PHOTO ESSAY

Anneliese Wrahtz

Photo Essay on Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia

Millions of Americans suffer from harmful eating disorders brought on by self hate and low self worth. There is a handful or eating disorders such as binging and purging, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Eating disorders are especially prevalent among teenage girls who feel intense pressure by peers and influences to look and be a certain way. These eating disorders do great physical harm but also emotional harm because a person's self esteem lowers to a point or believing they are not worthy or deserving of anything. This topic is relevant in 2017 because the number of eating disorders is increasing and awareness needs to spread about this. 

I think this is a really important topic because I know people who have suffered from eating disorders, some more serious than others. Having a positive relationship with food is very important for health. Some people are so concerned about gaining weight that they will skip meals and under eat and some people have a hard time knowing when they have eaten enough or how to nutritionally balance their meals. Education on food health is very important so youth can emerge into adulthood with the right information on how to take care of their bodies. Through my photos I am trying to convey the emotion and thoughts of a person suffering from an eating disorder. The photos express what that person's meals and daily life look like, their feelings, and suffering. Hopefully these photos leave the viewer with a sense of awareness for eating disorders and will know the signs of a person who is suffering and might have some insight on that person's life. 

NOTE: THESE PHOTOS HAVE BEEN EDITED TO APPEAR THINNER THAN IN REALITY! THIS STUDENT DOES NOT SUFFER FROM A REAL EATING DISORDER!

"She has dreams to be an envy so she's starving, you know covergirls eat nothing"

Teenage girls are influenced by a variety of sources such as the people they spend the bulk of their time around, social media and school. Girls constantly compare themselves to one another and wish to change qualities they can not control about theirselves. 

Beauty standards are high for teen girls. A girl's confidence is impacted by her influences and people who make harmful comments about her acne, dark circles or imperfections. Make up can help to bring a girl confidence but is makeup really bringing her confidence when that girl hates herself without it?

Many girls feel an immense pressure to have a perfect body. How a person defines the perfect body varies from the next but when are person is so set on hating how they look, they will never achieve the perfect body because satisfaction comes from self love. 

The rejections of food, no matter if healthy food or unhealthy is a serious eating disorder. Girls with this eating disorder starve themselves so they will loss weight. They are so concerned about gaining weight or being conceived as fat that they are willing to physically deprive their body of basic human needs. 

Some girls turn to weight loss supplements to help them loss weight. With vigorous exercise, lack of calories and nutrition, and added weight loss supplements, hundreds of girls in America die every year from organ failure and starvation. 

Eating disorders can branch from depression brought on by feelings of unworthiness. The impact of a single comment can drive a person over the edge. You never know what a person is going through or what a difference a smile can do in that person's day. 

Bulimia is a one of the most serious eating disorders where a person is compelled to rid their body of the food they previously consumed. This can cause physical damage to the body and stomach. 

Teenage girls highlight their insecurities in their own privacy and are hardest on themselves even when others may perceive them as completely normal. 

Eating disorders are as much mental as they are physical. You never know the hurt a person is enduring or the events they have experienced. Ask any girl and she will tell you she has been made to feel less than or imperfect before. A person's self esteem is so important because that is how a person views themself and their worth. 

8 million Americans suffer from anorexia nervosa, many of which are able to receive help and rebuild their relationship to food and many of which suffer for years before dying from the effects of the disorder or committing suicide.  Eating disorders can be cured. If you see someone suffering, reach out because you could really help that person.