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Karly McBride
Mr. Hull
Modern English II
2 May 2016
Anorexia: Causes
The term anorexia is of Greek origin. An means lack of and orexis
means appetite. Put simply, those suffering from anorexia have no desire to
eat. The loss of appetite is often unexplainable. Often an appetite exists, but the
anorexic simply refuses to eat or limits meals to very small quantities of food.
Anorexics refuse food because they fear gaining weight, even though they may
already be extremely emaciated. Eating, food, and control of weight eventually
become obsessions. Outwardly, anorexics may appear to be successful and
even healthy. They are typically people who are intelligent, independent,
admired by their peers, and overachievers. Many things can cause anorexia, but
a certain, concrete cause has not yet been determined. Although anorexia is an
eating disorder, it is actually considered an intense mental illness that has many
unknown and unspecific causes and factors and is often chronic and extremely
difficult to cope with, physically and mentally. Personality types, biology, and the
influence of the media are all a few triggers for anorexia.
Personality type is something that can be a factor in many things, and the
cause of anorexia is one of them. Those who have a neurotic personality, which
means they are constantly emotionally unstable, are very vulnerable when it
comes to developing anorexia. An obsessive, perfectionistic personality is also

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very common in anorexia sufferers. Predisposition to anxiety, depression, selfharm, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), and self-criticism is something that
can also relate to the ultimate development of anorexia (mentalhealth.net).
People who struggle with this specific eating disorder are very competitive not
only against others but also, more commonly, against themselves. They
compare themselves to unrealistic standards and are very hard on themselves.
Going hand in hand with comparing themselves to unrealistic standards, they will
always have irrational thoughts, such as thinking that an apple will make them
gain 20 pounds, or that eating 200 calories a day is far too much
(mentalhelp.net). There is a consistent, self-defeating, endless cycle of fear and
dissatisfaction when perfection is not reached, even when these perfectionistic
goals are irrational. The fear and dissatisfaction that the anorexic will feel will
work as fuel to drive towards thinness, perfection, and control, because after all,
they are always competing with themselves (mentalhelp.net). These are all
factors that may contribute to an anorexics difficulty managing weight and eating
in a healthy manner.
Although personality is something that can majorly trigger anorexia,
biology and genetics also have a lot to do with the development of anorexia.
Inherited biological and genetic factors contribute to approximately 56% of the
risk of developing anorexia. Those with a mother or sister with anorexia are
about twelve times more likely to develop anorexia themselves. Twins
(specifically identical twins) or triplets also have a very high risk of developing
anorexia (mentalhelp.net). Children from multiple births (i.e., twins and triplets)

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were 33% more likely to be diagnosed with anorexia later in life, compared to
children from single births (mentalhelp.net). Abnormalities in the structure or
activity of the hypothalamus (a brain structure responsible for regulating eating
behaviors) are present in anorexics. There are also high levels of
neurotransmitters in some areas of the brain. Anorexics often have an
overproduction of serotonin, which can cause a continual state of stress and
anxiety. Reducing calorie intake and starving will lead to decreased levels of
serotonin, which will then result in a sense of calmness, and this is why those
who suffer with anorexia find it so satisfying when they restrict their meals
(mentalhelp.net). There are also altered levels of dopamine in the brain of an
anorexic. Dopamine disturbances can cause hyperactivity, repetition of behavior
(i.e., food restriction), anhedonia, which is the decreased sense of pleasure or
merely the inability to feel any pleasure at all. Improper dopamine levels may
explain why anorexics feel intensely driven to lose weight yet feel little pleasure
in doing so (mentalhelp.net).
Personality and biology are a couple things that can cause anorexia that
arent always alterable. Our pop culture today, however, is entirely corrupt when
it comes to being thin. Americans have allowed pop culture, including the media
and Hollywood to influence their opinion on how young girls and women should
look and how much she should weigh. Women, who are obsessed with their
size, including Hollywood stars, are becoming so petite that they dont realize
that they may have become a victim of anorexia. Sadly, the demon of anorexia
that causes women, teenagers, and young girls to want to be ridiculously smaller

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has also begun to influence men (emaniner.com). The media has created the
image that thin is beautiful, or thin is in. (The PT Companion.com). Although
thin is indeed beautiful, along with all other body types, emaciated, gaunt, and
malnourished is not. The model industry is something to blame for the
development of anorexia. Bare photos of famous models are always posted on
social media websites, which makes thin look like the normality and the preferred
body type. Particularly in modern Westernized countries, models, the media, and
dieting fads currently influence women and girls to be as thin as possible.
Sociologists studying the development of eating disorders across time have
noted that the ideals of beauty have changed and that thinness wasnt always
considered attractive. Until the 1950s, curvy and plump bodies were the
accepted body type. Now, an average US child watches 15-20 hours of television
per week and is thus bombarded with approximately 30,000+ television
commercials each year. In these television images, approximately 23% of the
female characters are underweight (mentalhelp.net). Young girls and
adolescents are influenced to think that the women portrayed in television,
movies, and magazines are of normal weight and shape. They often begin to
believe that being thin makes them popular, successful, and happy. The media
thus presents a highly idealized and very much unrealistic fantasy version of
reality to consumers. These images are unconsciously or passively ingrained in
our minds, even when we know that the images are idealized. Less critically
inclined individuals are at even greater risk of internalizing what they see on
television and media as their personal standard of reality (mentalhelp.net).

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In conclusion, the ultimate cause of anorexia nervosa is unknown, but
there are theories about some things that may cause this specific disorder, such
as personality, biology, and the influence of media. While the personality traits
and the genetic makeup of a person may not be able to change, I believe that the
influence of the media could have the most powerful impact in the way an
anorexic thinks or views themselves if it depicted a more reasonable and healthy
body image as being beautiful. The anorexics views and expectations for
themselves would then be lifted to a healthier standard. Therefore, physically
and mentally, the anorexic would consider them closer to the perfection they are
striving for when the media promotes a more reasonable, natural, healthy, and
desirable body image for women.