Eating disorder

Answer

Neurology of anorexia

            Anorexia denotes a psychological disorder characterized by unusual bodyweight loss and too much focus on body weight and shape. The condition is fatalistic as most patients die of suicide. Moreover, self-starvation due to anorexia causes physical sequelae, affecting all major organs in the body (Murray et al., 2019). Anorexia affects the nervous system, and thus it becomes a risk factor that leads to other ailments and diseases. Anorexia makes people have or develop a distorted perception about body weight. I’m not surprised at the classification of anorexia as a mental illness rather than a lifestyle disease. The brain influences all human activities and perceptions, appetite among other things. Consequently, it is normal that anorexia falls under mental illness and not a personal choice (Murray et al., 2019). Classifying anorexia as a mental illness can convince patients of the same to seek psychological treatment. Assisting a family member who resists the view of anorexia as a mental illness might take the form of encouraging them to eat certain foods and to discourage them from thinking that weight gaining is old-dated.

Personality and social effects of anorexia

Available statistics highlight the personality and social effects of anorexia. Notably, those suffering from anorexia usually tend to keep a small circle of friends. Besides, such people also find it difficult to regulate their emotions when reacting to issues. Furthermore, such people tend to get irritations and anxiety during meal times (Dobrescu et al., 2020). They are not comfortable with meals since they fear gaining weight, something that they detest. Also, such patients have reduced thinking speed and cannot concentrate for a long time. They also suffer from low self-esteem, which makes them uncomfortable in the presence of groups of people (Dobrescu et al., 2020). Other social and personality effects that come with anorexia include depression and Perfectionism. In this case, Perfectionism denotes the desires to be perfect and concentrating too much on what people think about them.

Health consequence and medical complications

Anorexia has several health consequences and medical complications. One of the health consequences and medical complications of anorexia is reduced bone mass. This comes about because of poor eating habits that deprives the body of the much -needed nutrients and vitamins for the growth and development of body parts, including bones (Elliot and Schmidt, 2020). In other instances, anorexia can lead to fatal damage to other body organs, especially the kidneys and the liver. Due to poor eating habits and starvation, anorexia leads to anemia and infertility by stopping periods (Elliot and Schmidt, 2020). Also, the liver and pancreas damage due to anorexia might lead to low sugar levels in the blood, which in itself can be fatal. Anorexia has other medical complications such as irregular heartbeat, insomnia and Osteoporosis.

Treatment plan for client with anorexia

Any treatment plan for a patient with anorexia needs to consider the appropriate setting and psychological management of the condition. The appropriate setting heavily relies on the patient`s wishes and wants (Murray et al., 2019). It is notable that patients with anorexia should start their treatment as outpatients and become inpatients depending on how they respond to treatment and management. Psychological therapy is also critical in managing the underlying effects and causes of anorexia, even though there is no sufficient evidence pointing to psychological therapy's effectivity (Murray et al., 2019).  Furthermore, the doctor should discuss the patient's treatment option before undertaking the same to enable the said patient to make an informed choice or decision.