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INTRODUCTION

The first case of anorexia was in Catherine of Siena. With 26 years his idea of devoting his life to God clashed with their parents’ plans to marry her.

This situation led her to lock herself in her room getting ill-treated by not eating at the end enter the Dominican order, but with half its weight.

The prestige of Catherine of Siena and quickly spread after his death at age 28, had many religious followers.

There are many cases of anorexia in the nuns of the Middle Ages. Fasting was a way for the spirit to triumph and not the flesh. Being without food was considered a sign of holiness. This monitoring anorexia suffered by God was called “Holy Anorexia”

Anorexia was the word used by doctors as synonymous with lack of appetite, loss of appetite and certain stomach disorders.

Richard Morton was the first who gave a description of anorexia box. Described a patient 18 who showed the symptoms of anorexia nervosa: weight loss, obsessive dedication to the study, loss of appetite …

Morton always refers to the disease as a nervous disorder and is curious to know who healed this girl away from her family and studies.

Finally, with the intervention on the family of a patient and his return as a means to heal, it got the concept of anorexia nervosa remains within scientific medicine.

In the twentieth century anorexia nervosa is known as a fear of gaining weight, but before the twentieth century was not clear whether the girls who had suffered from fear of gaining weight or not. This was questioned because many were religious or spiritual motivations.

In this century, Freud’s view was that all appetites were manifestations of libido or sexual impulses as eating or not eating associated with the presence or absence of basic sexual impulses. Fasting Freud supposed to disgust or discomfort caused by food. But Freud did not give any weight to socio-cultural factors in anorexia nervosa.

- Primitive societies: in primitive societies, women had more sex appeal fat than thin. A fat woman was a sign of high status, prestige.

In all cultures were carried out procedures to change some characteristic body to increase sexual attractiveness and social. Using paints, cosmetics but until the advent of the modern world where cultures are not intended to have more social appeal by increasing or decreasing your body.

A rich woman’s body was a sign of luxury, thinness was a symbol of death.

CONCEPT

Anorexia nervosa is an eating behavior disorder characterized by a significant loss of body weight normally produced by the voluntary decision to lose weight. This thinning is achieved by eliminating or reducing food consumption, especially the “fattening” and also quite often through vomiting, laxative abuse, excessive physical exercise and consumption of anorectics, diuretics …

The disorder usually starts between 14 and 18 years of age, but in recent times is decreasing age of onset.

The anorexic patient experiences intense fear of weight gain, although it decreases more and at an alarming rate. It produces a distortion of body image, which undertakes to maintain the diet.

The fact weight loss is almost always denied by the patient and not generally aware of the illness. This malnutrition causes alterations, symptoms and disorders: hypotension, skin changes, hair loss, gastrointestinal disorders, etc.. There are also symptoms of anxiety, depression and obsessive. This malnutrition also causes sadness, irritability, social isolation and even thoughts of death and suicide.

Concerns about food are truly haunting. The thoughts and attitudes related to body weight and food, and disease progression after diagnosis indicates that 25% of patients remain anorexic, 40% have depressive symptoms and 25% obsessive. The mortality rate is between 8 and 10%, but when the illness lasts more than 30 years this figure rises to 18%.

After twelve years of disease progression in healing a person is considered virtually impossible.

About half of patients experience episodes anorexic bulimics, this is also a feeding behavior disorder characterized by the presence of episodes in which the patient ingests food quantities above normal, although in principle the bulimic does not wish at all that binge . Following these binges, still vomiting, laxatives, diuretics …

At the onset of anorexia involving sociocultural factors, is the pressure from society, the media, the desire for thinness.

Individual factors are also involved, as are the bodily changes that require the attention fixed on the body. Is this the time when the adolescent body image compared with the body aesthetic model this in their social environment.

There is also talk of the family as an important factor in the onset of anorexia but not something specific to the disease. It was observed that there is a predominance of overly educational style and excesses of eating disorders, mood and anxiety disorders in relatives of anorexics.

But these elements can not be considered important factors of this disease, ie, are associated with other diseases that have nothing to do with food. Anyway once that anorexia is underway, family conflicts loom large.

Warning Signs of Anorexia Nervosa

- Eat a diet as if, despite already very thin.
- Wear clothes too baggy or too big.
- Being preoccupied with weight, diets and to achieve the figure.
- Experience personality changes.
- Experience dizziness, fainting, unconsciousness and difficulty concentrating.
- Fear of gaining weight or becoming fat.
- Distorted perception of weight, size or shape of your body.
- In women, the absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles.
- No other physical or psychiatric disorder that could justify the loss of weight or refusal to eat.
- Start of treatment before 25 years of age.
- Presence of at least 2 physiological symptoms associated with anorexia nervosa. These are:
* Abuse of laxatives, diuretics or diet pills.
* Exercise excessively. You may even 5 or 6 hours a day.
* Osteoporosis. The bones become fragile.

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• catherine death of an anorexic
• anorexia discussions
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• anorexia and thoughts of death
• freud anorexia
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• a rich womans body was a sign of luxury thinness was a symbol of death

Terms for this post:

• www forumvaledosousa/anorexia-part-1 htm
• the first of anorexia was in catherine of siena with 26 years his life
• catherine death of an anorexic
• anorexia discussions
• Anorexia hair falling out
• anorexia and thoughts of death
• freud anorexia
• symbol anorexia
• anorexia
• a rich womans body was a sign of luxury thinness was a symbol of death