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Psychological causes of eating disorders essay
Factors affecting food habits
Psychological causes of eating disorders essay
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Eating Disorders
An eating disorder is defined as a disturbance in an individual’s eating behavior; whether it is from the lack of eating, or overeating. Anyone is at risk with an eating disorder, men, women, and even children are at risk too; no one is considered immune to this. There are many risks of having an eating disorder. Several things can lead to having an eating disorder such as stress, psychological and sociological reasoning, and even genetics.
Disturbance caused by unlimited factors in a person’s diet is known as an eating disorder. There are two commonly known eating disorders, bulimia and anorexia nervosa. Bulimia is defined as “an eating disorder characterized by frequent episodes of binge eating followed by frantic efforts to avoid gaining weight” (Smith, Segal). In other words, bulimia is a disorder in which a person tends to eat excessively and avoids losing the weight that they have gained from eating by taking laxatives or vomits to maintain their weight that they want to reach. When a person vomits by force, it is known as purging. “Purging does NOT prevent weight gain: Purging isn’t effective at getting rid of calories which is why most people suffering with bulimia end up gaining weight over time.”(Smith, Segal). Vomiting or purging only gets rid of 50%, at most, of the calories a person has consumed because calories are absorbed into a person’s body the minute it has entered their body. An individual with bulimia may consume from about 3,000 to 5,000 calories within an hour, while the average person must have consumed about 3,000 calories a day. Although a person might think that throwing up is a good alternative to losing weight, it is not. Laxatives do not result in losing weight much either. Accordin...
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... Stress takes an important role in a person’s life. When an individual is stressed, they usually cope with comfort, and what’s more comforting than food? This is where binge eating occurs. A person is likely to turn to comfort food rather than face reality and deal with it him or herself. Bulimia also takes place here. When someone has binged, the individual often notices that they start to gain weight and they go to the extremes to lose the weight that they have put on by eating. Stress can also cause anorexia by anxiety. Often times, when an individual has anxiety, they lose their appetite and can starve for days.
In conclusion, factors that can lead to eating disorders are sociological, psychological, and genetics can cause a disturbance in a person’s eating behavior. Not only women, but men as well are victims of eating disorders and they are all highly at risk.
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.
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.
The rising frequency of teen Internet and social media use, in particular Facebook, has cause parents to lose sight of these websites harmful attributes that lead to eating disorders and extreme dieting. Michele Foster, author of “Internet Marketing Through Facebook: Influencing Body Image in Teens and Young Adults”, published October 2008 in Self Help Magazine, argues Facebook has become the leading social network for teens and young adults aging 17 to 25 years of age, and is also the age range that has significant increases in Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa in women. Foster accomplishes her purpose, which is to draw the parents of teen’s attention to the loosely regulated advertisements on Facebook and Facebook’s reluctance to ban negative body image ads. Foster creates a logos appeal by using examples and persona, pathos appeal by using diction, and ethos appeal by using examples and persona.
...orted self-image, low self-esteem, and a need for control. "Eating disorders are not about food or weight but about a disordered 'sense of self' looking for approval and finding it, however
Bulimia Nervous, as defined by the National Eating Disorders Association, is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by a cycle of bingeing and compensatory behaviors such as self-induced vomiting. It affects 1 - 2 percent of the adolescents and young adults. About 80 percent of the people it affects are female. Many people struggling with Bulimia Nervous also struggle with depression and social phobias. The disorder is often shortened from Bulimia Nervosa to just Bulimia. Many people do not understand the severity of the Eating Disorder (ED) at hand. Many people will brush it off as if the sufferer is just wanting attention. What many people do not understand is that, the sufferer has a warped body image and they are suffering mentally and physically with this disorder. Having Bulimia, you binge, and eat your desired food, then you realize the mass of intake and you purge, either through vomiting, exercise, or laxatives. This vicious cycle is a sensation and becomes very addictive which leads the person to the severe disorder of Bulimia Ne...
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...
Eating Disorders (EDs) are a series of often life-threatening mental health disorders which are commonly used as coping mechanisms or as ways to mask one’s problems. The causes of these illnesses are still being researched, and the effects they have on a person’s physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing can often be as long as the sufferer’s life.
