Relationship Between Environmental Factors and Anorexia...

Relationship Between Environmental Factors and Anorexia Nervosa in Adolescent Girls Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a visible, psychological illness that is detrimental to both the physical and mental well-being of an individual (Bulik et al., 2005). It is an eating disorder that is characterized by not only an unwillingness to gain weight, but a fear of gaining weight. Individuals suffering from anorexia are often perfectionists, who are neurotic, obsessive, and retain a low sense of self-esteem (Kaye et al., 2008; Bulik et al., 2005). These individuals tend to prioritize their physical image over their health, and as a result, AN has retained the highest mortality rate over any other psychiatric illness, occurring at a prevalence of 5% per†¦show more content†¦Using a quantitative method, Karpowicz, Skarsater and Nevonen (2009) examined the changes in self-esteem of patients treated with anorexia nervosa, before and after treatment. 38 young female patients, ages 16 to 25, being treated for anorexia at Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital, were included in t his study. All participants of this study had previously been diagnosed with AN according to the DSM-IV. Assessment of self-esteem was conducted before treatment and after treatment using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE-S), which is comprised of ten questions about the patient’s self-image: five negative and five positive. The EDI-2 was also used to evaluate self-esteem of the female patients, with the bulimia subscale disregarded. The outcomes of the two questionnaires showed significant improvement in a patient’s self-esteem between the pre-treatment assessment and the post-treatment assessment (Karpowicz et al., 2009). The results concluded that an individual suffering from anorexia had very high body dissatisfaction and weight phobia before treatment- a result of low self-esteem- but after three months of intense treatment, both body dissatisfaction and weight phobia diminished, and self-esteem increased, resulting in a positive correlation between overcoming anorexia and self-esteem (Karpowicz et al., 2009). This allowed Karpowicz et al. (2009) toShow MoreRelatedThe Role Of Nature And Nurture : Adolescence Eating Disorders1735 Words   |  7 Pagesfind that a number of biological , psychological and sociocultural factors might trigger eating disorders. For the biological (genetic) –Natural factors that contribute to the ED include being a female, certain age ,certain genes and family history . 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