Word: anorexia
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...male anorexia that Bruch observed was all prepubescent. She found the same desire for autonomy motivating these boys, and leading them to develop overambitious, hyperactive and perfectionist attitudes. Male anorexia, however, is overcome by the flood of hormones at puberty, which leads to new aggression and makes self-assertion possible...
Tully says that "the success of behavior modification in restoring and maintaining a satisfactory appetite in anorexics depends on the age of the patient and if you can work out the underlying stress." Doctors agree that the older the patient at the onset of anorexia, the lower the chance of success with any kind of treatment. The mortality rate can be as high as 50 per cent in older patients...
...actual psychological roots of anorexia, there is a great deal of disagreement from hospital to hospital. Each institution compares its anorexic patients, studies their case histories, and occasionally prepares reports on them. Each has a pet theory about the causes of the disease. Each seems to look specifically for its own pet causes in new anorexic patients, so the theories only become reinforced...
Sifneos, at Beth Israel, says anorexia may have its roots in a mother's problems with breast-feeding or feeding in general, while at McLean's Hospital in Belmont a study showed anorexics have a pattern of keeping secrets from their mothers...
...Jessica Osterheld practiced psychiatry at UHS for two and a half years, and personally saw three to six cases of anorexia a year. She sees the roots of the disease as being in the anorexic's battle for autonomy over her friends and parents. The disease is far more frequent in women than men, Osterheld says, because "our culture encourages anti-authoritarian behavior in males; there are other avenues where the male's autonomy can be fought...