Anorexia Essay: How to Work with a Scary Topic and Do It Right
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When you study at the Nutrition department or prepare to become a medical specialist, you’re sure to get an eating disorder essay assignment one day. This problem has become quite commonplace, with a complex of eating problems awaiting people who are too obsessed with slim body images on social media and want to lose weight at all costs.
Because of the popularity of slim body images and young people’s obsession with the sporty body, the problem of anorexia is getting acuter day by day. So, when you get an anorexia essay assignment, be ready to do some thorough research, develop strong arguments, and compose a paper in line with academic writing rules.
If you’re confused about this task, here are some working tips to get the process going.
What Is Anorexia and How to Talk About It
Problems with eating surface not that quickly. At first, individuals may limit their portion sizes and refuse some products that they believe are dangerous for their weight. Next, they refrain from several meals a day, leaving only 1-2 food intakes to stay slim and not to overeat. As a result of such severe limitations in eating, some people develop anorexia nervosa.
This disease goes far beyond a permanent loss of appetite and manifests itself in various neurological and gastrointestinal problems. Its common symptoms are:
- Extreme, uncontrollable weight loss
- Unhealthy thinness
- Fatigue experienced during a significant part of the day
- Unexpected attacks of dizziness and frequent fainting
- Thinning hair and breaking nails
- Dry skin
- Intolerance to cold
- Hypertension
- The inability of the gastrointestinal tract to process the consumed food – nausea and vomiting after food intakes
Given such an abundance of symptoms and clinical manifestations of this condition, you can approach the subject from several angles. Some students discuss the psychological causes of the disorder in their anorexia essay papers. Others focus on the biological mechanisms of anorexia development. Another interesting approach is to consider clinical evidence of therapeutic methods to treat anorexic people and help them regain a healthy weight.
How to Write an Eating Disorder Thesis Statement
The first task that you should complete in crafting your anorexia essay is developing a solid, clear thesis statement. It is a crucial element of your assignment that will guide the readers from the introduction to the concluding part, giving them a firm grasp of your logic and argument flow.
Thus, to build a robust and believable thesis, you need to follow these guidelines:
- Choose a sub-topic within the subject of eating disorders. Formulate for yourself what you think about this topic first.
- Try to express your central idea in one sentence, showing your primary arguments and focus.
- Mention the arguments supporting your central claim briefly in this statement, without going into too much detail.
- Place the thesis statement correctly at the end of your introductory section to ensure that the readers and supervisor will locate it.
Anorexia Essay Outline
Now let’s consider a sample outline for an anorexia essay, which can serve as your guidance in future work on such papers.
INTRODUCTION
Introduce the broad context. Give some stats and facts. Delineate a concrete problem and its significance. Formulate a thesis statement.
Diet – a personal choice or a disorder? Global population (2.9 mln) affected by anorexia. No apparent cause identified yet (genetic, neurological factors). A variety of treatment modalities available today and their varying effectiveness.
BODY
Paragraphs #1-3
Present a topic sentence with one central idea per paragraph. Add some credible evidence from external sources to support the points. Interpret the information you’ve provided.
Paragraph #1 – the process of anorexia development, extreme dieting, forced vomiting after eating to control body weight, obsession with slim body images. The result – clinical anorexia symptoms.
Paragraph #2 – the inability of anorexic individuals to reverse the process (return to healthy eating after achieving the weight loss goal). Clinical complications of anorexia (osteoporosis, infertility, heart damage). Forced feeding of anorexic individuals to prevent terminal organ failure.
Paragraph #3 – Treatment modalities – psychotherapy, healthy weight gain, and addressing the problematic behaviors (forced vomiting, food refusal). Effectiveness of CBT and family therapy. Pharmacological treatments.
CONCLUSION
Make a summary of what’s been said and reinforce the readers’ impression by referencing the broader context (public health, teen health, the devastating impact of social media, etc.).
Anorexia is not a strict diet. It is a neurological disorder that can cause morbidity and mortality among patients. Because of the absence of a clear understanding of its underlying causes, anorexia needs to be treated on a case-by-case basis by giving each patient an individual treatment plan in line with their health state and anorexia triggers.
