Anorexia Nervosa Case Study

You are a nurse on an inpatient psychiatric unit. J.M., a 23-year-old woman, was admitted to the psychiatric unit last night after assessment and treatment at a local hospital emergency department (ED) for “blacking out at school.” She has been given a preliminary diagnosis of anorexia nervosa. As you begin to assess her, you notice that she has very loose clothing, she is wrapped in a blanket, and her extremities are very thin. She tells you, “I don't know why I'm here. They're making a big deal about nothing.” She appears to be extremely thin and pale, with dry and brittle hair, which is very thin and patchy, and she constantly complains about being cold. As you ask questions pertaining to weight and nutrition, she

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders, Volume 5 (DMS-5), Shelly’s low body weight, her lack of food intake, and her purging were all qualifying symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa. In addition to these symptoms, she exhibited the additional symptom of a fear of gaining weight. She explained to her therapist that she feared weighing as much as her twin sister, even though her sister only weighed 100 pounds.

Anorexia is a serious mental health condition. It is an eating disorder where people try to keep their body weight as low as possible. DSM5 outlines the key diagnostic features for anorexia. Firstly, people with anorexia will restrict behaviours that promote healthy body weight. This could mean that they are consequentially underweight and this can be due to dieting, exercising and purging. There will also be a significant fear of weight gain, but this fear will not be relieved by weight loss. There will be a persistent fear that interferes with weight gain. Lastly, there will be a disturbed perception of ones weight and/or shape and denial of underweight status and its seriousness. Anorexia accounts for 10% of eating disorders in the UK and has

Bulimia Nervosa refers to when an individual over-eats excessively and then takes action to purge the body of the intake. There are five criteria for Bulimia Nervosa in the DSM-IV, which include: recurring episodes of binge eating, recurring actions of purging, the patterns must continue at least twice a week for three months or more, a huge emphasis on body weight in self-evaluation, and the actions must occur apart

However, the symptoms of anorexia are much more than just an extremely low weight and small frame. They include a preoccupation with food and an unhealthy relationship with eating. In additions it is hard for many people experiencing anorexia to seek treatment as they may find symptoms to be positive or comforting (Griffiths, 2014). Like many people with anorexia, Jessica had a distorted view of her body image and weight and many of her day to day activities were shaped around her pursuit of a small weight which leaded to distress within her life. Other markers of anorexia include restricting food intake while some may choose to abuse laxatives or to binge and purge their food which is also a symptom of another eating disorder, bulimia nervosa. Although anorexia is a harmful disorder, only about 2-6% of those with anorexia nervosa become sick to the point that they pass away from the disorder or suicide as a result of the distress they feel (Comer,

DSM or also Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders aims to assist clinicians in diagnosing individuals with mental health disorders. For Joan’s case, I diagnosed her with having anorexia nervosa. In the DSM 5, you must display three traits to meet the criteria. The first display to meet criteria is “Persistent restriction of energy intake leading to significantly low body weight (in context of what is minimally expected for age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health)” (American Psychiatric Association 2013). Joan would often not eat food even if she was starving and hungry. There would be days where she would only have a piece of fruit and for her age at the time of being 29, weighing 90 pounds is

Although eating disorders have been known since the early 70s, they have become such a major health issue in today’s generation. There are three different types of eating disorders, Anorexia nervosa which is the act of self-starvation, Bulimia Nervosa which is a binge and purge process where one would eat an abnormal amount of food in one sitting the throw it back up or using laxatives to rid the body of food. Lastly there is Binge eating which is the hardest to detect because those who binge eat still look decently healthy they usually workout a lot, but when they are alone they consume large amounts of food. This disease can be found in men and women of all ages.

AN (Anorexia Nervosa) is the most visible eating disorder, is a serious psychiatric illness characterized by an inability to maintain a normal healthy body weight or, in individuals who are still growing, despite increasing weight loss and frank emancipation, individuals with AN strive for additional weight loss, see themselves as fat even when they are severely underweight, and often engaged in unhealthy weight loss behaviors (e.g. purging, dieting, excessive exercise, and fasting). (Bulk, Trace, Kleiman and Mazzeo, 2014). AN not only has harmful physical side effects but has psychological impacts as well. According to Serpell, Treasure, Teasdale and Sullivan (1998), one of the most interesting features of anorexia nervosa which sets it apart from many other conditions is highly valued in nature of anorexic symptoms.

