An Unknown Deadly Disease
In 2006, there was a girl named Ellie. To all of her friends and family, she was excelling in every aspect in her life. She was getting good grades, recently moved up a level in gymnasts (now being with all the older members of the team) and socializing with new people. Little did they know, she was developing an illness that she would be battling for the rest of her life. In her eyes, she felt that she wasn't fitting in, so she started cutting down on her food intake to get skinnier. She felt if she were thinner, everyone would accept her. Soon, Ellie started to purge all of the food she ate, even if it was only ten gold fish. The rush she got after vomiting, started to get addicting. She felt self confident, in control of her life and happy. It wasn't until two years later, when her mom confronted her about her behaviors, that Ellie found out she developed an eating disorder. It is hard to admit, but that girl is me. In the beginning of high school, I acknowledge that I had my problem and reached out for help. I went inpatient at Sheppard Pratt and there I learned that I damaged my thyroid and heart noticeably and had several related diagnosis. Once I knew that there were underlying issued of PTSD and depression, I was able to work on the real issues driving my behaviors and stop expressing my emotions, fears, and feelings through food. Throughout my whole experience, I found that many cases go unreported and people who have the illness often do not seek treatment. Many times it is because they do not consider it an eating disorder, like trying the latest “fad” diet to shed a few pounds, or that their behavior are part of normal human nature, but in reality this illness often leads to permanent health problems, or worse, premature death. Since this disease is focused on a human activity that is necessary to live, society needs to start taking eating disorders seriously to help lower the number of cases around the world. To achieve this goal, people need to be educated about eating disorders, understand the media’s influence and comprehend the different parts of the treatment plan.
To decrease the number of cases of eating disorders, understanding the illness is the first step. The National Institute of Mental Health concludes that, “an eating disorder is an illness that causes serious disturbance of your everyday diet (nimh.gov).” The most common types of eating disorders are Anorexia, Bulimia and Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specifies (EDNOS). Anorexia is when a person has a fear of gaining weight or have a distorted body image. The consequences of these thoughts are that a person decreases their food intake dramatically by dieting, fasting and excessive exercise. The effects on the body due to anorexia comprise of brittle bones, anemia, hair loss, swollen joints, drop of blood pressure, loss of period, multi-organ failure, brain damage, infertility and consistent light-headedness. Bulimia is characterized by an individual who binge eats and then participates in a behavior that counteracts their food intake. The usual behaviors are vomiting right after food consumption, exercise excessively or abuses diet pills. The effects on the body for bulimia consist of damage to the kidneys and stomach, permanently expand salivary gland, loss of a women’s period, consistent stomach pain, teeth decay, dehydration and heart problems. EDNOS is the combination of both the two disorders, meaning it is a combination of purging and restriction. Unfortunately, death is also a consequence of eating disorders. “Someone with anorexia has a 5.8 greater risk of dying, compared to healthy individuals with no eating disorders (medicalnewstoday.com)” and those who are diagnosed with bulimia have an 11.6 greater risk. If people know this information, they have the knowledge to identify behaviors or thoughts that are not healthy and change them before it develops into a full-blown eating disorder. If a healthy person sees these behaviors in a friend, they can intervene and get them help. This can help lower the cases of untreated eating disorders in communities.
The media play an important role in promotion underweight unhealthy body imagines for both genders. Women, men and children desire to achieve the bodies that the stars have, but in reality, many celebrities themselves have eating disorders. But this thought of thin women being sexy has evolved throughout the years. “A generation ago, the average model weighed 8 percent more than the average American women (Hunger).” Along with models weighing less than average, technology has also played a part in this “social disorders” as well. In a YouTube video by Dove, they show how magazines can manipulate photos of models, to achieve a flawless body and look. In a response to that video, Vogue stated in an article that they are now only promoting pictures of healthier looking models. This is proof that individuals try to obtain a body that is unrealistic and go to great lengths to get as close as possible to what media calls “perfection.” Along those adults who read these types of magazines, children do too. “Research shows that 42% of first- to third-grade girls want to be thinner, and 81% of 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat (KidsHealth.org)”. The most difficult fact about children with eating disorders is that they can successfully hide and eating disorder for years. By the time they start getting treatment, they could have already damaged an organ and taken years off their life before they turned sixteen years old. The reality is that media affects everyone who sees it, even if it is just a glance. If society allows the media to publish unhealthy role models to all ages, eating disorders will increase substantially. That is why society needs to change the media’s ideas of an “attractive person” to have a more positive influence on citizens around the world.
Finally to help lower the amount of eating disorder cases one needs to understand the treatment. The first step is to stop the unhealthy eating habits. Many doctors suggest seeing a nutritionists to create a new meal plans and create a list of different activities to distract one self from wanting to act on unhealthy symptoms. Once eating patterns become healthy individuals start cognitive behavior therapy. This is the most important part of recovery because eating disorders are considered a mental disease. Cognitive therapy is based on that a person’s thoughts cause their feelings and behaviors. By changing an individual’s thoughts form “they need to be thin to be accepted” to a more rational thought of “its not the way I look, its my personality,” allows acceptance of one’s self. Other types of therapy are interpersonal psychotherapy and family. Both helps to create healthier relationships with people, resolve problems with others and how to share one’s feelings with other individuals. By knowing the treatment plan, one can grasp and understand that it is not the “fear” of gaining weight that causes eating disorders; it is the behaviors that are expressed with dealing with emotions.
The combination of education of eating disorders, understanding the media and comprehending the treatment plan are essential to changing societies lack of acknowledgement to this disease and decreasing cases around the world. The education will confirm to people that it is a dangerous illness that people die from and that it is very common around the world. By understanding the influence of the media and that “eating disorders developed partially, or even primarily, in response to their immediate environment (oth),” it is crucial to promote healthy living. Finally, by understanding that it is a mental disorder, people will not think forcing people to eat will cure the disease. If something doesn't change in society now, eating disorders could be the next epidemic around the world, affecting you and your loved ones.