Eating Disorders: Conclusion That’ll Earn You A+ Grade
A conclusion of your anorexia essay should summarize all the evidence you provided in the body of your paper and return to the problem’s significance in the broader context of public health. Depending on your essay’s topic, you can draw some recommendations on helping young people avoid anorexia or some workable methods for managing this condition more efficiently.
Sample Essay on How We Should Treat People with Anorexia
Our writing experts have crafted a short essay sample based on the outline presented in the section above. Use it as a reference when preparing your following paper on this subject.
For many people, choosing what to eat and when to do it is a voluntary act. For those with anorexia nervosa, eating has become an impossible challenge, an act that they cannot commit voluntarily, even for the sake of their survival. At present, over 2.9 million people are affected by anorexia worldwide, suffering extreme weight loss, multiple organ problems, osteoporosis, heart damage, and a complex of other devastating consequences of strict dieting and food refusal. Thus, what starts as a diet for the sake of healthy weight loss and body slimming often ends with a clinical disorder with no cure. Still, the issue is grave for people affected by this condition as they need efficient, professional treatment to start eating normally again and avoid lethal malnourishment. This paper discusses the causes, manifestations, and treatment modalities for anorexia nervosa known today in an effort to find workable solutions for the affected patients.
No single cause of anorexia development has yet been identified, with a mixture of genetic, environmental, and psychological factors coming into play. Jameson (2009) discovered that anorexic patients often view themselves as overweight (even if they are thin) and deny any weight loss or nutrition problems. As a result of the distorted body image and an obsession with slimness, anorexic people force themselves to vomit, refuse many food types, engage in excessive exercise and use laxatives to prevent excessive body fat accumulation (Mary, 2007).
As a result, the process of body weight loss becomes irreversible and cannot be dropped even after the clinical problem is clear. Individuals with anorexia often develop osteoporosis, suffer from irreversible organ failure, and lose fertility (especially females). Anorexic patients refuse therapeutic interventions, vomit secretly, and avoid treatment in all ways. Thus, such severe manifestations of anorexia are commonly treated by forced feeding via nasogastric tubes upon a competent psychiatrist’s diagnosis of the patient’s psychological incompetence.
Other treatment methods include psychotherapy and family therapy to identify the underlying psychological causes for food refusal and change the false perceptions and prejudices of patients. Kale (2020) found CBP to be effective with young female anorexics, with 78% of the surveyed sample reporting significant improvements in body image perceptions and weight regain. Thus, psychotherapeutic methods are popular in anorexia treatment as they allow dealing with underlying psychological problems of patients and correct their beliefs about body image in the long run.
As the provided evidence suggests, anorexia nervosa is a severe clinical problem that millions of patients face worldwide. With no clear causes and specific clinical guidelines for its treatment, anorexia remains a pressing challenge for medical professionals and patients. Case-by-case management of anorexia cases is suggested, while a combination of pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments suggests the greatest efficiency thus far.
More Helpful Tips & Tricks
Tasked with an anorexia essay? Here are some valuable tips to follow to get an outstanding grade for this assignment:
- The underlying causes of this disorder are still unclear. So, you can surprise your tutor by presenting an in-depth analysis of the existing theories about the origin of anorexia.
- Treatments for anorexia differ, ranging from CBT to pharmacological care. You can compose in-depth research about the clinical evidence of each treatment modality’s effectiveness for various population groups.
- The psychological component of anorexia is powerful. An excellent paper can result from research on the psychological triggers and accompanying psychological disorders among anorexic individuals.
Here’s How a Professional Writer Can Help You
Still unsure how to compose an anorexia essay that will win you a high grade? Having little time to think over the subject thoroughly and develop workable arguments? Lacking a couple of free hours to attend the library and find the relevant, credible evidence to support your points? No problem, as our experts can do it for you.
Contact us today to get a perfectly written and well-proofread paper about eating disorders. We’ll surely impress your supervisor with original ideas and credible evidence. In this way, you’re sure to save crucial time for other academic priorities and avoid getting an F for a failed deadline.
