Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia Nervosa is connected to some personality factors.  Parents with children that have the condition refer to them as perfect kids. The children tend to be perfectionists, attain high-performance levels, and can confine negative emotions. While assessing ways to maintain stability in the patients, their personality factors, malnutrition, and starvation can easily affect their response. This trait affects the results obtained in acute phases, making them less actual, before beginning or after recovering from the illness. Several studies have shown that patients with Anorexia Nervosa can avoid harm, low level of a self-drive, and high level of persistence.

A study was conducted to find out the personality factors and self-esteem of different patients with a varied outcome of childhood and adolescent-onset anorexia Nervosa. Several methods were used; questionnaires, Interviews, procedures on patients, and statistical analysis of the two groups (Halvorsen & Heyerdahl, 2006). The results obtained focused on five areas, personality, self-esteem, life satisfaction, effects of experience on sexual abuse, and severity Anorexia Nervosa in the acute phase.

Most of the former patients had no eating disorder; one half of the participants had achieved healthy eating attitudes. This group gave room for the study to focus on personality factors after recovery. There was a difference found in self-esteem, life satisfaction, and self-directedness. There was no difference in persistence and harm avoidance. Eating disorders were associated with low self-esteem, and in some situations, it led to depression. However, a follow up on former patients who had returned to healthy eating habits had a similar level of esteem while life satisfaction was low compared to the women from a study involving a large population.

With follow up, there was a high connotation between eating disorders and deviant personality factors. This shows that former patients that had less deviant premorbid personality traits may have a prognosis. There was a difference in outcome groups, and this was mostly attributed to self-directedness. Personality disorders have proven to be predicted by circumstances involving low scores. However, the study does not clarify the causal effect relationship on the patient with Anorexia Nervosa personality and their specific outcome.

Contrary to expectations, on follow up to the relation between measuring the severity of illness in the acute phase and personality factors were low. Children and adolescents are at risk of having life-threatening Anorexia Nervosa. If their outcome on eating disorders is good, they may develop standard personality features. In the Hunt study, former patients have low self-esteem compared to women. The relation between low self-esteem and eating problems in the study is similar to that of other similar studies. However, there is a piece of conflicting evidence whether eating disorders in low self-esteem is a psychiatric issue or if it is found in nonappearance of depression. The study supports the point that eating disorders and low self-esteem were related and also in scenarios of controlling depression and other disorders. There was no specific outcome of sexual abuse, and it can be a causal factor for vulnerability and trauma.

The study held more strength compared to other studies. The procedure was thorough, and patients received a systematic treatment in the program concerning the basic principles. There was a healthy group that was included for comparison. In conclusion, both children and adolescents had a positive outcome on their eating disorder developed a healthy personality and self-esteem in their adulthood. The study showed that eating disorders are associated with low levels of self-esteem, and for life satisfaction to be achieved, self-esteem is an essential factor to people that initially had Anorexia Nervosa.