsion; a preoccupation.” An obsession is also synonymous with “consumption with belief, desire.”

Anorexia can have really innocent beginnings. It could easily start with someone who’s gained a little extra weight over the past few months, and just wants to lose the extra weight gained. Or it can be a sort of opposite situation, a person may have lost weight on a diet and is suddenly the recipient of more compliments, attention, and positive feedback from people about how great they’re looking. It could be as simple as someone getting a fleeting, negative comment about weight gain. It can be a dominant need to control one’s weight 24 hours a day. Often it can be a combination of situations like these. Whatever the case, if that relentless obsession to be thin is “activated,” it can be merciless, and if not addressed and treated, fatal.

Anorexics are literally TERRIFIED of gaining any extra pounds. They are constantly worried about the fat and calorie content in all food and beverages. They will exercise to an extreme to prevent weight gain and to increase weight loss. Anorexics go to dangerous and extreme measures to prevent weight gain such as taking more than the prescribed amount (abuse) of diet pills to control appetite, restricting food/starving themselves, and drinking diet only diet shakes. This can lead to more dangerous behaviors such bingeing (a brief bout of excessive eating or drinking), followed by self-induced vomiting and taking laxatives. All of these behaviors are often accompanied by depression.

Anorexics engage in these dangerous behaviors to improve themselves physically; however, they are actually doing the exact opposite: they are wreaking havoc on their bodies. Thin hair, anemia, kidney problems, and dry skin are just a few of the side effects caused by anorexic behavior.

Social pressure to look a certain way—such as waif-like, extremely thin models in magazines, glorification of unusually thin people in television and –can often be the reason people become anorexic. Unfortunately, statistics show that if left untreated, only 50% of people with anorexia fully recover. Also, residual symptoms occur in 30% of anorexics. 20% of anorexics become chronic, which can result in death or even suicide.