Cultural Impacts on Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa (AN)

Cultural Impacts on consume Dis regularizes Anorexia Nervosa (AN)Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eat disorder most commonly affecting adolescent women (Russell 1970, 132). The symptomatic criteria for anorexia is defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical manual of the American psychiatric Association 4th ed (DSM-IV) as excessive dieting or exercise leading to extreme weight loss, a refusal to gain weight, furbelow in automobile trunk shape perception and amenorrhea (American psychiatric Association, 1994). It has been suggested that the psychopathologies layabout AN arise from deep down a ethnical framework, namely the westward socialisation (Bordo 1993, 141-145). The westerly high-mindeds of cup of tea and portrayal of a slim dust theatrical role in relation to attractiveness and healthiness catch perpetuated a ending of meagreness and fat-phobia, from which AN manifests from extreme measures taken to achieve these conceptions (Bordo 1993, 146-149). Furthermore, in recen t eld AN has become a trans ethnic disorder, affecting non- westerly finiss influenced by horse opera flori finis such as the Chinese, Fijians and African Americans. Mass media has enabled widespread access to Western civilisation, upshoting in a global grow phenomenon that has increased the incidence of eat disorders such as AN human racewide (Simpson, 2002, 66-67). In auxiliary, cultural assimilation as sanitary as cultural clash in those who must balance their tralatitious culture with the modern Western culture has been shown to contri neverthelesse to a predisposition towards AN, as a result of self-conflicts and unstable self-identity (Shuriquie, 1999, 355). Finally, some confirm advocated for a more culturally sensitive definition of AN, which presently is aspect to be Western-centric in its definition. Prop hotshotnts advocate the consideration of individual sociocultural factors, nonably unrelated to the culture of thinness, contributing to the developmen t of AN in spite of appearance the context of topical anaesthetic biologies (Simpson, 2002, 68-69). Thus AN must be analyzed from inwardly a transcultural framework, one which encompasses the influences of the Western culture on perceptions of the proboscis as well as considers the specific cultural context, which sheds light on causes of AN.Anorexia is considered a Western culture-bound phenomenon as a result of the current socio policy-making demands placed upon women in regards to the ideals of beauty, body shapes, and feminism (Derenne and Beresin 2006, 257). The term culture-bound denotes a restriction of a phenomenon within a special(a) cultural radical due to specific social, political, culture and psychological factors from within that culture (Prince 1985, 197-198). As most American women atomic number 18 preoccupy with their weight, AN could simply be an extreme manifestation of the nation-wide absorption with weight and body image (Lake 1999, 83-84). Historically, the concept of the ideal female body was fluid, changing with the political and economic climate, which affected cultural values and and then attitudes toward female bodies. During the colonial era, strong, fertile, able-bodied women were favoured, as they would be capable of assisting with chores as well as bearing mevery children to increase family size. Times changed in the 19th hundred with the introduction of a more comfortable lifestyle, when the waifish look became popular and women sported in short hair, pants and a slender, androgynous look that symbolized feminism and liberation. Since then, thither has been a cultural trend towards thinness, with famous models such as Twiggy change state household idols, culminating in todays nation-wide obsession with weight-watching, calorie-counting and dieting (Derenne and Beresin 2006, 258-259). It is the business deal media portrayal of the ideal thin female body as attractive, desirable and healthy that has bring forward per petuated the culture of thinness, targeting particularly vulnerable women boyish adolescents and teenage girls. Coincidentally, pre-teens, teenagers and adolescent females view as the highest incidence of AN (Borzekowski 2005, 289). Recently, the incidence of AN has increased in pre-teen and teenage girls, as they are often the main target audience for a variety of media, which relegate unrealistic expectations of their body shapes (Borzekowski 2005, 290-291). Fashion magazines often depict thin women as desirable and healthy, television ads promote the latest technological invention that helps a woman lose weight and the Internet sallys countless websites with tips on have healthy, keeping off the fat, appetite suppressants and 0 calorie dietary supplements. oddly notable are the pro-anorexia websites that proclaim AN to be a lifestyle choice, offer advice on weight management, effective dieting strategies and community support boost AN (Derenne and Beresin 2006, 258-259) . This bombardment of social and cultural expectations to be thin in order to be attractive has predominated Western culture since the 19th century and has not only grown, but crossed cultural boundaries through communication via mass media to affect other cultural groups (Shuriquie 1999, 356-357). Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that the psychiatric problems rear end AN may be described as a set of particular symptoms that arise from within a cultural framework the Western culture of thinness.The origin of AN may have arisen from Western cultural values, but there have been an increasing number of reports of eating disorders such as AN in non-Western populations, challenging the notion that AN is a Western culture-bound syndrome. This trend is attributed to the motion picture of non-Western cultures to Western culture via mass media. One study has shown that Hispanic and South African girls exhibit AN, influenced by their exposure to Western media, suggesting that AN transcend s cultural and socioeconomic boundaries (Nasser 1994, 26-27). It was antecedently believed that the mentioned group of people were protected from modern Western influences, due to their traditions of embracing larger, fertile women. Yet, a study conducted by Becker (Becker 2002, 509) found that the women of a group of islanders hailing from the South Pacific Ocean, the Fijians, have been heavily influenced by the Western culture of thinness. There were no reports of eating disorders in the Fijian population until 1995, when an supranational television station was broadcasted for the first time, depicting Western media. Three days later, reports of dissatisifation with body image, attempts to control weight such as dieting and self-induced emetic were heard, suggesting that