Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Biological vs. sociocultural in eating disorders
Aetiology of eating disorders
Aetiology of eating disorders
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Biological vs. sociocultural in eating disorders
The next part of this paper will examine two cases involving anorexia and drug abuse. They will be examined from the Biopsychology perspective. The nature-nurture issue will be explored in connection to each of these disorders. The first case will involve a teenage girl suffering from anorexia. The second case will involve a middle age man who has a drinking problem. Case One: Anorexia
Beth by all accounts was raised in a normal home and is a typical teenager. She became to experience an obsession with gaining weight and becoming fat. Although, Beth weight is normal for her height and age she is dieting and losing weight. She has a poor self-image and as a result has become dangerously thin. Beth refuses to admit she has a problem and as a result is suffering side effects including the loss of her menstrual cycle. Beth’s parents are concerned for their daughter’s health but have no idea how to help her. It is clear that Beth suffers from anorexia. Beth has an abnormal fear of gaining weight. This fear has led her to an unhealthy view of what she should weigh. The media and culture surrounding Beth are used as her justification for her fear of weight. Beth’s ability to ignore both the set point and setting point theory could be linked to the positive-incentive she had developed. Beth sees losing weight as a positive or desired outcome. These views as lead her from seeing any positive-incentive from eating. The fact that Beth has been obsessed with her weight for a while and that she is dangerously slim, would suggest that she has been limiting her food intake for a while. The fact that Beth has limited her intake of food for so long means that eating would only make her feel nauseated. This feeling only justifies her view of not e...
... middle of paper ...
...t the person may also become addicted to these drugs. Ron would benefit not only from receiving inpatient treatment but also outpatient treatment. Ron would benefit from one on one and group therapy. Involving Ron and his family in AA counseling would help each to better deal with the chances of relapse. There are many psychological disorders that come with their own symptoms, causes and treatments. Schizophrenia, anorexia and drug abuse are three that were discussed in this paper. The benefit in understanding the role nature-nurture play in each disorder may be the key to what causes the disorders. Knowing the neural basis and brain structures involved in the processing of information may help psychologist understand effective treatments. Having an understanding of the bio psychological factors of each disorder may be the key to curing or preventing the disorder.
In Andre Dubus’ The Fat Girl, Louise is a young adolescent with detrimental eating habits and broken self-esteem. Her lack of self-confidence stems from her atrocious emotional habitat. Louise receives constant criticism from her mother regarding her weight. Her mother states “If you are fat the boys won’t like you.” That kind of ridicule being said by a mother to her 9 year old daughter creates an atmosphere of self-hatred and self-loathing. It is not only her familial environment that contributes so greatly to Louise’s destructive behavior. She has few friends and the one’s she does have agree she needs to change. The society in which she lives also is a contributing factor; the society is laden with stigmas positioned on appearance. That manner of daily ridicule only introverts Louise even more, causing her secretive, binge eating to deteriorate. In research conducted by Ursula Polli-Potts PhD, Links between Psychological Symptoms and Disordered Eating behaviors in Obese Youths, she explains the correlation between psychological, emotional factors and eating disorders in overweight adolescents. Potts states, “The association between binge eating symptoms and eating in response to feelings of distress and sadness with depression/anxiety symptoms corresponds with the results of other studies.” Potts and her colleagues took overweight adolescents and placed them into control and variable groups to ensure correct data. The outcome of their research was that there is a direct correlation with emotional binge eating and psychological factors. Although more extensive research needs to be implemented, Potts and associates were pleased with the results of the case studies.
Described within the vignette is a nineteen year old teenager named Brandy. Similar to girls her age, Brandy has difficulties dealing with her body image and self-esteem. For instance, she experiences hopelessness, isolation, sadness, and anxiety that all contribute to Brandy’s acknowledgement of her physical appearance. She completely overestimates her body size to the point of taking dieting pills then defaulting to purging. During the typical day, the meals are scarce but healthy compared to a bad day full of unhealthy snacking. Lastly, her family predicament is not a supportive one at that. Her mother was obese so she constantly dieted while Brandy’s father illustrated signs of sexual interest although he never physically touched her.
