English
May 9, 2012
Anorexia in Teenage Girls
Poor self-image. Low self-esteem. Yearning for a better body. Losing control. These are things that most anorexics have in common. I know, because I’ve seen it in so many teenage girls. Anorexia is an eating disorder where people, especially the teen group (adolescent girls) starve themselves - the main reason is to lose weight and turn lean. Anorexia usually begins in young people around the onset of puberty. Weight loss is obtained in many ways - some harmful also. The common techniques used are excessive exercise, intake of laxatives/ diet pills, vomiting after a meal and starving oneself to limitless extent. People with anorexia continue to think they are overweight, and will resort to dieting even after they become extremely thin. Many experts believe that the cause of anorexia is because of peer-pressure among adolescents, and I believe it. High school is a place where everyone fights for a good image, hence all the drama there. Girls are always trying to look better than each other and doing the impossible to gain popularity. But it’s not entirely their fault wanting to look so skinny and “fake”. Society nowadays shoves the photo-shopped pictures of beautiful toothpick-like models into young girls’ faces telling them that this is what they should look like. The world tells us girls that we have to have “the perfect body” and wear the tightest clothing to look beautiful. Whatever happened to being “beautiful just the way you are”? I overheard these girls bragging to one another a few days ago about losing 10 pounds when they were already underweight. And still they complained about being fat! There are already many people dealing with real weight problems, and here are a couple perfectly thin girls saying that they’re obese. These anorexic teens need help; some just want the attention from their family or friends. Others just need to be told that they’re beautiful no matter what. And that’s the problem! Trust me, I know. I’ve battled eating disorders and the peer-pressure that comes along with it. It’s hard when no one cares, or when people insult you on the way you look. My brother would call me hurtful things that I don’t even want to say because it’s too embarrassing. Thank God I’m healthy and won that battle with anorexia. But other girls are much weaker and very delicate with these things. Every girl is beautiful in her own way, and I believe the world should do something about it. The world needs to stop making girls feel like they’re pigs, because they are not.
I’ve heard countless stories about anorexic teens being rushed to the emergency room because of the lack of nutrients they had. It’s scary because some of them actually die. It’s sad to see a girl eat a cookie in 45 minutes. Girls are doing this to themselves. Why? Because they’ve been called fat, because they want attention, because they want to look like what society thinks is beautiful. We need to put a stop to this now, before they starve themselves to the point of death. Every girl needs to know that they are beautiful just the way they are.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Self-acceptance and self-esteem is one of the biggest issues for young women who believe that they are not beautiful. A high percentage of girls who do not think they are thin enough go to the extreme of anorexia, bulimia or even diet pills at a young age. A mental condition that they will live with for the rest of their lives, the life expectancy for those with this mental illness is very short because of the lack of nutrients. Women that are models will even reluctantly eat, a model at size 4, is considered fat while the average of America is size 14, in the 50’s the average size was 11.…
- 423 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
Paul Hokemeyer, a family therapist, once said “‘too often adolescents define themselves in relation to unhealthy role models and body types. For girls we know these body types are based on emaciated models’” (Parks 44). This statement is absolutely true. “1% of teenage girls suffer from anorexia, and 5% suffer from bulimia” (Parks 32). While that might not seem like an abundance of girls, if those percentages are plugged into how many teenage girls are in America, it is obvious that many young women endure these disorders. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 10, 736, 677 females 15-19 years old (Howden 4). That means that 107, 366 adolescent girls suffer from anorexia and that 536, 833 deteriorate from bulimia in America alone. There are many ideas behind the causes of eating disorders. These include the environment, genetics, the fashion industry, and many more. However, contrary to the belief that psychological illnesses such as bulimia and anorexia are hereditary, they are instead products of society’s strict definition of what’s beautiful, and this definition influences teenage girls into seeing themselves as imperfect, which in turn causes them to harm themselves by developing those eating disorder.…
- 2023 Words
- 9 Pages
Better Essays -
Adolescence is the most crucial stage of development in which one is mostly influenced by what is seen in society, culture, and fashion. These influences can lead to eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa. Anorexia Nervosa is a psychological disorder characterized by a fear of weight gain, body image issues and maintenance of low body weight (American Psychiatric Association,1994). On average, teenage girls under the ages of twelve to seventeen years old suffer from anorexia. Anorexia is exhibited within those inflicted in several way, such as physical and health outcomes, unstable mindsets, irrational behaviors, and social influences.…
- 531 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Women are consistently the punchline of many jokes, regardless of their size. One day, a woman decides that she can no longer tolerate the hurtful comments about her being overweight. So she decides to stop eating, only to be slammed with similarly hurtful comments such as, “she needs to go eat a cheeseburger”, “she looks like a pre-pubescent twelve year old boy”. These phrases are apart of a global epidemic showing how unfairly we stigmatize Anorexia Nervosa. We think it is a good idea make these manipulative comments to someone with anorexia to show that we care, but in the end it only feeds their hunger to continue. The majority of the problem is that we are just simply misinformed and we tend to conform to the popular ideals about anorexia before even educating ourselves.…
- 697 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
More females are diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa when compared to males however, this disorder does not discriminate. An individual that is diagnosed with this disorder view themselves as overweight even when they are underweight and continue to engage in unhealthy weight loss tactics. The video “Dying to be Thin” depicts a story with a young girl that is struggling with her weight and feels as though she is not thin enough. This girl begins to engage in actions like binging and purge eating in order to lose weight and continues to believe she is overweight. The girl in the video thrives to be thin and yearns for the control in her life of having an eating disorder. The article Anorexia nervosa: Friend or foe? By Serpell, L., Treasure, J., Teasdale, J., & Sullivan, V., the researchers asked people with an eating disorder to write a letter to their eating disorder being their friend and their enemy. Results demonstrated there were common themes that were being covered up through these individuals disorders. So often, there are underlying issues that impact the eating disorders and it is important to seek out…
