Is Anorexia really a disease?

[Epok]

I am currently in a debate with a friend who is/has suffered from anorexia. She claims it is a disease and I do not on the grounds that it is a conscious action that you have conditioned yourself for. Similar to Alcoholism. I know a lot of experts and psychologists consider it a disease but I don't have a good reason to believe it for a few reasons: its not like testing for cancer or schizophrenia, people say "its a disease" seemingly as an excuse to not own up to their own actions (similar to the way alcoholics and addicts do), the pity factor with which sufferers seem to love, and the fact that you are not born with it or that you are consciously hurting yourself for selfish reasons (again the same way alcoholics, addicts and even cutters do).

I have been told I am very callous on the issue. I admit I do not have much sympathy for anorexics due to the fact that I have dealt with so many people who use the "disease excuse" as a crutch for continuing on with their damaging behavior.

 

[INRM]

From what it would seem, it kind of seems to have a similarity to OCD in many respects.

 

[paximperium]

It's technically a "Disorder" using the medical definition.
But your reasoning to reject it is nonsense. It is diagnosed EXACTLY like schizophrenia or cancer using set criteria. It's about the equivalent of going to a Major Depressed person and telling them to "suck it up!!!".

Frankly, alcoholism and anorexia's end result is disease and death so I don't get your point at all.

 

[paximperium]

From what it would seem, it kind of seems to have a similarity to OCD in many respects.

Does OCD lead to death?

 

[INRM]

Pax Imperium

Depends on the obsession

 

[paximperium]

Pax Imperium

Depends on the obsession

Such as?

 

[Earthborn]

it is a conscious action that you have conditioned yourself for.

That's no reason to claim that something isn't a disease.

Similar to Alcoholism.

Addiction is a disease.

I know a lot of experts and psychologists consider it a disease but I don't have a good reason to believe it for a few reasons: its not like testing for cancer or schizophrenia, people say "its a disease" seemingly as an excuse to not own up to their own actions

Those are not reasons to disbelieve that something is not a disease. You would do better to believe that lot of experts and psychologists, because they are the ones who decide what does and does not count as a disease.

I have been told I am very callous on the issue. I admit I do not have much sympathy for anorexics due to the fact that I have dealt with so many people who use the "disease excuse" as a crutch for continuing on with their damaging behavior.

Do they use it "as a crutch for continuing on with their damaging behaviour", or do they use it to explain why it is so difficult for them to stop their damaging behaviour?

 

[Safe-Keeper]

I find the OP post rather judgemental and ignorant, to be honest. For example, the line about the "the pity factor with which sufferers seem to love"... of course many anorexia sufferers like to be cared for. This doesn't make them different from leukaemia sufferers, diabetes sufferers, asthma sufferers or pneumonia sufferers. There's nothing selfish about the need for affection when suffering from what is undoubtedly the most deadly disorder in the world and the third highest cause of death among young European girls (with only accidents and cancer achieving higher death rates).

 

[godless dave]

I am currently in a debate with a friend who is/has suffered from anorexia. She claims it is a disease and I do not on the grounds that it is a conscious action that you have conditioned yourself for.

I've bolded the part where your major misconception lies. Human psychology isn't nearly that simple.

The other poster is correct that "disorder" is more accurate than "disease".

 

[Dancing David]

I am currently in a debate with a friend who is/has suffered from anorexia. She claims it is a disease and I do not on the grounds that it is a conscious action that you have conditioned yourself for. Similar to Alcoholism. I know a lot of experts and psychologists consider it a disease but I don't have a good reason to believe it for a few reasons: its not like testing for cancer or schizophrenia,

There is a 'test' for scizophrenia, don't make me laugh. You use the same interviews for schizophrenia and anorexia.

people say "its a disease" seemingly as an excuse to not own up to their own actions (similar to the way alcoholics and addicts do), the pity factor with which sufferers seem to love, and the fact that you are not born with it or that you are consciously hurting yourself for selfish reasons (again the same way alcoholics, addicts and even cutters do).

Your lack of understanding of anorexia is appalling. Stay away from counseling and any sort of mental health treatment as a profession and hope YOU never have a mental illness.

Any evidence that YOU HAVE that there is not a biological vulnerability or just your grandiose delusions that you 'know' things?

I have been told I am very callous on the issue. I admit I do not have much sympathy for anorexics due to the fact that I have dealt with so many people who use the "disease excuse" as a crutch for continuing on with their damaging behavior.

Wow, shame people much for mental health issues? Please don'y go picking on the schizophrenics.

Anorexia is a category of anxiety disorder and all your moral code of justice will not change the fact that is is a biological mental illness. But I am sure you laugh at all the people with OCD as well.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

 

[Dancing David]

Does OCD lead to death?

It can, especially if you are obsessed with self harm, yuck , people shoving objects in wounds and the like.

 

[paximperium]

It can, especially if you are obsessed with self harm, yuck , people shoving objects in wounds and the like.

I thought most of those were associated with other disorders like Borderline, Depression and other psychoses?

 

[Riayn]

I agree with the other posters that anorexia is a disorder rather than what would be typically classed as a disease. However, someone with anorexia just can't "get over it". Their brain and therefore their way of thinking has been compromised and to get it back into a normal way of thinking requires years of therapy and much hard work by the patient themselves - just like many other forms of mental illness.

To me telling someone with anorexia to "get over it" would be the same as telling someone with cancer the same thing.

 

[gnome]

I think there is a misconception that when something is labeled a disorder that it removes responsibility from the person who has it. I don't think anything could be further from the truth. Maybe someone more versed in mental health can clarify, but as I see it a disorder is any identifiable behavioral pattern that is harmful to the subject--whether by leading them to harm themselves, or because their behavior has consequences to their life, for example by separating them from friends and family, or creating obstacles to their life management.

