History of Anorexia Nervosa
The history of anorexia nervosa actually goes back a long way. Anorexia was first described back in 1684 but it was not until 1870 that it was identified and described with its own diagnoses. This ‘new disease’ was not studied much so there was not much information on it. This was believed to be because it was not known that it was that big of a problem. It wasn’t until the 1970's and 1980's that scientists actually saw it as a major growing problem. Society has instilled in people that they needed to be thin in order to succeed and people began to fall victim of anorexia and other eating disorders. Many people felt that they had to lose weight and be ‘skinny’ like the models, actresses, actors, and other celebrities in order to succeed in life. In 1974 there was a report about young women and how they refused to eat but it was not clear that the eating disorder problem had escalated to a dangerous level in society. It was not known just how dangerous the disease could be if the victim did not receive treatment in time. In 1978 Hilde Bruch wrote a book on Anorexia Nervosa titled “The golden Cage”. In the book she wrote about 70 real cases of anorexic victims and she included testimonials. Hilde also made the statement that anorexia was so frequent that it had become a problem in most colleges and universities. The need to be thin had blown out of proportion. A clinical research in the 70's indicated that the anorexia problem was related to the culture and society we live in. The disease is most common in the western countries and has continued to grow even today. There have been over 8 million diagnosed cases of anorexia of anorexia and other eating disorders so far.
There was no real study done on anorexia until the death of Karen Carpenter in 1983. Karen was only 32 years old and a very well loved singer in the 70's and 80's. She had been receiving treatment for anorexia and it was believed that she was going to make a full recovery when she suddenly died from a heart attack. It was a rude awakening to the public and to the scientists. Since then there has been more study done on the disease but there has not been enough yet. The public needs to be aware of the danger of the disease so they can help those they love. The treatment needs to be diagnosed and treated BEFORE the damage has been done to the body so in order to do that everyone, including the young people need to know the dangers of the disease.
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