Young Children Thought-Shape Fusion

In our society today, there are many different types of mental disorders, many of which affect a wide range of people. Among those mental disorders are eating disorders. Eating disorders are usually characterized by extreme, obsessive thoughts surrounding weight, food and body image and affect over 30 million people in the United States alone sometime during their lifetime (Get the Facts on Eating Disorders). Eating disorders are now becoming common among young children, with more than 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls feeling the need to diet (Collins) and over 81% of 10 year-olds are afraid of becoming fat (Mcnutt).
There are many reasons why so many people are developing eating disorders. The media plays a large role in exposing young children

This occurs when “thinking about eating certain types of food increases a person’s estimate of their shape and/or weight, elicits a perception of moral wrongdoing, and/or make the person feel fat” (Radomsky et al.). There are three components of thought-shape fusion: likelihood, moral, and feeling. Likelihood thought-shape fusion is the belief that thinking about eating a forbidden, fattening food will make it more likely that the individual has gained weight. Moral thought-shape fusion is the belief that thinking about eating a forbidden food is morally equivalent to actually eating the food. Feeling thought-shape fusion is an increase in the feeling of fatness after thinking about eating a forbidden food. Therefore, thought-shape fusion causes eating disorders by influencing a person’s personal image of their body and causing them to feel fat, therefore, many people will combat this feeling by limiting their intake of food and developing an eating

Shafran and Robinson’s study included 42 women, of a mean age of 28.6, all diagnosed with an eating disorder. Of these 42 women, 10 had anorexia, 10 had bulimia, and the remaining 22 were diagnosed with an atypical eating disorder. The control group also consisted of 42 women; this group had no self-reported current or past history of an eating disorder. Shafran and Robinson first tested for the presence of eating disorder symptoms in the participants through a reliable and valid self-report questionnaire. They found that there was a significant connection between thought-shape fusion and the presence of eating disorder symptoms. Shafran and Robinson also found a significant relationship between body checking and avoidance, depression and thought-shape fusion. Body checking and avoidance and depression were tested through self-report as well. Body checking and avoidance focused on the checking and avoidance behaviors, such as pinching the thighs, stomach and bottom in addition to the frequency of weighing. To measure depression, the Beck, Depression Inventory was used that measured the symptoms of depression which include pessimism, suicidal inclination, and sleeping