Anorexia: Role of Media (Essay Sample)

Anorexia: The Role of Media
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Anorexia is a psychological disorder associated with low esteem and distressing physical consequences. The disorder leads to a unique response to variety of internal and external conflicts such as unhappiness, anxiety and stress.Altough this illness is mainly a dietary disorder, the media has provided false information about it leading to its rise in the society. The media has bombarded people with images and message reinforcing the view that people must be thin to be happy. It is almost impossible to flip through a newspaper or a magazine, listen to a radio, or switch on a television without being provoked with images discouraging fatness and obesityCITATION WSp04 \l 1033 (Spettigue & Henderson, 2004). This messages also rich kinds and this makes them obsessed about their weight. This causes most adolescents to eat poorly and inadequately in the name of reducing their weight.
Many examples have been obtained demonstrating how the media’s obsession with the thinness syndrome has played a major role in anorexia spread. In fact, a majority of television celebrities are not overweight. This personality gives the society an impression that thinness is beauty and vice versa. The media should therefore take responsibility for spreading and perpetuating the disorder CITATION Wyk05 \l 1033 (Wykes & Gunter, 2005). This step would help in lowering anorexia cases in the society.
Furthermore, the western media has greatly influenced the spread of anorexia by portraying the so called ideal body types in almost all programs they present. Social media has further greatly increased the prevalence of the illness.However,despite the media being highly blamed for its role in the increased spread of the disorder, it still has the power to control it CITATION Lev99 \l 1033 (Levine & Piran, 1999).Pro-anorexic websites have, for example, been formed to assist in provision of tips and advice on unnatural weight management. Another social site referred to as pinterest has prohibited the use of expressions, words and images that inspire people to be thin. It has instead taken an initiative of warning its users that the disorder is mental and should be treated to prevent severe health conditions.Obsiously, when magazines exaggerate thin bodies and social media sites put body adverts on dating pages, they instil fear in fat people. Furthermore, when media feature thin bodied models, they should always remind the society that such people mold their thin bodies with the assistance of personal trainers, plastic surgeons and nutritionists. This information will help enlightening people that assuming poor eating lifestyles can cause illnesses CITATION Kin00 \l 1033 (Kinoy, 2000).
In summary, the media can play a major role in the development, maintenance, prevention and treatment of anorexia. This is only possible if they are extremely cautious of the messages and images they display to the public. They must avoid conveying ...