Development of Eating Disorders

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Much to our perceived attention is the idealised image that most aspire to have. In attempting to achieve such a look involves drastic measures for some and possibly fatal. There is ample of evidence to suggest that such measures revolve around an individual’s eating habits thus leading to unhealthy disordered eating patterns. Eating disorders refer to abnormal eating habits characterised by excessive or insufficient intake of food and develop from a number of interrelated issues. Much of the research into eating disorders has focused particularly on anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa and its developmental causes. Anorexia nervosa is a psychological disorder characterised by delusions of being overweight resulting in conspicuous distortion of body image. Bulimia nervosa, on the other hand, involves excessive binge eating followed by self-induced vomiting to obviate weight gain. Both anorexic and bulimic individuals have a strong tendency to overestimate and exaggerate their body sizes to a high degree than average individuals. In general, research indicates a substantial change in the population’s outlook on body image with thin being the ideal figure and a measure of one’s worth. This enduring tendency to conform to the ultra-thin unrealistic image has been substantiated as potentially threatening to most women with statistics revealing a 90-95% increase in the prevalence of eating disorders amongst women (Hesse- Biber et al., 2006 journal 3). This steady increase in eating disorders has questioned researchers to re-think its causes to its roots. This essay in essence will consider the factors associated with the onset and maintenance of eating disorders among both men and women The impact o... ... middle of paper ... ...that beholds extreme beauty may it be real or imagined. In contrast, a downside comparison occurs when one compares themselves to someone that is lower or worse off than them. Myers & Crowther (2009 in journal 2) came to demonstrate that these social comparisons produced adverse effects on both men and women’s body esteem. As expected, highly neurotic individuals engage mostly in upward comparisons when confronted with idealised images creating high levels of body dissatisfaction thus leading to the occurrence of eating disorders. Conversely, low neurotic individuals experience downside comparisons ( Martin & Kennedy, 1993;Van der Zee et al., 2003 in journal 2). The phenomenon of an upward comparison has also been illustrated in individuals bearing eating disorder symptoms whilst also displaying characteristics of a neurotic (Cassin & Ranson, 2005 in journal 2).

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