The document discusses eating disorders, particularly anorexia nervosa and bulimia. It notes that these disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness and disproportionately affect girls and young women. Common risk factors include striving for perfection, experiencing bullying about weight and appearance, depression, and coming from a dysfunctional family. The disorders can have serious health impacts if left untreated. The author chose this topic because of personal experiences with friends and others struggling with body image issues and eating disorders.

1. AU_PSY492_M1_A2_Thompson_D.doc<br /> Ana Carolina Reston, Maiara Galvao Vieira, Hila Elmalich, Eliana and Luisel Ramos. Who are these women? These women were Brazilian fashion models who died in 2006 from anorexia and bulimia. There are rules now in which models need to be a healthier weight, such as having a Body Mass Index over 18 to walk the runway (Martin, March 13, 2010 ). However, more needs to be done in other areas such as figure skating, dance and gymnastics. According to Olympic figure skater Jenny Kirk who also suffers from an eating disorder about 85 percent of female figure skaters have eating disorders and many are secretive and go unreported ( Coker, January 20, 2010). Eating disorders are not just a problem in other cultures but in the US anorexia nervosa and bulimia have the highest number of girls and young women with the disorder compared to other industrial nations. In the US there are more underweight or overweight people than anywhere else in the world. Obsessive eating is a problem. The problem area is girls and young women with anorexia nervosa and bulimia in the United States. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness and it is the third most prevalent chronic illness among teens (ANAD National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 2011). <br /> I know that the problem of eating disorders usually develops during the pre-teen years when girls have issues with their own body image and have poor self-esteem. These girls are perfectionists, and strive to be accepted by others. Many of these girls are belittled by others telling them they are too fat to compete in a sport like gymnastics or figure skating. Girls starve themselves to be lighter in order to perform flexible moves. However, not eating takes away their strength and power to perform. Other factors in eating disorders include suffering from depression. In fact 50 percent of females who have an eating disorder are depressed (ANAD National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 2011). Also, a female who comes from a dysfunctional family is more likely to have an eating disorder. If the girl while growing up has an overweight mother who is very demanding than the girl might be less likely to eat and will pick at her food. I notice that girls who are more likely to develop anorexia nervosa and bulimia are more affluent and often attend private school and strive to be the best at everything. Teens who participate in after school activities throughout high school are less likely to be obese. A sudden loss can be a factor for developing an eating disorder in females. The person might feel since they can not control the situation they can control their own bodies by binge eating and throwing up or by not eating. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia have negative impacts on a person’s health because a person can develop heart problems, teeth problems, and menstral irregularities. I have chosen the topic of anorexia nervosa and bulimia because I had friends in high school who struggled with body image distortion, had poor self esteem in regards to their body, and strived for perfection. Other people in high school struggled with eating disorders coming into class painfully thin and willing to striving for perfection in everything they did. Being a figure skater myself I could see the pain other skaters were going through in relation to weight control. I feel that bringing up a social problem like anorexia nervosa and bulimia will help the people having the disorder become less secretative making the disorder more manageable for those who have the illness so that the adverse health consequences can be avoided. An objective should be to know how to prevent eating disorders. The signs and symptoms need to be known so that treatment of anorexia can be provided. Finally, one needs to be informed on the appropriate treatments for the condition so that morbidity and mortality from the condition can be reduced. A working title for the paper could be “Striving For Perfection Leading To Death”.<br /> References<br />ANAD National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. (2011). Retrieved March 7, 2011, from http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/<br />Coker, L. (2010, January 20). Jenny Kirk on Figure Skating’s Eating Disorder Epidemic (Part 1). The Huffington Post.com, Inc. Retrieved March 7, 2011, from http://www.huffington.com/lesleyann-coker/jenny-kirk-on-figure-skat_b_430032.html<br />Martin, J. (2010, March 13). 5 Models Who Died From Eating Disorders. Mademan manual. 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