90-95% of people with anorexia nervosa are female and the age of onset of the disorder is between 12 and 25 years, with a peak between 14 and 18.
In the 1960s, anorexia was more common in the wealthy social classes.
It is currently distributed evenly in the population and often an earlier onset (even before 12 years of age) is found.
A person suffering from anorexia nervosa exhibits three main characteristics:
- Underweight(body mass index below 18.5) as a result of a restriction of energy intake with respect to the physiological needs of the person;
- Fear of gaining weighteven if you are underweight
- Excessive evaluation of body weight and shape. That is, it evaluates itself mainly on the basis of the number that appears on the scales and on its own body shapes. Your sense of self-control, confidence and self-worth depends almost entirely on the weight and shape of your body.
In younger people who have anorexia nervosa , a refusal to admit the severity of the underweight condition is also common.
This makes it very difficult to be next to them, especially if it is a person close to us.
What can we do to help an anorexic person?
If we think that a friend of ours is suffering from an eating disorder but is not dealing with her difficulties in any way, it is important to be able to convince her to get more information about her problem. It is his right to decide whether to cure himself or not, but to do so in a conscious way it is necessary to have more knowledge about the eating disorder and its mechanisms.
Being able to convince an anorexic friend to turn to a psychotherapist even just to get more information about the food problem is not easy. Using kindness and sensitivity is the secret to approaching the often hidden pain of those with an eating disorder such as anorexia . Let’s not forget, in fact, that people are often ashamed of their behavior. Precisely for this reason it is necessary to choose a private moment in which with kindness and sensitivity, we can confide our concerns regarding the food problem.
If, on the other hand, you are the parent of a girl who suffers from anorexia nervosa , constantly repeat at every meal “you must eat!” or “finish what you have on your plate!” unfortunately it doesn’t help much.
What happens to your daughter is not a personal choice or a lack of will, but is the result of a disease (which has the name of anorexia nervosa).
This has specific mechanisms and responds to specific treatments that act directly on these mechanisms. Each parent should reflect on whether he adopts the same attitude towards his daughter with anorexia nervosa as he would if the daughter suffered from a serious biological pathology.
The nurturing system activates protection towards one’s offspring and attacks against any external threat to its survival or health. In the case of anorexia nervosa , protection and attack are both directed towards the child. In fact, the external threat that is identified in the person to be defended is missing. This often leads parents to feel anger towards their daughter / daughter and to be critical of some dysfunctional behaviors they have put in place.
In most cases, a critical attitude and a high expressed emotionality lead to the development of a dysfunctional family climate. This can aggravate or maintain the eating disorder .
It is important to understand that an anorexic person has little control over their disease and that they must be helped to overcome it. Defeating anorexia nervosa does not mean fighting against one’s own daughter / or, but against the disease and the mechanisms that overcome it.
The research has shown that the most useful and therapeutically essential attitude to adopt is an attitude of acceptance of one’s daughter, not criticizing her eating behavior (Dalle Grave, 2014). It is also important to try to convince him / her to start a specialist treatment. Eating disorders in adolescence have a good prognosis, but are associated with serious medical and psychosocial complications if not addressed in the short term.
CBT-E (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy- Enanched) is a specific form of cognitive behavioral therapy developed by the Oxford Center for Research on Eating Disorder. It is scientifically validated to address the cognitive and behavioral processes of maintenance of psychopathology that operate in the patient suffering from eating disorders .
In the case of adolescents, while remaining an individual, flexible and personalized therapy, CBT-E provides for the involvement of parents who are provided with indications on how to assist their child during meals and tools in order to reduce the level of negative emotionality and the level of criticism.
