Multi Determined Factors For Eating Disorders

Samantha Callahan, Department of Psychology, Lindenwood University; Danielle Patrick, Department of Psychology, Lindenwood University; Sara Roderick, Department of Psychology, Lindenwood University; Kahla Stygar, Department of Psychology, Lindenwood University.

Many people are unaware of the background of eating disorders. Women are more likely than men to develop an eating disorder and they usually develop in childhood before the age of 20 (Ross-Flanigan 1). Women as well as men can develop an eating disorder; it is just more likely for a woman to develop one. Eating disorders are usually developed in adolescent or childhood years when a person is influenced the most. Also “Eating disorders are psychological conditions that involve overeating, voluntary starvation, or both. Anorexia nervosa, anorexic bulimia, and binge eating are the most well-known types of eating disorders” (Ross-Flanigan 1). Many people assume that an eating disorder is when a person staves themselves; they do not realize that it can involve overeating as well. Some eating disorders also involve purging, but not all. People with an eating disorder fear gaining weight even when they are severely underweight. They do not lack an appetite (Ross-Flanigan 1). These people are

Topic: What is causing young adults and teens to develop eating disorders and how can we help them?

My current view on food is that it creates a sense of comfort and fulfillment, yet this was not always the case. During my teenage years I struggled with an ongoing eating disorder. During that time I viewed food as a threat, or an enemy. As part of my recovery process, I was given a task to make friends with food. I first approached this task with a closed mind, finding a wrong with every meal I ate. My view changed completely when my friends took me out to a vegan diner for a burger and sweet potato fries meal.

Thesis Statement: It is important to understand eating disorders and the types of eating disorders to overcome them and seek the proper treatment.

We know that eating disorders involve serious disturbances in eating behavior and extreme concern about body size or weight. We also know that eating disorders can be life-threatening if treatment is not provided or is not effective. But we do not completely understand what causes eating disorders. Generally, scientists believe they arise from a complex interaction of genetic, psychological, and sociocultural factors (Smolin and Mary Grosvenor, 42).

Hello everyone. My name is Ruth and I want to talk to you guys about eating disorders. An eating disorder is essentially an illness that disrupts a person’s every day diet which can cause a person to pretty much stop eating or over eat, depending on the illness. These illnesses are more apparent in the teenage years and in to young adulthood (Pinel, 2011), which makes sense because this is when we start becoming more aware of our bodies as well as other people’s bodies. We might want to look like the model we just saw on TV and will do anything to get that body, right? But an eating disorder is not the way to go; we will get in to the effects of

After watching Dying to be Thin, I have come to the conclusion that eating disorders are a complex systemic disease. I believe that eating disorders are systemic because there was not one person from Dying to be Thin who independently developed these disorders. For example, most of the people who had eating disorders developed them because of some social pressure. I put the systemic title on eating disorders because it would appear that they develop because of dysfunction in multiple systems of an individual’s life. However, I do not want to take the responsibility off the individual who has an eating disorder. I theorize that these individuals have poor coping mechanisms in life. Their coping mechanisms are so poor that they willingly put themselves in harm’s way in order to relieve their anxiety. There was one girl in the video who said the eating was the only thing in life she felt she could control. It comes to no surprise that she could relive her general anxiety by having some form of control in her life.

In my research, I explored the world of eating disorders. I wanted to see if there was anything specifically encouraging eating disorders and if there was a way to stop it. Eating disorders affect the community greatly because often times, they go unchecked or unrecognized. As a recovered anorexic, I feel it’s very important to address this issue. It’s a very big problem that is often not addressed at all, or is seen as normal, like counting calories. I hoped to find a way to improve the way that eating disorders are viewed and explain to people about what defines an eating disorder, because many people will never know if it is not explicitly explained to them. My study’s purpose is to bring light into the dark world of eating disorders

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that consists of self-regulated food restriction in which the person strives for thinness and also involves distortion of the way the person sees his or her own body. An anorexic person weighs less than 85% of their ideal body weight. The prevalence of eating disorders is between .5-1% of women aged 15-40 and about 1/20 of this number occurs in men. Anorexia affects all aspects of an affected person's life including emotional health, physical health, and relationships with others (Shekter-Wolfson et al 5-6). A study completed in 1996 showed that anorexics also tend to possess traits that are obsessive in nature and carry heavy emotional

Despite a substantial amount of research, clinicians are unable to come to a consensus on a sole etiology of eating disorders; therefore, it is theorized that eating disorders can be viewed as multi-determined. This theory indicates that the onset of eating disorders occurs due to a variety of predisposing factors, such as the family, psychological, athleticism, biological and socio-cultural components. In other words, there is an interplay of both genetic and environmental factors which ultimately influence the onset of eating disorders.

Brewerton, Timothy D. "Eating disorders, trauma, and comorbidity: Focus on PTSD." Eating disorders 15.4 (2007): 285-304.

Eating disorders rank among the 10 leading causes of disability among woman (Stiegel-Moore and Bulik, 2007, page 181), and is seen as a serve mental disorder (Garner and Garfinkel, 1980). Anorexia is the extreme fear of gaining weight or being fat, therefore leading to a period of starvation, and a particularly low body weight. There is significant research into anorexia nervosa that heavily focuses on its biological causes, and how an individual may be susceptible due to genetic predispositions or specific neurotransmitters in their bodies. Although this is simplifying the complex phenomena, such a reductionist approach is useful in terms of treating a patient, and takes the blame off the individual. However, social issues are disregarded

In modern culture, women and men are becoming less satisfied with their body shape. According to a report that was done by the Federal Trade Commission, seventy percent of Americans are either trying not to maintain their weight or are trying to lose weight (Kittleson 75). To compensate for being over weight, an individual will develop an eating disorder. According to Mark Kittleson, eating disorders are when an individual eats way too much or way too little (1). There are three different types of eating disorders, anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. According to Jessica Bennett, twenty-five million people in the United States suffer from binge eating disorder and ten million women and one million men suffer from either anorexia or

Low self-esteem plays a prominent role in many multifactorial theories of the etiology of eating disorders.