Anorexa Nervosa Essay

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Anorexia Nervosa: The Nurse’s Role In an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Yager, Andersen,& Arnold (2005) a scenario was used to describe a psychiatric condition seen in some adolescents. 17-year-old girl is taken to her physician by worried patient. Never overweight, in the past six months she became determined to reduce from her baseline weight of 59.1 kg (130 lbs). Her height is 1.7m (5 ft 6 in.); her body max index (the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) is 21. Through dieting and exercise, she lost 13.6 kg (30 lbs) and stopped menstruating four months ago; her current body-mass index is 16. She denies having any problems and is annoyed that her parents, friends, and teachers are concerned. (p. 1) The scenario presents a situation indicative of an Anorexia Nervosa disorder. Anorexia Nervosa can have very serious medical complications that will require medical interventions. Psychiatric-mental health nursing will play an important role in aiding our 17 year old girl to achieve optimal level of health. How can the role of the nurse in a psychiatric setting assist this girl achieve a full recovery? Wikipedia (2013) Sir William Gull identified and named Anorexia Nervosa in 1873. The name literally means loss of appetite. (p. 1) “Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder in which the person experiences hunger but refuses to eat because of a distorted body image leading to a self-perceptions of fatness” (Stuart & Laraia, 1998, p. 855). Individuals who suffer from this condition do not experience a loss of appetite, but rather deny their body the nutrients, and the subsistence in needs to function properly. “Anorexia nervosa appears at a rate of 80-85%, in young women at the age of 12-25 years old.” Wozniak, Rekleiti & Roupa, 2012, p. 1) Based on a fact sheet from a

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