Causes, Symptoms, Complications and Treatments for the eating disorder Anorexia Nervosa. Eating disorders are devastating behavioral maladies brought on by a complex interplay of factors, which may include emotional and personality disorder, family pressure, a possible genetic or biological susceptibility and a culture in which there is an over abundance of food and an obsession with thinness. Eating disorders are generally .
characterized as bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa and eating disorders not other wise specified. According to the World of Psychology anorexia is defined as " an eating .
disorder characterized by an overwhelming, irrational fear of being fat, compulsive dieting .
to the point of self starvation and excessive weight loss."(World of Psychology Page 317). There are some causes, symptoms, complications and treatment of anorexia nervosa. .
There is no single cause for the eating disorder anorexia but a number of factors including emotional disorders and cultural influences. Researchers have shown that emotional disorders such as depression collaborate in causing anorexia nervosa. This is because most anorexic patients have been found to have abnormal levels of certain neurotransmitters particularly serotonin, that are associated with depression and obsessive compulsive disorder. According to a research conducted by Dr. John .E. Iodine of Harvard Medical School " studies are finding that low blood levels of amino acid tryptophan, a component in food that is essential to the production of serotonin, can produce depression and may also contribute to anorexia nervosa" (Psychology Today Page 17, May 97). Researches have also shown that changes in seasons affects both depression and eating disorders and also that onset of anorexia appears to peak in May, which is also a peak month for suicide. Anxiety disorders are also very common with anorexia. Phobias and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) usually precede the onset of the eating disorder, while panic disorder tends to follow.