Again, as I see it, they can be identified as clinical disorders, in which case something is physiologically wrong with the subject, or a personality disorder, which has no physical pathology (if I'm using the term correctly). The purpose of identifying them is not to invalidate negative reactions from others when faced with the behavior--it is to learn about the problem and determine what works for solving it and what doesn't.

When I hear people exclaim frustratedly that "everything's a disorder now!" I think they're missing the point and feel they're not allowed to be angry with a person exhibiting, say, antisocial behavior.

 

[Dr. Tobias Fünke]

I am currently in a debate with a friend who is/has suffered from anorexia. She claims it is a disease and I do not on the grounds that it is a conscious action that you have conditioned yourself for. Similar to Alcoholism. I know a lot of experts and psychologists consider it a disease but I don't have a good reason to believe it for a few reasons: its not like testing for cancer or schizophrenia, people say "its a disease" seemingly as an excuse to not own up to their own actions (similar to the way alcoholics and addicts do), the pity factor with which sufferers seem to love, and the fact that you are not born with it or that you are consciously hurting yourself for selfish reasons (again the same way alcoholics, addicts and even cutters do).

I have been told I am very callous on the issue. I admit I do not have much sympathy for anorexics due to the fact that I have dealt with so many people who use the "disease excuse" as a crutch for continuing on with their damaging behavior.

People die from it, so, yes it is.

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/anorexia-body-neglected

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anorexia_nervosa

 

[athon]

I am currently in a debate with a friend who is/has suffered from anorexia. She claims it is a disease and I do not on the grounds that it is a conscious action that you have conditioned yourself for. Similar to Alcoholism. I know a lot of experts and psychologists consider it a disease but I don't have a good reason to believe it for a few reasons: its not like testing for cancer or schizophrenia, people say "its a disease" seemingly as an excuse to not own up to their own actions (similar to the way alcoholics and addicts do), the pity factor with which sufferers seem to love, and the fact that you are not born with it or that you are consciously hurting yourself for selfish reasons (again the same way alcoholics, addicts and even cutters do).

I have been told I am very callous on the issue. I admit I do not have much sympathy for anorexics due to the fact that I have dealt with so many people who use the "disease excuse" as a crutch for continuing on with their damaging behavior.

There is no clear definition of the word 'disease' which is concise and appeals to everybody. There is no technical distinction, effectively, that separates condition from disorder from disease. They're are virtually synonyms, for medical purposes.

Pathologically speaking, disease refers to any abnormal functioning of an organism that leads to a reduction in fitness. Of course, this simply leads to questions of what defines normality...

However, it is a good starting place. The obvious question is therefore whether the processes defining eating behaviour can be described as functions. I fail to see where consciousness comes into that. If you consciously choose to abstain from eating, I'd still say that's a neurological function that has gone awry.

Yes, people do use the term disease as an excuse. My father was a prime example - he constantly referred to his alcoholism as a disease as if it insinuated that added biological component connoted by the term excused him of his behaviour. Of course, we are still responsible for our physiology and its impact on others, regardless of whether that physiology includes the neurology of conscious thought or not.

Athon

 

[athon]

I think there is a misconception that when something is labeled a disorder that it removes responsibility from the person who has it. I don't think anything could be further from the truth. Maybe someone more versed in mental health can clarify, but as I see it a disorder is any identifiable behavioral pattern that is harmful to the subject--whether by leading them to harm themselves, or because their behavior has consequences to their life, for example by separating them from friends and family, or creating obstacles to their life management.

Personally, I think it's a tough call. The problem lies less in whether a person can be considered responsible for an action or not, but rather the consequences of what that responsibility actually means.

The law considers circumstances of mental incapacitation when sentences are passed down for certain criminal acts, for instance. Responsibility is tied intrinsically with guilt - if a rock falls on your head accidentally and kills you, somebody can rightfully say that rock was responsible for your death.

However, when conscious choice comes into it, people do this weird thing when they sympathise with the action and judge it from that perspective. We have a habit of then judging the action from a moral viewpoint, as if those morals are universal. So the word 'responsible' is loaded with a lot of baggage.

Athon

 

[LissaLysikan]

I could be wrong, but it is my understanding that it doesn't come to be a "disorder" until the person is not fully in control. Like addiction - they are not addicted when they go to the pub every night, but have no trouble passing it up when given a reason they consider sufficiently compelling. The "addiction" is when they can't pass it up, even when they try to. They eventually talk themselves into doing it in spite of compelling reasons not to.
(pardon the simplistic way of phrasing - I hope the meaning made it through)

 

[paximperium]

There is no clear definition of the word 'disease' which is concise and appeals to everybody. There is no technical distinction, effectively, that separates condition from disorder from disease. They're are virtually synonyms, for medical purposes.

Pathologically speaking, disease refers to any abnormal functioning of an organism that leads to a reduction in fitness. Of course, this simply leads to questions of what defines normality...

Partially right it is used almost interchangebly in medicine but most medical text and especially diagnostic guidelines try to be as specific as possible. The delineation of disorder from disease tends to be underlying etiology of the condition.

A disease is usually attributable to an actual organ or physiological disfunction. A disorder is usually used to define a disruption in function, often social.

An example:
Mr X believes trolls live under his bed. That is abnormal but it does not affect his work, life or anything that he does.
Mr X believes trolls live under his bed and is unable to touch the floor or leave his house. This is a disorder since it has disrupted his daily life.
Mr X has a brain tumor that causes him to believe trolls live under his bead. The brain tumor is the disease. The delusion is the disorder.

 

[Rolfe]

Mmmm.

"Anorexia" is a presenting sign.

"Anorexia nervosa" is a psychiatric illness.

[/pedant]

Rolfe.