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Introduction to eating disorder
Introduction to eating disorder
Eating disorders and society
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Why does food become a deadly enemy for some people? Well, society continues to send the message to young women and even to a small number young men (more and more men are becoming victims of eating disorders these days) that to be happy and successful one must be thin, which causes them to starv and/or binge and purge themselves in an attempt to gain what the media considers an ideal figure. The media is full of "toothpick" thin models, in which women desire to be like. Women often need to be in the feel of being in control, it is an ongoing battle they encounter with perfection. Bulimia nervosa is a disorder with psychological, and physiological effects. It is an eating disorder, common especially among young women of normal weight, that is characterized by episodic binge eating. Bingeing is defined as the rapid consumption of a large amount of food, often a bulimic person will eat more in two hours than a normal person would consume in an entire day. Binges are often followed by feelings of guilt, shame, loss of control, anxiety and depression. These negative feelings, especially anxiety and shame lead to bulimic behaviors, such as purging. The most common purging behavior is vomiting, which is a way to dispose of the calories and fat taken
in that causes weight gain orally. The other way of diposing calories and fat are the use of laxatives, it is not as common as vomiting. There is more pain caused to the anus when using laxitives, then there is pain to the throat when vomiting, thats why laxatives are a less common way and vomiting is a more common way.
Exact causes of bulimia nervousa are unknown even though in studies there is some evidence that an occurring brain chemical may influence eating behaviors, because it is in connection to the regulation of food intake. Growing/constant peer pressure is also a big help of causing bulimia, as well as low self-esteem. Young women with an older sister, mom, or even friend that has an eating disorder is ten times more likely to develop one herself, than any other child on their own. There are psychological factors of body dissatisfaction, self-esteem (as said before), perfectionism and abuse-associated with
bulimia nervosa and women. While perfectionism and abuse have been risk factors in the models of bulimia, body dissatisfaction and low self-esteem seem to contribute more to bulimic behavior.
Eating disorders are not caused by a single source, such as control, but are due to an accumulation of factors including genetics, upbringing, culture, and personality.
Ever since 1979, the world became introduced to a different type of anorexia disorder called bulimia nervosa by Gerald Russell. In the similar attempt to lose weight like anorexia, bulimia nervosa is characterized by having episodes of binge eating, followed by intense efforts to avoid gaining weight. Some of the methods to avoid gaining the weight can be to induce self-vomiting, and consuming laxatives or diuretics. As a result of Russell studying theses eating disorders, he discovered that approximately 1/100 women in Western societies were affected in 1990 (Palmer, 2014). Ever since bulimia nervosa became a known eating disorder, more people have been able to effectively be diagnosed with it, and more useful information about the disorder
One possible factor is biology. A person might inherit a gene from their parents that predisposes them to a susceptibility to eating disorders. While that may not be enough on its own, it certainly starts that person off on the wrong foot and if combined with other factors it can lead to an eating disorder. For example, an individual could inherit a slow metabolism causing them to put on weight faster than others, which in turn could cause them to develop an eating disorder to counteract the weight gain.
A discovery made recently found that there is an inverse correlation among women with bulimia between the frequency of binge-eating and cerebrospinal fluid concentration of the major ser...
compelled to visit and belong to these groups. This documentary will include statistics about the typical age and background of the
Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are two common eating disorders that seem to have evolved from societal pressures to be thin. The short video, “Dying to be thin and the two articles, Serpell 1999 Anorexia Nervosa and Serpell 2002 Bulimia Nervosa illustrate common themes that manifest from the disorder. These common themes have positive and negative reinforcers that led me to believe that the disorder has environmental, psychological and biological implication that impacts the individual core beliefs. I could also see that there is more to the disorder than just the desire to be thin.
There is no one specific cause for eating disorders but there are many factors that can contribute to developing an eating disorder. (Facts)Eating disorders develop for many different reasons. The National Institute of Mental Health states “eating disorders are caused by a complex interaction of genetic, biological, behavioral, psychological, and social factors. ”(nimh.nih.gov, 2015, para.1). There are different studies that are going on to see what is the main cause of an eating disorder but for right now it is known that it is a mixture of all these factors.
Anorexia is an obsessive desire to control ones bodily appearance. It often starts with the refusal to obtain a healthy body weight. “This disorder is associated with under nutrition of varying severity with resulting secondary endocrine and metabolic changes and disruptions of bodily functions” (Kontic et al. 2013). An Anorexic person has a distorted view of themselves which can lead to devastating measures of self-starvation due to an immense fear of weight gain. In the same way, an individual suffering with Bulimia has a fear of weight gain, but goes about their technique in a different manner. Bulimia is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating or, consuming a large amount of food in a short time followed by guilt. This guilt is the leading factor to the purging stage where the individual will rid themselves of the physical and emotional discomfort. The ridding stage can invo...
