Eating Disorders Essay Assignment
Once, food was considered to be just a source to survive. Today, however, the attitude to nutrition has changed essentially. Many cultures have developed the cult of meals. Eating habits are different throughout the world, but it is common knowledge that where one extreme exists, another will appear. While people have turned eating into a ritual, they have come up with a burst of problems associated with eating as well. Eating disorders make up a widely spread problem in the Western world today, and the most vulnerable social group is young girls. Nutritionists and psychologists debate on what the reasons of eating disorders are, and most of them agree that there may be a combination of biological, social and behavioral causes.Eating Disorders Essay Assignment
Although eating disorder is a physical state, it is commonly defined as a psychological illness revealed in abnormal eating habits. Abnormal eating habits may include either excessive or insufficient nutrition. The most well-known examples of eating disorders are bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating. Bulimia is excessive eating with further self-induced vomiting and over-exercising. Bulimia nervosa means that a person is not able to regulate nutrition, but being obsessed with overweight, he or she tries to control the state in other ways, and the usage of diuretics, laxatives or other medicaments is among them. In the meantime, anorexia is an opposite problem. A person with anorexia tries to eat as less as possible, often starving and losing weight excessively. Binge eating makes a person to gorge food rapidly without purging (Lucas et al. 920).
Eating disorders can affect both males and females, but according to the statistics, about 85-90% of those affected by eating disorders are girls and women. As eating disorders are mainly seen as psychological illness, it is quite predictable that females are more predisposed to them. What is even more disturbing, the amount of eating disorders throughout the world is increasing. As experts say, the amount of women who are at risk of getting an eating disorder is in direct proportion to westernization of the society (Hudson et al. 350).
First of all, westernization brings bad eating habits to the society. On the one hand, the rhythm of life speeds up and makes people live in a hurry. As a result, they try to spend less time for cooking, buy junk food, half-stuffs, and so on. On the other hand, eating behavior involves “interactions between motivational, homeostatic and self-regulatory control processes” (Patrick 191). Western world has born malicious patterns of life style and beauty. It has become fashionable to be slim or even thin, as such an image is propagated on TV and via other media. Women and especially young girls wish to follow famous and prosperous TV stars, actresses, models, singers and other popular women, so they make a conclusion that they should first of all look like them. Hollywood has instilled many contradictory ideals, and some of them enforce people make plastic surgery, or at least stick to a strict diet. “Cultural idealization of thinness and youthfulness have contributed to eating disorders affecting diverse populations,” Spindler & Milos (366) state. Lack of self-esteem makes girls worry about their appearance, and distress often leads to different disorders. Eating disorders are obviously among them.Eating Disorders Essay Assignment
Although media is the first to blame for the symptoms of eating disorders, there are a number of other factors which contribute to the illness. Among the medical conditions and situations related to eating disorders, there are sexually related trauma, attention deficit hyperactivity, substance use disorders etc. Peer pressure is also a significant reason for an eating disorder. Children often lack mercy and tend to be rather cruel to each other. A child can be rejected by peers for his or her plumpness, and develop a serious disturbance in that way. What is more, children may tease even a slim boy or girl, and the latter will believe them but not the mirror. To the point, one of the symptoms of eating disorder is that a person sees a false mirror reflection. He or she may be rather thin, but in their minds they look fat or even repulsive. Dysfunctional hunger is another symptom caused by distress.
Furthermore, eating obsession can be inherited from parents. Sometimes eating disorders are genetically determined. At the same time, children tend to imitate their parents’ behavior. So, when parents are preoccupied with their weight, children also become anxious. Pritts & Susman (299) tell about a 5 years old girl who began to eat paper instead of food because her weight did not satisfy her. A young girl was sure people will laugh at her because of her appearance and could not stand such a thought.Eating Disorders Essay Assignment
Fortunately, eating disorders are curable, if noticed in time. First and foremost, a child should feel caring and loving atmosphere at home. A child should feel he or she is accepted by nearest and dearest, because building self-esteem is rather hard without family support. Further, dieting obsession is replaced by healthy activities. After all, the proverb says, a sound mind in a sound body.
Works Cited:
Hudson, J. I., E. Hiripi, H. G. Pope Jr, and R. C. Kessler. “The Prevalence and Correlates of Eating Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication.” Biological Psychiatry 61.3 (2007): 348–58. Print.
Lucas, A.R. et al. “50-year trends in the incidence of anorexia nervosa in Rochester, Minn.: a population-based study.”The American Journal of Psychiatry 148.7 (1991): 917–22. Print.
Patrick, L. “Eating disorders: a review of the literature with emphasis on medical complications and clinical nutrition.” Alternative medicine review: a journal of clinical therapeutic 7.3 (2002): 184–202. Print.
Pritts, S. D. and J. Susman. “Diagnosis of eating disorders in primary care.”American family physician 67.2 (2003): 297–304. Print.Eating Disorders Essay Assignment