Anorexia Nervosa

This is a research paper on Anorexia Nervosa. The study will concentrate on adolescent girls. This research paper is a description of a Psychosocial Problem and its Treatment. 10-11 citations from professional journals (no books).

Anorexia nervosa, a complex eating disorder where food intake is severely limited, affects more adolescent girls than it did 30 years ago. The mental illness ranks as the third most common chronic illness affecting teenage girls with an incidence of about 5 percent. Because of their age, the diagnosis, treatment and outcome of this serious eating disorder must take into consideration issues that are specific to adolescent girls with negative body images. It is to be noted that abnormal behavior and anorexia often coexist.

Factors of Anorexia Nervosa

Factors including gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, drug use, body image and socioeconomic factors are generally outlined in many of the studies included in this literature review. One treatment outcome and prognosis study found that factors like a very low body weight, age of onset, other psychiatric illnesses present, lower socioeconomic status and a longer time living with the eating disorder had negative effects on prognosis.

If you are doing a research study, you may want to determine why young girls become afflicted with anorexia nervosa. Questions have arisen regarding overprotective mothering or if the disorder runs in families. One recent case study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry found a link between, what the researchers refer to as, high-concern parenting in infancy and the later development of anorexia nervosa during adolescence. Another study examined a familial link and found that the incidence of eating disorders can be found and traced within families that suffer from this psychiatric illness.

Treatments for Anorexia Nervosa

According to the Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders Organization (ANAD) there are numerous schools of thought regarding the most effective form of intervention for treating anorexia nervosa. Three of the most documented treatments include:

• individualized nutrition therapy
• treatment on an outpatient basis combined with family therapy
• the decision to treat on an inpatient basis and combined with family therapy and medication

Your research on anorexia nervosa should point out that not only considerations of the patient's physical, biochemical and metabolic problems must be made when utilizing nutritional therapy, but the individual's overall psychological context needs to be taken into account, as well. Your research paper may want to study, in depth, the assessment and monitoring of adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa and the complications that can arise during re-feeding, nutritional supplement and electrolyte replacement therapy.