Is Anorexia really a disease?

With anything where the main symptoms are behavioural, it is very easy for onlookers to say "well just stop doing it". However when the illness/disorder (or whatever you want to call it) also affects your motivation and willpower to resist etc, then it is not so easy.
 
About as effective as teeling someone with OCD to just stop it, or someone with depression to snap out of it
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But those two are Genetic in Nature. Anorexia, as far as i am concerned, is not
 
Nosi said:
Body dismorphic disorder often goes hand in hand with bulimia & anorexia. Someone with body dismorphic disorder sees oneself as something different than what is reflected in the mirror. An example could be a hideously fat or fat reflection, or perhaps a plump one even when they really look like a starvation victim in reality.
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But does their vision differ from Non-anorexics? Do they see things that are not there? Is it more of a case in which they actually see themselves as fat, or do they THINK they see themselves as fat?
 
Nosi said:
Cigarettes have chemicals that are addictive physically. That makes it harder to quit, and some people have more sensitivity to these chemicals, others have addictive personalities.

:mad:
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If it were just the nicotine addiction, it wouldn't be near as hard to quit. There are ways to administer nicotine effectively to satisfy that addiction.

The bigger problem is the habit itself. Some people crack their knuckles, or bite their nails, or gamble (or that girl on SNL who stuck her hands under her armpits and sniffed them). And then some people smoke. These physical habits are very hard to break, and go well beyond chemical dependence.

Personally, I tend to view smoking more comparable to a gambling addiction than to a drug addiction. It's an addictive behavior, as well as the chemical addiction. That's why it is so damn hard to break.
 
makaya325 said:
But does their vision differ from Non-anorexics? Do they see things that are not there? Is it more of a case in which they actually see themselves as fat, or do they THINK they see themselves as fat?
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Perception is a littl more complex than that:
1. There are hallucinations which are perceptions that are not related to sensory input.
2. There are stange things that the brain does as well like: filling in the blind spot in your visual field, cover one eye, look at something, do yousee the hole where the optic nerve runs through the retina? No, you don't. Why not? Because ethe brain makes it up and fill is in.
3. Then there is the contextual associations of perception, these are more plastic but not always.

So why do you credit that OCD has an organic cause but not anorexia, how do you decide one is a dysregulation of the brain and the other is not?
 
So why do you credit that OCD has an organic cause but not anorexia, how do you decide one is a dysregulation of the brain and the other is not?
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Because OCD is documented as Genetic in origin, while Anorexia's origin is controversial
 
Why does something being genetic or not decide whether it is a disease? Type 1 diabetes is mainly genetic whereas type 2 diabetes is mainly related to lifestyle/environmental factors. They are still both diseases.
 
Unless anorexics literally see themselves as fat in the mirror, then i see a cultural origin, not a genetic one
 
Professor Yaffle said:
Why does something being genetic or not decide whether it is a disease? Type 1 diabetes is mainly genetic whereas type 2 diabetes is mainly related to lifestyle/environmental factors. They are still both diseases.
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Of course all diseases must be genetic, that is why no on would ever classify an infection or cancer as a disease.
 
Epok said:
Maybe I should have said "countries or regions that suffer from famine or food shortages". That is another reason that fueled my belief that its not a disease in the sense that cancer is a disease.
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And cancer is not a disease in the sense that psychosis is a disease. What's your point ?
 
makaya325 said:
Unless anorexics literally see themselves as fat in the mirror, then i see a cultural origin, not a genetic one
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That's a false dichotomy. There can be more reasons for a disease than those 2.

This may be a good point for you to read up on some of the research being done in this area. I didn't want to copy and paste a big chunk here. There are different lines of thought about anorexia and different lines of research.

http://books.google.com/books?id=qZ...e&q=research body perception anorexia&f=false
 
A.A.Alfie said:
Epok said:
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 ....

The world Health Organisation (WHO) recognises Aloholism, drug addiction and AN etc all as diseases or illnesses. Can you believe this body and accept their judgement?
It seems to me that if we look at the definition of a disease they all fall into the disease category quite snuggly. Here's one definition as an example - there are 00s more
'.. an impairment of health or a condition of abnormal functioning..'
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

It seems to me that because of your history as (probably) a problem drinker that managed to overcome your problem you consider anyone else who cannot as weak willed or similar.

It is because you are not one who suffers with one of these conditions nor work in a related field, that your beliefs come from a position of zero empathy and even less understanding.

Frankly, it seems to me that a lot of people have spent a lot of time and effort in trying to explain logically, medically, anecdotally, theoretically and metaphorically the reasons why your assumptions and biases are incorrect.

Please tell us what will satisfy you (or have I missed something)?
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I won't be satisfied until the devil trades me my soul for world domination.

You are right about me not having empathy. I have dealt with a lot of people who just make excuses for not making the right decisions. I know its hard to do the right thing when desire can push you to make bad decisions but I have no respect for people who hurt those around them and then try to blame it on a disease.
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Epok said:
A.A.Alfie said:
I won't be satisfied until the devil trades me my soul for world domination.

You are right about me not having empathy. I have dealt with a lot of people who just make excuses for not making the right decisions. I know its hard to do the right thing when desire can push you to make bad decisions but I have no respect for people who hurt those around them and then try to blame it on a disease.
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You have been shown over and over again that your judgement of this is at the BEST possible interpretation uneducated and judgmental crap, and then you come back saying this? Do you have difficulty with reading comprehension, or just decided not to read any posts that disagreed with what you had determined to be "the truth" prior to your opening post?
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LissaLysikan said:
Epok said:
You have been shown over and over again that your judgement of this is at the BEST possible interpretation uneducated and judgmental crap, and then you come back saying this? Do you have difficulty with reading comprehension, or just decided not to read any posts that disagreed with what you had determined to be "the truth" prior to your opening post?
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I have decided that any post that doesn't bring any info but tries to insult me is feeding my ego and bringing me closer to the dark side.
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Epok said:
LissaLysikan said:
I have decided that any post that doesn't bring any info but tries to insult me is feeding my ego and bringing me closer to the dark side.
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Not trying to insult, trying to get you to go back and read those posts you skipped that showed you that you were wrong. There are people that use their handicaps as excuses for not doing anything to improve their lives - but that doesn't mean the handicap itself doesn't exist or is not serious. You started out with the view that because you know someone that uses it as an excuse then all it is, is an excuse and not a valid disorder/disease. When shown in many different ways that it IS a valid disorder/disease you come back and say you think it's just an excuse, as if no one had posted since your opening. Did you expect people to respond to that with RESPECT?
I'm severely autistic, Turner Syndrome, and a few other minor genetic difficulties that made the doctors say I wouldn't survive being born, wouldn't live past 12, wouldn't live past 20, etc. I'm still here. I hide in my forest and when people ask why I tell them - not as an excuse, but as an explanation. From your point of view (guessing from your posts - I don't know you) I am "just making excuses" why I won't go out where there are people. Because you do not understand does not mean I can "will" my mind to allow me to be near people - your lack of understanding extends only to you.
I do not know the anorexic you speak of, so I can not say if that one specifically is using the diagnosis as an excuse to be weird and possibly even using it for the sympathy card. But I do know that your responses on this thread show that you are using that particular person as proof that your self-righteous ego is correct in spite of all evidence to the contrary.
If I hurt your feelings, good - it means you actually read at least part of what I said. If I didn't hurt your feelings and you see no reason to re-evaluate what you have read, oh well, not everyone can learn.
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