- 486 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
As I said before, anorexia is a triggered mental illness.This eating disorder has various contributing factors. One of the factors is being unhappy with your body. If you're dissatisfied with your body, then you will most likely attempt to change it. Aspiring to change your body leads us to the next factor which is dieting, failing, and then dieting again. It’s a cycle that goes on and on, for a very long period of time. Other factors that can trigger anorexia include reading a teen fashion magazine, being chubby as a child, and the desire to look like a model. As you can see anorexia isn’t triggered by only one single factor, it’s triggered by multiple ones. Recently a scientific study was made and came to the conclusion that 1 in 200 women in America struggle with anorexia. The study also found out that 10-15% of people that struggle with anorexia are males. As you can…
- 679 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In fact, anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by an abnormally low body weight, intense weight gain and a distorted perception of body weight fear. People with anorexia place a high value on controlling their weight and shape, through extreme efforts that tend to interfere significantly with the activities in their lives. They will do almost anything (if possible) to prevent weight gain, including hunger. People with anorexia have a distorted body image. They think they are fat even if they are extremely thin. As we know, anorexia nervosa is an emotional disorder which focuses on food, but many researchers believe it is an attempt to deal with perfectionism and the desire to gain control strictly regulating food and weight.…
- 139 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
Anorexia Nervosa is a type of eating disorder. This type of eating disorder is when people have a increased fear of gaining weight. People who have this order will significantly drop their food intake. They will only allow themselves to eat very limited amount of food. Anorexia affects both the body and the mind. It may start as dieting, but it gets out of control. You think about food, dieting, and weight all the time. You have a distorted body image. A major myth that people have about Anorexia is that it is the only life threatening eating disorder. Many people are only familiar with Anorexia, but there are many more. According to The Center for Eating Disorders, Eating…
- 1323 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
Anorexia and other eating disorders are long-term illnesses that are caused by an obsession of a certain body type, a certain image, and/or dieting. It usually leads to mental illness, like depression. This is a huge problem for teenage girls in the U.S.…
- 617 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Eating disorders can be treated psychological and medicinal treatments. Treatment plans often are tailored to the patient 's individual needs that may include medical care and monitoring. Treatment can be in the form of medications; nutritional counseling; and individual, group and/or family psychotherapy. Sometimes victim need to be hospitalized to treat malnutrition or to gain weight, or for other reasons. Anorexia usually takes its toll on girls who are the "perfect ones." Everything in their lives seems to be in order, on schedule, and, literally, perfect. Their desperate need for something to uphold and be proud of and claim as their own is manifest in their ability to control their food intake. Controlling every calorie…
- 893 Words
- 3 Pages
Better Essays -
to the publication of the DSM-V an ongoing debate has emerged as to the true origins of anorexia nervosa, either as a…
- 5771 Words
- 24 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Anorexia Nervosa, a type of eating disorder common among young ladies as stated in The New York Times Health Guide. According to Ohio State University Wexner Medical Centre, more than 90 percent people in the United State diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa were female. It can be categorized as refusal to maintain a minimal body weight, fear in weight gain, body image distortion and loss of menses as mentioned in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (Hagman, et al., 2011). Those diagnosed with anorexia nervosa usually avoid eating. Their perception on body shape and weight differs from others. They may be underweight to society;…
- 2974 Words
- 12 Pages
Best Essays -
Anorexia nervosa, the starving disease, has gained national attention in the last ten years due to its increasing victims each year. Many people keep their disease to themselves until it’s too serious to treat which may lead to death. Lots of people suffer from eating disorders and of that, 90 percent are believed to be women. Recent researchers suggest that anorexia can be caused by a mix of biological, psychological and social behaviors such as metabolism and coping skills. However, several envious teens become anorexic because they want to be as skinny as the celebrities they look up to. Treatment of anorexia is costly due to the fact that both mental and physical problems are involved. Males are often…
- 1438 Words
- 6 Pages
Better Essays -
Anorexia Nervosa is a disease that should not be handled lightly. While in our nation, it is not as publicized as other diseases such as cancer or heart disease, it does take lives everyday due to people having a distorted self-image. Many people in the medicinal field have come to various conclusions about the cause of anorexia and it's effects on a person physiologically and psychologically. Some argue that it is strictly a socio-cultural influence that causes the onset of the disease, while others debate a biological influence. While I do not discredit any of this information, I strongly believe that it is a combination of many things that cause a person, particularly teenage girls…
- 2541 Words
- 11 Pages
Better Essays -
I. Attention-getter: Is only human to wish you look different hoping you can fix something about yourself. But when the preoccupation of being thin takes over your eating habits, thoughts and life then you should start to think that the is a sign of an eating disorder. When you have Anorexia the desire to lose weight is higher and more important than anything else. You may even lose sight of what you really look like, in front of the mirror your self-image is distorted and all you can see is a fat person it doesn’t matter what other’s see. Anorexia is a serious eating disorder that can damage your health and even threaten your life. In my research I came across the diary of an Anorexics girl and this is how she begins her story; a poor self-image, a low self-esteem, a yearning for a better body, a loss of control. These are things that most anorexics have in common. I know, because all these things once described me. The following excerpts from my journal cover all phases of the disorder: how I felt, prey to it, my conflicted feelings during recovery, and the revelation of how even now—more than a decade later—my experience with anorexia has forever changed me.…
- 3046 Words
- 13 Pages
Powerful Essays