Deep And Painful Recession – Stress & Anxiety According to the economic poll, nearly half of all unemployed adults report suffering from depression, stress and anxiety. In truth, financial trouble is often the single most compelling cause of escalating stress and anxiety, which happens to be one of the major causes in developing eating disorders such as anorexia.
Losing a job can often touch every aspect of your social and personal life. The lack of affordable housing has resulted in a pervasive sense of uncertainty and disconnection among middle and lower-middle class families in America. A dangerous polarity seems to be developing in our economic and social life, between those that have financial stability and those that do not.
Understanding Anorexic Nervosa Anorexia nervosa describes an eating disorder that limits the amount of food a person eats. It usually results in starvation and an inability to maintain a minimum body weight. For the anorexic, the perception of being overweight is simply too disturbing to accept. For the anorexic, it is the perception of being overweight that really matters – and this is taken to the extreme.
Anorexia is a constant cycle of binging and purging. For the anorexic however, binging and purging is always a misguided attempt to cope with the misery and frustration brought on by stress and anxiety.
Anorexic Tendencies & Features Most psychologists and experts agree that certain features of the anorexic disorder can be present when the person becomes obsessed with their body weight and strict dieting becomes a way of life. Other features of this eating disorder include the fear of not being able to stop eating. Complicating the disorder even more, associated with anorexia are the intense feelings of guilt and even shame for having eaten.
Some anorexics feel forced to dash for the restroom to vomit before their body can absorb the food. Others resort to taking dangerous laxatives in the hope of speeding up the digestive and voiding process.
People with eating disorders work very hard in covering-up their bingeing and purging cycles. Anorexics often feel weak and ashamed for being out of control.
Dangers Of Chronic Anorexia The most life-threatening conditions caused by purging is rapid dehydration. Dehydration reduces the bodies badly needed potassium levels which can result in a number of declining bodily functions, including renal failure, but beginning with the presence of lethargy and disorientation, leading to confused thinking, arrhythmia, shock and even death.
Hereditary Factors In recent studies, researchers have identified what they call shared genetic susceptibilities to major types of anxiety conditions including resulting eating disorders such as anorexia. The high incidence of eating disorders in families, for example, has led doctors to think that there might be a genetic factor associated with anorexia. There is also a high probability that there exists a genetic predisposition to obesity and binge-eating disorder.
Treatment For Anorexia – Residential & Outpatient Programs The most important type of treatment you can receive starts with having a strong support system behind you as you begin the treatment and recovery process. Your support system is often your family and closest friends.
The next step is to find a knowledgeable and experienced treatment team; usually these are special health providers working within the drug and alcohol rehabilitation setting
Most recovery centers include different types of rehabilitative options. They usually include a choice or combination of inpatient program, residential program, partial hospitalization program and outpatient program.
Research suggests that fewer patients fully recovered from anorexia than from bulimia nervosa or a combination of anorexia and bulimia.
Medications For Anorexia While there is no single therapy or medication to treating anorexic behavior, the most successful form of treatment has been medication, specifically the new generation of antidepressants that work parallel with the treatment of anxiety disorders.
The therapeutic use of antidepressants has demonstrated success in the treatment of anorexia. When combined with behavioral therapy, antidepressant medications can help reduce the stress and anxiety associated with anorexia.
Finally, remember that having a support system to help you through your recovery to health is of paramount importance to your chances of success.
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