Bulimia - PubMed Health. (n.d.). National Center for Biotechnology Information. Web. 23 Oct. 2015. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0
I did my research on eating disorders, specifically, Anorexia Nervosa (anorexia) and Bulimia Nervosa (bulimia). I chose anorexia and bulimia as my topic because eating disorders are common in today’s society and I often hear about girls suffering from it. I also have friends that have suffered from eating disorders and it makes me worry. I have even noticed that my little eight year old sister is concerned about her body. She asks me questions like “What do you think my butt looks like? Does it have the right shape?” Even at a young age girls have the impression of needing to look perfect. I think one of the biggest factors is how much pressure teenagers are under but especially how girls are getting the wrong impression from the media of what “perfect” is. Girls get this image of how they have to look from celebrities and also from magazines. Today almost every picture is photo shopped and it is impossible to look like girls that have been photo shopped to what society calls “perfect”. I have even seen a video on how an image of a girl on a magazine is made up of four different images of girls to make one “perfect” girl. I feel it is very sad how girls are judged on their bodies. I am hoping to learn about these eating disorders and understand better how to help my family and friends and also how to prevent them.
Research on eating disorders has revealed a greater incidence of substance use and/or misuse in women with eating disorders than in the general population. Most of the research agrees that substance misuse is more common in patients with bulimia nervosa and the binge eating/purging subtype of patients with anorexia than in women with the restricting subtype of anorexia nervosa. Researchers and specialists have proposed a range of theories to account for the strong association between substance misuse and bulimia nervosa. Experiments have not provided evidence to conclusively support any one theory. However, studies conducted in the past decade have enabled researchers to refine their hypotheses and accumulate more accurate information about eating disorders and substance use. Researchers have examined personality characteristics, family history, and biological and environmental factors common to persons with both substance use problems and eating disorders. In addition, the onset of eating disorders in relation to the beginning of substance abuse are examined to determine if one disorder drives the other. Differences in characteristics of patients with anorexia nervosa and patients with bulimia nervosa are examined to determine differences in rates of comorbidity with substance abuse. While continued research is necessary to assess the validity of proposed theories, the current knowledge proposes some interesting ideas about the relationship between substance abuse and eating disorders.
Rorty M, Yager J, & Rossotto E (1994). Childhood sexual, physical, and psychological abuse in bulimia nervosa. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 1122-1126.
Bulimia nervosa is a slightly less serious version of anorexia, but can lead to some of the same horrible results. Bulimia involves an intense concern about weight (which is generally inaccurate) combined with frequent cycles of binge eating followed by purging, through self-induced vomiting, unwarranted use of laxatives, or excessive exercising. Most bulimics are of normal body weight, but they are preoccupied with their weight, feel extreme shame about their abnormal behavior, and often experience significant depression. The occurrence of bulimia has increased in many Western countries over the past few decades. Numbers are difficult to establish due to the shame of reporting incidences to health care providers (Bee and Boyd, 2001).
The "Anorexia Nervosa" BMJ: British Medical Journal 334.7599 (2007): 894-98. Print. The. Hay, Phillipa J., and Josue Bacaltchuk. The "Bulimia Nervosa" BMJ: British Medical Journal, 323 (2001). Print.
It is funny how so many girls and women today are led to believe that the only way to feel attractive and be beautiful is to have their bodies consist of nothing but skin and bones. Women are dieting more today then they have ever been before. They are striving for an unattainable body figure that is portrayed by the media as being the ideal standard for today's women. It gets worse. Not only are women dieting unlike ever before, but they will ruthlessly harm their bodies in order to achieve these inaccessible standards. This ruthless harm that haunts so many women today just so happens to be what we call eating disorders. Anorexia and bulimia are the primary diseases that go in the category of eating disorders. Who is to blame for this daunting occurrence? In most cases, the media is either some or all to blame for the eating disorder and standards placed for women. Commercials, billboards, women's magazine ads, etc. are all forms of the media that portray negative images of women. When the women in today's society sees what is being advertised (which happens hundreds, if not thousands of times a day) it is not so shocking that many of them strive for these impossible body images. It is when the want and desire becomes so strong that these women drive themselves to starvation and other forms of eating disorders.