Name: Anoreixa is the most lethal mental illness
Uploaded: 2025-06-17T17:03:33.000Z
Duration: 4 min 15 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Adverbs of degree

I'm really concerned that my friend has an eating disorder.

Adverbs of manner

Well, statistically, 9% of the US population will have an eating disorder in their lifetime.

But not your friend, she's totally not going to die.

Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, 5% die within four years of diagnosis.

With suicide being the second leading cause of death, patients with anorexia have a risk of suicide 18 times higher.

I'm sorry, I don't want to alarm you, but these are the facts and it's very scary, it's very serious.

Well, I noticed some odd behavior around food, and I was also reading you don't have to be underweight to have anorexia.

A study found that 31% of its teen patients had all cognitive features and physical complications of the disease without being underweight.

And that actually being underweight is usually a sign of a long-term eating disorder.

And it is important to note, though it's classified as a woman's disease very often, men and non-binary people suffer from it too.

Oh man, and like, I just feel so bad because she's had such a hard life, you know, starting with her childhood.

That makes sense, recent research, actually, this is fascinating, it suggests that distinct patterns of childhood trauma are linked to specific eating disorder diagnosis.

So patients with binge eating disorders were more likely to report a history of physical abuse, patients with bulimia nervosa were more likely to report household substance abuse, etc.

So it's important that we also take a trauma-based approach to healing eating disorders and not just behavioral.

I did see a study that in anorexia, the brain's reward response to taste was tied to high anxiety, which then makes food avoidance worse and perpetuates the disease.

Yes, and in one of the largest studies today, research revealed that anorexia leads to dramatic changes in brain structure.

Based on 1,648 female brain scans, researchers found decreases in cortical thickness, subcortical volumes and cortical surface area, the brain essentially shrinks down.

Her body is shrinking, her brain is shrinking.

Well, according to people in the treatment field, it's helpful to eliminate any conversations around food morality, dieting, weight and negative body comments.

You want to focus on expressing empathy, and if you're very concerned, you can let them know that you're worried and encourage them to seek help and offer to go with them while they do.

Whenever we go out to dinner, you barely order anything, and you just take a few bites off of each dish.

Oh my god, bestie, you're right, oh my, that is so sweet of you.

The reason I don't eat when we go to dinner is because I eat my dinner at 5:30 p.m. like a grandma.

And you want to have dinner at 7:00 p.m. like a psycho youth.

So I get to the restaurant early, I order what I want, I read my book, and then when you come along, it's just like conversation and tea time.

And then I also do take little bites of what you order too because.

Well, you, you know we can have dinner at 5:30.

Therapy has helped my life in immeasurable ways.

It's taught me how to emotionally regulate, self-reflect, and change patterns that weren't serving me.

And look, I know that finding the right therapist, that can be like the hardest battle, right?

Someone who could be so off the mark and mistuned for my issues could be perfect for yours.

But the most important part of therapy is to find someone who you resonate with, whose advice you value, and who can offer you nuanced tools that are suited to your life.

So BetterHelp is the sponsor of today's video.

And they want to make starting therapy just easier.

And I know a lot of people in my personal life who have utilized BetterHelp and have had such a positive experience with their unique therapist.

And yeah, sometimes it does take you a second to find that therapist.

But BetterHelp lets you switch therapists easily until you find the one that you connect with.

So to start, you just fill out a questionnaire, and then you're matched with a qualified and licensed therapist in as little as a few days.

If you're struggling, you can click the link in the description or go to betterhelp.com/akana and get 10% off your first month of therapy.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

Anoreixa is the most lethal mental illness

anxiety

cognitive

struggle

eliminate