Eating Disorders are a group of illnesses causing an unhealthy relationship with food. They combat the sufferer’s eating behaviors and emotions i.e. people with eating disorders are overpowered by abnormal eating habits that pose great risks on their well-being.
According to the American ‘National Institute of Mental Health,’ Eating disorders primarily affect girls and women. The Australian Psychological Society backed it that approximately one in ten individuals with an eating disorder is male.
There are three main types of eating disorders, they include:
- Anorexia nervosa – Characterized by weight loss often due to excessive dieting and exercise. The sufferer strive hard to maintain a low body weight.
- Binge Eating Disorder – Consuming large amounts of foods without any behavior to prevent weight gains.
- Bulimia nervosa – Feeling of loss of control about eating. Usually characterized by behaviors to compensate for the overheating, such as self-induced vomiting.
A sufferer of any of the eating disorders is usually seen becoming so obsessed with food as well as body weight. When these little worries about body weight and food become so fierce, they affect the sufferer psychologically. Inescapable numerous damages follow these behaviors, like depression, bad physical and emotional health, anxiety and more physiological consequences, which battle endlessly with life.
Causes of Eating Disorders
Eating disorders can be caused by any of the following sociological, psychological and genetic factors.
Psychological Factors:
Some psychological issues that can predispose people to developing eating disorders include: depression, damaged self-worth, unhappiness with the way one looks, an incapability to manage emotions and loneliness.
Biological Factors
Research suggests that heredity may play a vital role in letting people develop eating disorders. Scientists have confirmed significant genetic contributions to eating disorders.
One of them is that identical twins are prone to share same trait of anorexia and bulimia than fraternal twins. Because, they are more genetically similar than fraternal twins, and this confirmed the belief that eating disorders have an inherited component.
More also, Scientists found that certain chemicals in the brain that control hunger, appetite, and digestion are all unbalanced in those with eating disorders.
Social Factors
Some environmental conditions are responsible for eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia or compulsive overeating.
In the society that reinforce the urge for discriminating the fat ones and places value on thinness, where people are being praised for their physical appearance. Self monitoring and pressure to conform become problem of the fat ones. More of the sociological factors include relationship problems, physical or sexual abuse. From this ordeal, the behaviors are nurtured as the strive begins, which will result to the consequences earlier explained.
Read also: Warning Signs of Bulimia Nervosa
References:
American Psychiatric Association – Eating Disorder.
WebMD – Eating Disorders Health Centers.
American Psychological Association – Eating Disorder.
Australian Psychological Society – Understanding and Managing Eating Disorders.