Eating disorders are described as an illness involving eating habits that are irregular and an extreme concern with body image or weight. Eating disorders tend to appear during teenage years, but can develop at any age. Although more common in women, eating disorders can affect any age, gender or race. In the United States, over 20 million women and 10 million men are personally affected by eating disorders. There are many different causes of eating disorders such as low self esteem, societal pressures, sexual abuse and the victims perception of food. Eating disorders are unique to the sufferer and often, their perception of themselves is so skewed, they may not be aware they have an eating disorder. Media, for quite some time now, has played a significant part in eating disorders. Magazines with headlines ‘Summer Body’, or ‘Drop LB’s Fast!’ attract the attention of girls who may be insecure with themselves. Television productions such as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show or American’s Next Top Model, show airbrushed and photoshopped women who have body types that may be unachievable. Those who are suffering from eating disorders can suffer dangerous consequences, and it is important to seek help.
An eating disorder is characterized when eating, exercise and body image become an obsession that preoccupies someone’s life. There are a variety of eating disorders that can affect a person and are associated with different characteristics and causes. Most cases can be linked to low self esteem and an attempt to, “deal with underlying psychological issues through an unhealthy relationship with food” (“Eating Disorders and Adolescence,” 2013). Eating disorders typically develop during adolescence or early adulthood, with females being most vulner...
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).
Eating disorders are characterized into three different forms- Anorexia Nervosa, and Bulimia Nervosa. Anorexia is restricting the intake of calories on a day to day basis in order to lose or maintain a specific weight. Bulimia is consuming large amounts of food in short periods of time, called binges. Afterwards, Bulimics attempt to eradicate the body of the food eaten, typically by purging, vomiting, taking laxatives, or exercising for long periods. (Engel, Reiss, and Dombeck) “She was gagging, finger shoved down her throat. Most everything she had eaten was splashed on the mulch: a bag of potato chips, most of a carton of onion dip, two fudge brownies, and a slice of strawberry shortcake,” shows the activities of a bulimic (Anderson 146).
Anorexia Nervosa is characterized by a strong desire to lose, or not to gain weight through starvation. This can be caused by the victim’s distorted view of their own body image. The two generalized types are: strict diet and exercise, and binging and purging (Martini, Nath, Bartholomew, 2012). Bulimia nervosa is categorized by episodic binge eating that is followed by guilt, depression, and self-condemnation (Martini, Nath, Bartholomew, 2012). These emotions noted are usually followed by attempts to lose weight by way of self-induced vomiting, laxatives, dieting, and or fasting. Excessive eating followed by periods of fasting or self-induced vomiting are characteristics of binge-purge...
Eating disorders are quite serious and can often lead to extreme disruption of normal eating behaviors. It wasn’t considered an illness till 1980, when a singer named Karen Carpenter died from complications due to anorexia. If left untreated a person can put significant stress on their body; causing the body to begin to shut down. Often the organs will begin to fail, the persons hair will start to fall out and the person whom you once knew will become completely unrecognizable. Researchers have found many reasons that can be the cause of eating disorders. If we consider Demi Lovato a once happy go lucky Disney star who started acting different from her usual self. We can see that she was struggling from some kind of internal complex. When
Bulimia is marked by significant cycles in eating habits. Bulimics will often starve themselves (calorie/food/fat intake restriction -- sometimes with the help of diet pills or supplements) for extended periods of time prior to a massive binge, during which they consume abnormal amounts of food in a short period of time. These binges are followed by purging, which generally is constituted by self-induced vomiting. Other methods of purging the body include the use of diuretics, laxatives, and excessive exercising. Bulimics are generally within what is considered to be a "normal" weight range, but see themselves as being overly fat, or suffer from an intense fear of gaining weight. They often do realize that they have a problem, but by that point the cycle has become an obsession. Bulimics usually weigh themselves frequently, even several times daily.
Both bulimics and anorexics are motivated by a desire to lessen weight. Anorexia is explained in Eating Disorders as: “Anorexia nervosa is a condition in which a person starves him or herself. The key feature of this disorder is the refusal to eat enough food, resulting in a body weight that is far below a healthy level” (Keel and Levitt, 3). While bulimia is explained as: “Bulimia is characterized by episodes of binge eating in which an individual feels a loss of control over food consumption and eats very large amounts of food in single sittings” (Keel and Levitt, 7). From this, it is obvious that patients of both disease resort to measures of losing weight.