In today’s world anorexia is a highly known eating disorder that people have several assumptions about. It is no secret that Anorexia is spreading through our society like wild fire. The statistics have increasingly soared through the last decade and more people are becoming concerned with the dangerous issue. “It is estimated that 8 million Americans have an eating disorder – seven million women and one million men”, and that “One in 200 American women suffers from anorexia” (DMH). Many suggest that anorexia is a disease that can be passed down through generations, but others like, Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber, author of “The Spread of the Cult of Thinness”, argue that this is an eating disorder that is a result of self infliction. There are several different approaches when considering how to label Anorexia that should be brought into consideration. Findings show that anorexia nervosa should be categorized as a type of an eating disorder, not as a disease.
In order to make the claim that anorexia is an eating disorder, the precise definition was needed. Oxford English Dictionary online describes anorexia as, “a lack or loss of appetite for food (as a medical condition)” as well as “an emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat” (OED). The definition stated that this is an emotional disorder that is inflicted upon oneself by refusing to eat. Not a single word was mentioned about a disease or the disorder being hereditary. Anorexia was also called medical condition by OED which in a sense is also the same thing as a disorder. In all of these readings and articles, the consensus was clear to me that Anorexia truly is an eating disorder that is impacting people because of they are being e…
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…beliefs that anorexia is an eating disorder, not a disease. When you take a closer look and examine the characteristics of a disease and the characteristics of an eating disorder, they vary from one another. The common misconception that anorexia is a disease stems from the fact that there is a slight overlap between the definitions of a disease and a disorder, but when thoroughly evaluated and examined those misconceptions become validated and people learn that there actually is a difference. When examining what the definitions of each truly are and then considering the source or cause of the problem, there is a clear variation between disorders and diseases. Making the differentiation between the two allows for there to be no confusion between them. Anorexia is a psychological eating disorder that is inflicted from many external influences; it is not a disease.
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