The first criterion defined in the DSM-V, the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, is the “restriction of energy intake relative to requirements, leading to a significantly low body weight in the contact of age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health. Significantly low weight is defined as a weight that is less than minimally normal or, for children and adolescents, less than that minimally expected” (Davison, Blankstein, Flett, & Neale, 2013). In other words, the energy intake would be lower than the energy needed for the body to function and assure normal activities of an individual. It results in the weight of the individual to fall below a normal weight when different characteristics as the age, sex, developmental trajectory and physical health are taken into consideration. Karen Carpenter respects the first criteria of anorexia nervosa. Indeed, as a child, Karen Carpenter was overweight and was worried about her weight but seemed to love sugar and eating more than

Many people, mainly woman experience the feeling of being fat. This feeling is a key factor for diagnosing anorexia nervosa (AN). AN is characterized by severe and serious disorders of self-perception of their body and the determined pursuit of thinness. This disorder was first discovered by Morton in 1689. AN was believed to be a form of hysteria but then was thought to be a hereditary abnormality of the central neurological system that only appeared in young females. The term Anorexia Nervosa was established in 1883 by Huchard, and Sigmund Freud hypothesized that anorexia was associated with melancholy and most often it appeared in sexual immature females. AN is appearing more in the recent decades than any decades in the past. This disorder is found amongst both genders but is more prevalent in females. It occurs 10-20 times more in females than it does in males and is mainly in developed countries. (Wozniak, Rekleiti,& Roupa, 2012). Anorexia Nervosa is found to have significant life impairment and a negative effect of Quality of Life. Eating disorders have a higher mortality rate than any other mental illness. The low recovery rate and high mortality rate is worse in restricting Anorexia Nervosa than any other eating disorder. (Sy, 2013.) According to the DSM-IV-TR handbook some criterions for this disorder are as follows, criterion A (“the refusal to maintain a body weight

Anorexia Nervosa is when people starve themselves and cause themself to reach an unhealthy weight that is too low. They become overly careful about their body image and how much they weigh. They think that they are too fat causing them to stop eating so that they will become skinny. Some warning signs of Anorexia are dramatic weight loss and being overly obsessed of how much calories you're eating. The second kind of disorder is Bulimia Nervosa. Bulimia Nervosa is when you have periods when you binge and is usually followed by self-induced vomiting. Bulimia Nervosa is very unhealthy because it ruins your digestive system and can lead to electrolyte and chemical imbalances in the body that affect the heart. A third type of eating disorder is Binge Eating Disorder. This disorder causes people to go on binges, however they don’t try to get rid of the food. Many people feel out of control when they go on binges and feel ashamed or guilty when they

When people with eating disorders look in the mirror they someone totally different from what we see. They see someone who is overweight and they feel that person needs to lose weight. They take a simple act like eating food and turn it into an obsession. A person who has anorexia nervosa will weight themselves over and over again, portion food cautiously, and eat small quantities of certain foods. People with anorexia nervosa may engage in binge eating followed by extreme dieting, excessive exercise, self-induced vomiting, or misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas (Eating Disorders: About More Than Food, 2014). Anorexia nervosa symptoms would include the following very low body weight, severe food restriction, intense fear of weight gain, denial of low body weight, and distorted view of body image; these are all signs of anorexia nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa once diagnosed can be treated to help combat the disorder and prevent it from worsening. Anorexia treatment begins with the anorexia realizing they need treatment and seekings professional help (Smith, M., & Segal, J., 2016). Treatment usually consists of medical, mental, and dietary professionals (Anorexia Nervosa-Cause, n.d.). Medical treatment is necessary to deal with health problems that can result from malnutrition or starvation (Anorexia Nervosa-Cause, n.d.). In Throughout the recovery process, monitors of vital signs, hydration levels, and electrolytes will be necessary (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2016). In severe cases, a feeding tube can be necessary for initial treatment (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2016). However, more commonly

In the DSM-V, feeding and eating disorders are defined as “persistent disturbance of eating or eating related behavior that results in the altered consumption of absorption of food and that significantly impairs physical health or psychosocial functioning,” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, pp. 329). There are several different kinds of eating disorders, the most commonly treated ones are; Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN), and Binge- Eating Disorder (BED). The diagnostic criteria for AN include, persistent energy intake restriction, intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat or persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain, and disturbance in self-perceived weight or shape (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

In this there are now three criterions A, B and C briefly; Criterion A- focuses on behaviours, restriction of Restriction of energy intake (in context with age, sex, development trajectory and physical health), Criterion B - intense fear of gaining weight even when currently underweight and Criterion C - denial of how serious their current body weight is (American Psychiatric Association, 2013.Previously DSM-IV contained a criterion D which include amenorrhea (was also included in Lasegue and Gulls categories), but now there is an increase in male diagnosis, and it can not be applied to the, this has been removed . Psychological issues such as, mild depression, anxiety are common in people with anorexia nervosa, developing builimia after being diagnoses with anorexia is not uncommon either (Bennett,