Social media addiction and the allure of popularity are driving young people towards anorexia

Gastroenterology Specialist Prof. Dr. Vedat Göral said that anorexia and similar diseases result in death and said, "Emotional collapse, emotional weakness, abandonment, peer pressure, not being liked, and highlighting beauty elements on social media can create certain deficiencies in a person. Even though he is of normal weight, he feels overweight. He starts not eating. When he does not eat, weight loss and malfunctions occur in all organs."

Referring to the types of food that people with these diseases purge, Göral said, "Sometimes the person tries to make himself vomit. He tries to remove water from the body by using diuretic drugs. Sometimes he tries to lose weight by giving himself diarrhea by using drugs that we call laxatives. This is extremely wrong."

Göral stated that the biggest problem they have with patients is their refusal to accept treatment and continued as follows: "Even if we treat them well, they still find themselves overweight. Even if they are under normal weight, they see themselves as fat. We provide treatments accompanied by psychotherapy. There is no classical treatment, treatment varies from person to person. If the patient's general condition is bad, it is better to hospitalize them. Because some tests need to be done. These tests include sugar, kidney, liver functions, ultrasounds, and if necessary, endoscopy and colonoscopy to see if there is another disease or if it is anorexia. The greatest support in treatment is the support of the person and their environment. The person will believe in the treatment."

Göral, who emphasized that anorexia patients cannot get rid of the disease during the treatment period because they do not want it, said, "Anorexia is a psychological disorder in medicine and the disease with the highest mortality rate. Suicide occurs sooner or later. They reject themselves. Therefore, it is necessary to diagnose this early. But it is very difficult to save a person who has anorexia and has dropped to 25 kilos."

Pointing out that organ failure occurs in the body due to anorexia, Göral said that from this stage onwards, it becomes more difficult to save the patient.

Mental Health and Diseases Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Taha Can Tuman also stated that eating disorders are caused by environmental, socioeconomic and cultural factors as well as genetic factors, and that especially on social media, the idealization and encouragement of thinness and the perception of it as equivalent to beauty open the door to eating disorders.

Tuman stated that the perception of a thin individual, idealized in the posts made by some social media users and in some brand advertisements, leads to diseases such as anorexia or bulimia in social media users, and emphasized that the most deadly of these diseases is anorexia.

Tuman, who stated that anorexia is a disease that develops with body dissatisfaction, body image distortion, the person's perception of their body as overweight despite losing weight, excessive fear of gaining weight and excessive restriction of calorie intake, said, "These people may be extremely afraid of gaining weight and eating. In order not to gain weight, they may engage in unhealthy behaviors such as starving for long periods, restricting calories or eating meals according to calorie count. After a certain period of time, when the body mass index drops below a certain level, medical complications may begin to occur."

Tuman said, "In particular, the encouragement of excessive thinness should be prevented. Being excessively thin is not a beauty, and can sometimes cause medical complications. Sometimes, having unhealthy diets for the sake of being extremely thin and determining our diet by targeting excessive thinness in general can harm our health."

Tuman, who also touched on social media addiction and anxiety about being liked, noted the following: "Excessive anxiety about being liked, sharing more as you get more likes, and sharing similar posts to posts that get likes by other individuals, create a tendency especially in terms of social media addiction. Staying in real life, evaluating that social media is only a small part of life and establishing healthy relationships in real life will have a protective effect on mental health in general. Reducing the time we spend on social media, staying in real life more, developing healthy interpersonal relationships will contribute to being happier and having healthier functions. We need to know that social media addiction also creates a tendency to depression, sleep disorders and other anxiety disorders."

Nutrition and Diet Expert Asya Naz Al stated that anorexia patients eat only 100-200 calories a day and sometimes do not even drink water, while bulimia patients binge eat and then feel remorse and vomit the food they have eaten.

Pointing out that the starting point of these diseases is psychological, Al said regarding the treatment process, "We look at the extent of the disease or how many years our patient has been trying to cope with it. If it is at the very beginning, our nutritional treatment can proceed a little more easily. If we have a very serious eating disorder such as anorexia or even an advanced condition such as hospitalization, we apply a more serious nutritional treatment."

Al explained that while drawing a roadmap for the patient's treatment, they initially eliminate the vitamins that are depleted in the body, but they do not suddenly load the body with vitamins and nutrients, and said: "If we suddenly load the body because it has come out of a very long period of hunger, it encounters a syndrome called refeeding syndrome. The results of this syndrome can go as far as sudden cardiac arrest. We try to avoid this. Our priority is never to make the patient gain weight. It is to rebuild a damaged metabolism. We target the amount of energy required for the organs to function. If we do not experience any problems here, we aim for gradual weight gain."

Stating that anorexia patients are afraid of eating, and therefore cannot immediately consume high-calorie foods such as cake and pastry, Al said, "We need to find foods that the patient is comfortable with or finds safe. These are usually vegetables or fruits. Patients feel safe here because they are easier to digest and have fewer calories. Let's think of patients like a small baby. First of all, if we are going to give vegetables, fruits or small amounts of protein, we can start with eggs. We never give such products that are difficult to digest directly."

Al added that the process is very long and arduous, and that treatment can take up to 1 year.