How Society Affects the Development of Eating Disorders

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Eating disorders have become one of the most problematic issues in the world today. It is very common to hear that women are considered as the type of group who has the higher rate of eating disorders. Although that statement is true, many men also suffered from eating disorder as well. The development of eating disorders usually begins in the period of adolescents and continue until the period of adulthood. However, this does not limit to the fact that it may happen in an earlier period and continue until the latter period. There are three types of the most common eating disorders which are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and the last one is binge-eating. People who suffer from anorexia nervosa usually think they are overweight when in fact, they are underweight. They limit the amount of food intake in a rigorous amount and become obsessed about losing weight. Bulimia nervosa is also something that is related to obsession with losing weight, however for people who suffer from bulimia nervosa, they will have a cycle of binge eating and try to compensate their amount of food intake such as by forcing themselves to throw up. The last one is binge-eating which will result in a different way from the other two. People who suffer from binge-eating will also have a cycle of binge eating without trying to compensate their food intake. Therefore, instead of losing their weight, sufferer of binge eaters would have unusual weight gains and become overweight. According to CNN.com, 10 million American women and 1 million of American men suffer from anorexia or bulimia, 13 million of American women and men suffer from binge eating, and the percentage increase of eating-disorder related hospitalizations from 1999 to 2006 was 119% among ch... ... middle of paper ... ...g the appearance of TV shows, educating people about the way of eating rights, change of media system that encourage a healthier figure rather than a thin figure, food labelling and many more. Works Cited Mayo Clinic Staff. “Diseases and Conditions: Eating Disorders.” Mayo Clinic, 08 Feb. 2012. Web. 25 February 2014. "Going to extremes: Eating disorders." CNN Health. CNN, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. Stice, Eric, Erika Schupak-Neuberg, Heather E. Shaw, and Richard J. Stein. “Relation of Media Exposure to Eating Disorder Symptomatology: An Examination of Mediating Mechanism.” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 103.4 (1994): 836-840. Web. 10 March 2014. York, Christopher. "Eating Disorders: How Social Media Helps Spread Anorexia And Bulimia In Young People." The Huffington Post United Kingdom. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc., 13 October. 2012. Web. 10 March 2014.

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