these Fijian women were significantly affected by the Western cultural ideals of the complete(a) body and perhaps could not distinguish between the idealism and concepts of ideal that television presented a nd reality. Despite a tradition of favourably viewing full-bodied women (Becker 1995, 27-29), a few years of exposure to Western cultural and perceptions of beauty have negatively strikeed the Fijians. Anthropologists have studied the reasons behind the life-threatening influence of Western culture and have suggested that less developed, non-Western populations such as the Fijians regard the values portrayed by Western culture as symbols of socioeconomic progression, high social status and social acceptance (Shuriquie 1999, 358-360) and thus strive to emulate and assimilate Western culture values within their local cultures. Streigel-Moore points out that even African American groups within the unify States have shown increasing incidence of AN, stemming from a desire to participate in the white world (Striegel-Moore 2003, 1326-1328). Similarly, a study conducted by Nasser on the preponderance of AN in teenage Egyptian girls in Cairo indicated that traditional Egyptian values of larger, fertile women have not conferred protective effects from the assimilation of Western conceptions of the ideal body type via mass media in young Egyptian women (Nasser 1994, 28-30). These findings highlight a phenomenon known as global culture, where the world is connected via media, allowing cultural values to be readily accessible by other cultures across the globe (Banks 1992, 867). In this instance, global culture has extendd to the come up incidences of eating disorders such as AN, which has ultimately become a transcultural disorder that is not limited by cultural boundaries.In addition to the global cultural phenomenon, some have argued that those immigrating to the West from non-Western cultures experience cultural clash, leading to greater risk of psychiatric disorders such as AN (Lee 1996, 21-23). Studies have indicated that those who are assimilated into Western culture are less impacted by media-driven concepts such as dieting and maintaining a slender frame th an those who contract to maintain their own cultural values while living in a Western culture. Culture clash occurs when an individual adopts two cultural systems, which are often in conflict. Mumford and Whitehouse have shown that Asian girls in the join Kingdom that have not acculturated struggle to balance their beliefs and attitudes at home, where their traditional culture dominantes, and at school, where there is pressure to conform to the averages of the Western culture (Mumford and Whitehouse 1991, 222-225). Unfortunately, the unrealistic expectations of body shape is often taken as the norm in individuals affected by this cultural clash, leading to increased photo to the negative influences of Western culture on body image and after increased susceptibility to AN. These findings interestingly point to the influence of a non-Western culture within the context of Western culture not as protective, but exacerbative of eating disorders.Although the phenomena of global culture and culture clash demonstrate the extensiveness and impact of Western cultural values on the rest of the world, it has been argued that attributing the cause and symptoms of AN but to the sociocultural influence of the West may be inaccurate. The culture of thinness may be pervasive, but it is not the sole explanation for AN. Simpson claims that the accustomed biomedical definition of anorexia as a psychiatric disorder characterized by fat phobia and a distorted perspective on body image is itself a cultural construction within the confines of the Western culture (Simpson 2002, 66-70). This suggests a need to adopt a culturally-sensitive definition of AN, one which stems from within the context of local biologies rather a universal framework. Fat-phobia is currently the defining characteristic in AN, but there have been accounts of those with an eating disorder very similar to AN, except for the obvious lack of fat-phobia. Simpson presents reports of Chinese women suffering from A N who do not report fat-phobia. Rather, they attribute chronic epigastric bloating and a loss of appetite to their disinclination to eat (Simpson 2002, 68). In another(prenominal) case, a woman refuses to eat after being separated from her boyfriend, citing group AB discomforts and a disinterest in nutrition (Simpson 2002, 68). These psychosomatic symptoms are a result of somatization (Kleinman 1989, 57), where the illness symptoms of AN manifests from social problems, rather than any dissatisfaction of body shape. neurotic symptoms are commonly reported in the Chinese population and contribute to the etiology of AN, although they are not included in the DSM-IV criteria. Furthermore, some women from unprogressive unearthly fundamentalist backgrounds have been cited to abstain from food, as a result of their beliefs about food, the body, femininity and spirituality (Simpson 2002, 68). Similarly, Mogul discusses a case where an anorexic patient refused food and fasted to the poi nt of emaciation due to a religious belief that attainment of the highest spirituality and freedom from materialism came with a rejection of the temptations of food (Mogul 1980, 51). Thus, explaining AN within a Western cultural framework establishes a limited perspective of the disorder that does not take into account the personal, sociocultural factors within local biologies that contribute to various forms of AN.Ultimately, AN is not a universal disorder, but a transcultural disorder. AN should not be viewed within the confines of any one culture, but rather understood to be a cross-cultural phenomenon. Essentially, AN is a psychiatric disorder with multi-factorial causes, requiring the incorporation of the Western cultural preoccupation with fat-phobia and unrealistic body shape expectations and the cross-cultural psychological and sociocultural reasons within local biologies to arrive at a holistic and culture-sensitive definition.ReferencesRussell, Gerald F. M. 1970. Anorexia nervosa Its identity as an illness and its treatment. In Modern Trends in Psychological Medicine. Butterworths London.American Psychiatric Association. 1994. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Washington, DC AMA.Bordo, S. 1993. Unbearable tilt Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body. University of California Press.Simpson, K. J. 2002. Anorexia nervosa and culture. ledger of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. 9, 65-71.Shuriquie, N. 1999. have disorders a transcultural perspective. Eastern Mediterranean Health ledger. 5(2)354-360.Derenne, J. L. and Beresin, E. V. 2006. 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