Anorexia Nervosa has been a problematic disease many women suffer from. The article “The Slender Trap” was composed by Trina Rys who is a stay at home mother with a husband and one daughter. Rys writes the main reasons a woman may develop anorexia from. She states that the psychological pressures, expectations of friends and family and influences of the media all are factors when a woman is inflicted with the disease. I strongly agree with Rys persuading argument that anorexia could be caused by an unknown identity and the overall main focus of the ideal image of a woman. Although, I believe Rys requires a stronger argument on whether food restrictions executed by parents are a major step to developing the harmful illness. She seems to put emphasize on mainly women but does not shine any light on men.
Understanding psychological disorders are very important in human development, the first step is to define what is meant by a disorder. How do psychologists determine that there something is psychologically wrong with a person? What behaviours are abnormal? A psychological disorder, also known as a mental disorder, is a pattern of behavioural or psychological symptoms that impact multiple life areas and/or create distress for the person experiencing these symptoms. A clear sign of abnormal behaviour or mental state is when an individual's behaviour is destructive to themselves or their social group, such as family, friends. Above all psychological disorders create a maladaptive pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that lead to detriments in relationships and other life areas. There are several ethical issues in treating psychological disorders. There two ways of treating psychological disorders through; psychotherapy this form of treatment involves social interactions between a trained professional (therapist) and client. This is delivered on a one-to-one, face-to-face meeting. Another way of treating psychological disorder is through pharmacological treatments. This is the use of proactive drugs to treat certain disorders. This essay will aim to highlight the pros and cons of using pharmacological and psychological treatments.
The documentary Thin focuses on women who suffer from eating disorders in a treatment facility. Currently not many women are educated on the problems they may face when they have an eating disorder. Not only do women themselves understand what is happening to them, the people around them fail to understand why they may have these problems. Throughout the film we are able to focus closely on some of the patients more closely. The patients the film allows us to see closely are Polly, Alisa, Shelly and Brittany. These ladies are all of different ages and are all at different points in treatment.
Wintergirls is a book related to eating disorders. The author’s purpose of writing this book is to inform readers what a person with an eating disorder. It depicts the inner and outer conflicts that characters like Lia and Cassie face with disorder. It all began with a competition between two characters of who can be the skinniest. Cassie dies in the attempt of winning the game. Lia, the main character in this novel, always keeps track of her food consumption. For example, one breakfast morning, Lia said she didn’t want “a muffin (410),…orange (75),…toast (87),…waffles (180)” (Anderson 5). Lia constantly keeps track of the calories she eats. Unlike Cassie who follows the path of bulimia, Lia inhibits herself from eating, therefore not getting the proper nutrients. This allows the readers to know how a person with a disorder like Lia can restrain herself from eating foods that we’re used to eating in our regular lives. Her ultimate goal frequently change, getting lower and lower each time. Lia strives for a “five hundred calories a day” (Anderson 189). Her constant change of goals allows the readers to know the struggles a girl with such a mindset may feel.
On the surface, Evelyn Lau’s An Insatiable Emptiness examines a young girl’s descent into bulimia fueled by the emotional trauma of her controlling mother’s abuse. The mother’s ridicule of her daughter’s blossoming body, and making the girl feel ashamed of herself for the natural changes during puberty resulted in self-loathing and an unnatural relationship with food.
Eating disorders can be viewed as multi-determined disorders because there are many different factors that can play into a person developing an eating disorder. Each case is different and to get a clear picture of the disorder it must be looked at from numerous angles because often times it is a combination of different issues that contribute to someone developing an eating disorder.
The question of nature vs. nurture has been the focus of many debates, especially within the discipline of psychological sciences. This paper will examine the views that exist regarding the importance of contributions to the risk of addiction, specifically, genetic (nature) vs. environmental (nurture) contributions through a review of the existing literature.
Anorexia nervosa is a psychosociological disease which affects young women. Anorexia is mainly a female's disease which has been evident for centuries-however, in the past twenty years, the incidence of this disorder has risen to horrifying proportions. It is characterized by the refusal to maintain body wight over a minimal normal weight for age and height; intense fear of gaining weight; a distorted body image; and, amenorrhea. (http://www.pgi.edu/hagopian.htm) This disorder becomes a disease when the mind starts to cause problems with one's physical well-being. A connection has been found between sociocultural pressures to achieve, familial characteristics, and individual personality traits.
