Eating Disorders Research Paper

Eating disorders are becoming increasingly prevalent in today’s society. This type of mental illness is most common in young women who are struggling with their self-esteem. There can be severe health effects to an eating disorder going untreated. Pressures from the outside world are likely to trigger an eating disorder. Empowering those who feel powerless is the most important thing to do when many eating disorders are caused from psychological factors. When America makes eating disorders a serious issue, we would see this disease reduce dramatically within a generation. Eating disorders caused by biological factors are rare, most stem from problems concerning the mind. Low self-esteem is a main cause of eating disorders. People do not feel

Today’s society sexualizes every thing; even commercials for a hamburger are affected. When a young girl, who already has self-esteem problems and is no the ideal weight for her body structure, turns on the television and is sucked into this idea that the only women who are beautiful are the ones with beach-ready bodies, she will start to feel even worse about herself and will feel the urge to purge the extra calories consumed that day. Another repulsive thing Hollywood does is degrading individuals that are average sized and flawless. The jokes may be funny and harmless in nature, but overweight youth will view these as an attack on their physical appearance. Even with actresses such as Jennifer Lawrence, who stand against these injustices, negativity continues to be

The first step is educating the public. Everybody needs to know what they are, what causes them, the signs of them, and what the health effects are. Ignorance to an issue only causes more problems. Knowledge is power and the more people who are educated, the easier it is to combat the problem. People should not take this epidemic lightly. Eating disorders need to be taken as a serious issue for what they are, a mental disorder; not a person who just feels bad about the way they look and wants attention. Once everyone is aware, it will not come hard for people to sympathize with someone who is at war with an eating disorder. When people are sympathetic towards victims, they will think twice before they make a harsh comment that never helps a situation. We also need to reassure all young people, not just ones with eating disorders, that they are all beautiful. Not a single person should have to feel worthless because someone belittles them because of his or her appearance. This causes so many more problems than just eating disorders. Hollywood would also start to feel the pressure if Americans would call them out on what they do. Maybe all the leading roles will not go to the thin, young actor or actress, but someone that looks like the average American. In a world with so many estranged role models, more wholesome figures in Hollywood would have a large impact on the self-esteem of the nation’s youth. Eating disorders are not something