Eating Disorders

A study into the threats that challenge the health of women in the United States reveals that cancer ranks second as the killer of women, after heart disease and a more targeted study found that eating disorder was a prevalent killer especially among female teenagers. A 2009 report produced by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the leading causes of death in females of all ages are Heart Disease at 24%, cancer at 22.2% and eating disorder at 40% in teenagers, in that order(Bryant & Lusk, 2002). This is a very high percentage of the population losing their lives because of a simple disease in most people’s eyes. Eating disorder presents itself in several forms of attack as another research reveals. The types of eating disorder that are prevalent in teenage girls more often affect the digestive system, for example, anorexia and bulimia. These diseases alone effectively decimates the lives of a quarter of the teenage population, robbing the country of a very important people, incurring huge losses in the family and the economy(Ambrose &Deisler, 2011).

Statistics show that in the US alone about 20 million women and 10 million men suffer from eating disorders(Ambrose &Deisler, 2011). The video further validates the dominant age bracket as 15-19 years old since the girl in the video says that her infatuation with weight loss and eating disorder started at the tender age of 15 when she only weighed 50lbs. This is a huge incidence and a huge percentage of the population is marginalized due to eating disorders. From the video, it is important to note that the girl’s family was greatly affected by her condition. Her eating disorder had financial implications on her family who had to cater for her healthcare both in-patient and out-patient during her recovery period. This further helps validate the statistics by Bruch which implicate the fact that that there has been a steady increases in the incidence of anorexia among young teenagers aged 15 to 29 every decade. (Bruch, 1973).

The video “My Anorexic life” provides a clear indication of the extent of injury this eating disorder can do to not only a person, but those who are close to them as well. Bryant and Lusk, (Bryant & Lusk, 2002) conducted a research on seven clinics, targeting anorexia and bulimia procedures, with the aim of identifying the effectiveness of the personnel involved, their methods and ability to reach the target group. They investigated various in-patient and out-patient programs that helped individual suffering and recovering from eating disorders. The personnel who were involved were the physicians, nurses and a contracted research nurse. There were five general objectives, which the personnel from each of the seven clinics expected to achieve. These were to streamline and maintain a patient documentation system, to improve patient awareness by providing printed educative literature, to develop a system of identifying patients that needed checks for malnutrition, to develop a system where patients would share health and weight gain results with other medical installations, and to initiate or improve community outreach. The project however was not very successful due to several reasons.

Most of the clinics specializing in eating disorders such as anorexia mad bulimia operated autonomously despite their link to a larger supervising hospital. The only thing that they shared was documentation, and time-wasting bureaucracy bogged down the process. At the same time, the staff between the clinic and the larger hospital did not have cordial relationships, and this strained the flow of information and resources to the clinic(Bryant & Lusk, 2002). That meant that at times, the staff at the clinic found their resources overstretched. Sometimes there was too much work in a clinic compared to the few personnel.

The researchers noticed this challenge too in the private clinics. Most members of staff assigned to anorexic cases had too many responsibilities. The staff was also not enthusiastic about finding more effective, alternative methods or approaches. In fact, the staff resisted the new projects. They preferred the status quo. This state of affairs also affected the relationship between the personnel in the clinics adversely. During the research, the research nurses noted a major disconnect between the physicians and the nurses. The net effect of this was that the staff became lethargic, loosing enthusiasm in their work and developing a bad attitude towards work (Bryant & Lusk, 2002). The clinic system could not effectively carry out proper rehabilitation of anorexic and bulimic women.

From an ethno cultural standpoint, statistics show that the prevalence of anorexia and other related eating disorders is similar among Hispanics, Non-Hispanics, Asians and African-Americans in the USA(Ambrose &Deisler, 2011). It however has a distinct exception in that Anorexia nervosa is mostly prevalent among Non-Hispanic Whites. The video is likely of a Non-Hispanic White and such a sample case only goes to show that anorexia is mostly prevalent among individuals of this ethnic background (Ambrose &Deisler, 2011). A theory has been fronted, that continued anorexic and bulimic eating disorder may lead to clinical obesity associated symptoms.

In conclusion, stimulating organizational change in health care institutions targeting eating disorders, being active players in health policy reforms for eating disorders, supporting health rights organizations, sharing information about anorexia though writing and working towards social-cultural empowerment are some of the activities that victims of eating disorders can actively participate in. This will raise their ethno cultural and economic status, maximize on their potential and present them as equal beings in society which looks down on individuals with eating disorders. A lesson that can be learnt from the video is that the journey to recovery is not easy and so the government and other stakeholders should step in and give a helping hand in helping combat the issue of eating disorders before in turns out to be a catastrophe.

References

Ambrose, M., &Deisler, V. (2011). Investigating eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating): Real facts for real lives. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers.

Bruch, H. (1973). Eating disorders: Obesity, anorexia nervosa and the person within. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul

Bryant-Waugh, R., &Lask, B. (2002). Anorexia nervosa and related eating disorders in childhood and adolescence. Hove, East Sussex: Brunner-Routledge.