How Anorexia Relates to Ocd and Depression
The Battle of Anorexia
One CBS News story written by Daniel Schorn tells the story of Kennedy Pieken, a girl who was just four years old when she began battling the effects of anorexia. Doctors at the Omaha Children’s Hospital suggest that her eating disorder was triggered by changes in her brain that occurred after she suffered strep throat. It was suspected that the trigger was present through genetics because her mother, Jodi Pieken, spent years battling anorexia herself. By the time Kennedy was seven, she had been in and out of the hospital more than three times because her symptoms were not improving. At such a young age this became a life or death situation for Kennedy, as she lost more than five pounds. As stated by her mother, “The way she was going, I was afraid she was going to die. I mean her hair was falling out. She looked awful.” The stress of watching her daughter suffer through the same thing as she did once before, caused Jodi’s symptoms began to relapse. Jodi went through a great deal of pain outside of the health effects caused by anorexia. She began to withdraw from her family as well as falling behind in work and other engagements; all symptoms of depression. Anorexia is a harmful disorder that debilitates patients with various negative health effects and co-disorders such as, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Clinical Depression. Lorraine Salvage, author of Eating Disorders, describes eating disorders as “serious disturbances in eating behavior, such as extreme and unhealthy reduction of food intake or severe overeating, as well as feelings of distress of extreme concern about body shape or weight.” The specific eating disorder, anorexia nervosa is when people intentionally starve themselves with their mind set on losing weight. The Mayo Clinic Staff states that patients experiencing anorexia maintain a body weight that is far below normal for their particular height and age.
One CBS News story written by Daniel Schorn tells the story of Kennedy Pieken, a girl who was just four years old when she began battling the effects of anorexia. Doctors at the Omaha Children’s Hospital suggest that her eating disorder was triggered by changes in her brain that occurred after she suffered strep throat. It was suspected that the trigger was present through genetics because her mother, Jodi Pieken, spent years battling anorexia herself. By the time Kennedy was seven, she had been in and out of the hospital more than three times because her symptoms were not improving. At such a young age this became a life or death situation for Kennedy, as she lost more than five pounds. As stated by her mother, “The way she was going, I was afraid she was going to die. I mean her hair was falling out. She looked awful.” The stress of watching her daughter suffer through the same thing as she did once before, caused Jodi’s symptoms began to relapse. Jodi went through a great deal of pain outside of the health effects caused by anorexia. She began to withdraw from her family as well as falling behind in work and other engagements; all symptoms of depression. Anorexia is a harmful disorder that debilitates patients with various negative health effects and co-disorders such as, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Clinical Depression. Lorraine Salvage, author of Eating Disorders, describes eating disorders as “serious disturbances in eating behavior, such as extreme and unhealthy reduction of food intake or severe overeating, as well as feelings of distress of extreme concern about body shape or weight.” The specific eating disorder, anorexia nervosa is when people intentionally starve themselves with their mind set on losing weight. The Mayo Clinic Staff states that patients experiencing anorexia maintain a body weight that is far below normal for their particular height and age.