Eating Disorders-Anorexia Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example

Eating Disorders-Anorexia Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a rare and deadly psychological illness due to several medical complications. Individuals diagnosed with AN experience significant physical and psychological difficulties (Higgins, 2018). The primary symptoms include low body weight, weight gain phobia, engaging in behaviors that limit weight gain, and an abnormal concern about body shape and weight (Higgins, 2018). Consequently, individuals diagnosed with AN often resort to self-starvation or misuse of laxatives or diuretics. (Eating Disorders-Anorexia Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

It is not surprising that AN is characterized as a brain disorder.  While research on AN’s neurobiology is still limited, studies have shown that individuals diagnosed with AN develop phobic food avoidance even after recovery, and they fail to connect hunger cues to positive feedback for food (Higgins, 2018). Individuals experience altered eating patterns leading to malnutrition and cerebral dehydration, which reduces the volumes of white and gray matter in the brain and associated brain abnormalities. (Eating Disorders-Anorexia Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

Generally, research concurs that limbic and neural circuits that regulate appetitive, reward processing, and emotionality are significantly affected in individuals diagnosed with AN (Higgins, 2018). Moreover, alteration in the anterior insula is associated with a deficit in interoceptive awareness, leading to an altered sense of smell, denial of malnutrition signs, and unmotivated to change eating behavior. Together, these psychological/brain abnormalities, change in structure and function due to prolonged malnutrition contribute to AN characterization as a brain disorder. (Eating Disorders-Anorexia Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

An appropriate AN treatment plan should include the pharmacological intervention of the underlying cause of loss of appetites such as acidity, TB, or gastritis (Bang et al., 2017). Furthermore, an effective AN treatment intervention should include a psychoeducation program for the affected individual to increase their understanding of the disorder and motivate them to overcome self-destructive behaviors and anxieties that limit weight gain. Equally, involving and educating families is vital in encouraging patients and helping families to support their loved one. (Eating Disorders-Anorexia Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)