With regards to not having control over anorexia, there continue to be discoveries of the brain with anorexia and the change brought to the brain after a prolonged eating disorder. The author, Rosen discovered new findings about anorexia and can explain brain’s involvement which sheds light towards the study of eating disorders. The recent research done with brain imaging of people with eating disorders is leading to many changes in the way we look at mental illnesses. The author introduces Walter Kaye, a director of an eating disorders program at University of California, San Diego. Kelsey Heenan was mentioned, a 20 year old anorexic woman, who thought she was to blame for all her life for her mental illness. Brain scans show that there are differences between a healthy and an anorexic brain. The study consisted of unexpected receiving of rewards and omissions of rewards, by receiving a small amount of sugar as the reward. In the brain of a person with anorexia, the brain activity between receiving and omission was not different. There was however a lot more brain activity compared to a healthy person’s brain and an obese person’s brain. Anorexics are wired differently; some areas of their brain are nub to taste and even pain. Kaye knows that starvation causes brain change so further testing needs to be done to see if the brain change causes the mental illnesses or the other way around. (Rosen 22) These discoveries through brain-imaging can relieve a lot of self-doubt in the patients, which is created by society. It is not their fault that they have this disorder and that it is not going away, but getting worse, it is all because the brain functions have been damaged. Dr. Carrie E. Landa and Jane A. Bybee’s research focused on di...
Lanthrop’s argument that substance abuse is caused by both your environment and genetics is very intriguing. Not only does Lanthrop use strong medical and statistical evidence in his statement, he uses personal experience. By using his personal experience in his argument, Lanthrop establishes credibility or ethos with his readers as well as emotional appeal or pathos. By establishing credibility and appealing to the emotional side of readers Lanthrop effectively argues that substance abuse is impacted by a person’s environment and their genetic code. However, out of the two main causes of substance abuse, genetics has the greatest impact on one’s substance abuse issue.
Drug addiction is more complicated than medicine thought in previous years. It’s not because someone is weak or unable to control themselves. They are chemical such a dopamine in the human body that makes the process difficult. The brain works in a neuropath way and drug interrupt the normal process which stops the frontal lobe to work as it should. Treatment isn’t done right and patients tend to repeat their habit after they get out of rehab. Psychological treatment is not as effective as chemical injection for dopamine to reward the brain. However, even after the treatment is complete, it will be a life struggle to stay away from drugs since the brain will always look for a simpler way to reward itself.
Out of all mental illnesses found throughout the world, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate. Anorexia nervosa is one of the more common eating disorders found in society, along with bulimia nervosa. Despite having many definitions, anorexia nervosa is simply defined as the refusal to maintain a normal body weight (Michel, 2003). Anorexia nervosa is derived from two Latin words meaning “nervous inability to eat” (Frey, 2002). Although anorexics, those suffering from anorexia, have this “nervous inability to eat,” it does not mean that they do not have an appetite—anorexics literally starve themselves. They feel that they cannot trust or believe their perceptions of hunger and satiation (Abraham, 2008). Anorexics lose at least 15 percent of normal weight for height (Michel, 2003). This amount of weight loss is significant enough to cause malnutrition with impairment of normal bodily functions and rational thinking (Lucas, 2004). Anorexics have an unrealistic view of their bodies—they believe that they are overweight, even if the mirror and friends or family say otherwise. They often weigh themselves because they possess an irrational fear of gaining weight or becoming obese (Abraham, 2008). Many anorexics derive their own self-esteem and self-worth from body weight, size, and shape (“Body Image and Disordered Eating,” 2000). Obsession with becoming increasingly thinner and limiting food intake compromises the health of individuals suffering from anorexia. No matter the amount of weight they lose or how much their health is in jeopardy, anorexics will never be satisfied with their body and will continue to lose more weight.
Furthermore, mental illness and drug addiction are conditions that often occur together. This is a person who has two brain disorders that influence one another, and which both need treatment. Some say that certain drugs may actually cause mental illness in individuals with a weak genetic profile (Genetic Science Learning Center, 2011).With that being said, symptoms may get worse, but drugs do not necessarily cause mental illness. Some people may begin using drugs of abuse as a form of self-medication. For instance, drugs of abuse may temporarily relieve some of the symptoms associated with stress, anxiety, or depression, but the problems will still exist. Therefore, the form of self-medicating when using drugs can lead to harmful effects in a person’s mental health. People who have been undiagnosed may also suffer from serious mental disorders. So they may take drugs to relieve their symptom which is known as self-me...