Anorexia Nervosa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Anorexia Nervosa - Essay Example The patient thinks that he/she should not eat because if he/she does, he/she would gain weight and ruin his/her looks consequentially. Methods commonly employed to lose weight include but are not limited to excessive exercise, dieting, and medication. Anorexia Nervosa means "nervous loss of appetite". This definition is not particularly good since it is based on misunderstandings. The people who suffer from Anorexia Nervosa do not at all have lack of appetite, they are only scared of putting on weight. Anorexia nervosa was first explained in 1684, though it was not determined with its own diagnosis until 1870 (Gehlin, 2008). Birth of this new health disorder generated was associated with the changes that took place in society over the centuries. Young women began to idealize extremely slim and smart women. Slimness became the measure of beauty, and to be called beautiful, a woman had to be necessarily thin. Much of the history of anorexia nervosa is shaped by the looks conscious cult ure. That is the reason why anorexia nervosa is more common today than it has ever been in the past. Another evidence for the role of culture in the spread of anorexia nervosa is that a vast majority of the victims of this disease are models from the fashion industry, which sets the trends for people to follow in general. In the contemporary age, to be thin is to be fashionable. Media advocates slimness. Various slimming techniques are employed to achieve the ideal figure, the unsuitable ones of which lead to such eating disorders as anorexia nervosa. In addition to the belief that slimness is something to take pride in, the immense reliance upon the technology in the modern age reduces the body’s need to consume food as no energy is wasted in doing things manually. Media is ingrained in the life of an individual living in the modern era. Media’s emphasis on exercise and fitness naturally inculcates an urge to become smart, and the eating habits accordingly developed i ncrease the individual’s susceptibility to acquiring anorexia nervosa. Media’s influence upon society has made anorexia nervosa an important community issue. Treating the patient of anorexia nervosa requires the community health nurse to exhibit a unique and enhanced level of health care. The community health nurse needs to be more of a counselor than a regular health care provider. In order to start the treatment, the patient needs to be made aware of the fact that he/she is ill, both physically and mentally as the patients usually deny having any disorder at all. Most patients do not opt for the treatment unless the case becomes extremely obvious and dangerously severe. Healthypeople.gov is an organization that sets up healthy objectives for our nation. Some of the objectives identified by Healthypeople.gov (n.d.) for 2020 are 1. Increasing the adolescent population that takes part in the out-of-school and extracurricular activities. 2.