Eating Disorder Essay

Eating disorders are prominent within younger children mostly involving problems that arise in childhood and adolescence. Many times eating disorders could be less prevalent, but throughout today's era eating disorders have increased significantly; the most common eating disorder, anorexia nervosa has increased three times over the past forty years (BГ¤ck, 2011). Moreover, overweight and obesity within children and adults has increased significantly over the past twenty years (BГ¤ck, 2011). These dramatic statistics are influenced from parent–child interactions. The relationship the parent has with their children reflects back to the child's emotional stability. If the child has body dissatisfaction, has a low self–esteem, or is crying out...show more content...

Eating disorders in young children are more apparent because of the role of attachment with their mother and father. The role of attachment within a parent–child relationship can be very important to the child's health and especially habits. According to Zachrisson & Skarderud, it has been apparent that the quality of enmeshed relationships has detrimental effects on mental health problems. The attachment styles related to parental styles, such as secure attachment, which is like the authoritative parenting style, the child knows they are safe within this context, nurtured and supported. Whereas, insecure attachment, which is, like the permissive parenting style, the child is very unhappy and their parents are not involved in their lives. According to Bowlby, secure attachment is when the parent successfully fulfills the needs of the child. Although, insecure attachment has a negative effect on the child because the parent is enable to fulfill the child's needs. Out of all the different parenting styles and attachment styles, Schore suggests that secure attachment is the most beneficial parenting style for the child because the child develops a healthy well–balanced life. With that said, Wilfley and colleagues (1997) suggests that, insecure attachment can relate to children having low self esteem, which can result to binge eating or weight gain in order to feel comfort and cope with their emotions. Throughout previous research, insecure

Get more content

Tabitha HernandezMrs. HammillBiologyJune 11th, 2012 Eating Disorders Eating disorders are a worldwide problem and effect the lives of many. Women are much more likely than men to develop an eating disorder. One of three women have eating disorders, most of these women began to have the eating disorder due to stress, depression, and anger. Eating disorders stem is often formed with problem with self image caused by the media. Eating disorders are complex conditions that arise from a combination of long–standing behavioral, biological, emotional, psychological, interpersonal, and social factors. While eating disorders may begin with preoccupations with food and weight, they are most often about much more than food. People with eating...show more content...

In March 2005, findings concluded from those surveyed that three out of four Americans believe eating disorders should be covered by insurance companies just like any other illness. Americans believe that government should require insurance companies to cover the treatment of eating disorders. Four out of ten Americans either suffered or have know someone who has suffered from an eating disorder. Dieting and thrive for thinness is very common in America. Over one half of teenage girls and nearly one–third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives. Commonly eating disorders are accumulated by society. The average American woman is 5'4'' tall and weighs 140 pounds. The average American model is 5'11'' tall and weighs 117 pounds. Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women. Americans spend over $40 billion on dieting and diet–related products a year! The list is never ending on the different types of eating disorders there actually are. The three most common types of eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge Eating Disorder. Other eating disorders are mainly any combinations of the above listed. Anorexia Nervosa includes the symptoms of dramatic weight loss, dressing in layers to hide weight loss, constantly preoccupied with weight, food, calories, and dieting, makes frequent comments about

Get more content

Eating Disorders Essay

Look in the mirror. Do you like what you see? Most of us have come to appreciate ourselves for who we are. While other's struggle to achieve the perfect body. They strive to be what is depicted in fashion magazines and movies. The never ending obsession to be the perfect size zero. This inevitably can lead to eating disorders. Eating disorders can cause someone to have an unhealthy image of themselves and food is the enemy. In a national survey at the Mclean Hospital in Massachusetts it was estimated that over 9 million people suffer with eating disorders. They can struggle with anorexia, bulimia or binge eating. A study conducted by the National Association ofAnorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders states that most of these...show more content...

People with anorexia may also suffer with dry skin, thinning hair or hair loss, brittle nails, cold or swollen hands and feet, bloated or upset stomach, fine hair growing all over the body and on the face, low blood pressure, poor circulation, fatigue, abnormal heart rhythms, and osteoporosis. Anorexia slows and prevents growth and stops pubertal development. Suffering from anorexia before the age of twelve is not very common. A girl before the pubertal stage suffering with the disease will not go through puberty. She will physically remain in the body of a child. She will not develop hips, breasts, or buttocks. Her hormones will also remain as those of a child and will have no sexual interest. Fortunately physical development and normal body shape will return upon recovery. There are also behavioral characteristics associated with anorexia to watch for, like having an obsession with food, refusing to eat, forgetting or difficulty in remembering things, obsessive–compulsive behavior, low–self–esteem, loneliness, social isolation, withdrawn behavior, self–hatred, and depression (www.umm.edu/Anorexia nervosa).

People who suffer with anorexia may start to skip meals. They will eat very little and start to make excuses not to eat. An anorexic will often refuse to eat in public and hide her eating habits from others. She will often plan and prepare huge meals for others but not eat any of the food. At times they will take a plate of food with Get more content

Eating Disorders Essays

Eating disorders are a group of conditions characterized by severe disturbances in eating behavior with either an extreme reduction or an extreme increase of food intake, which negatively affects the individual's mental and physical health. There are two main types of eating disorders –anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. There is a third category of eating disorders called "eating disorders not otherwise specified". Binge eating disorder is categorized under this. Eating disorders mainly appear during adolescence and early adulthood and affect women and girls much more than males. Eating disorders are not self–inflicted diseases, but real illnesses with biological and psychological causes. They often co–exist with other disorders such...show more content...

Treatment for eating disorders is expensive and long term – as many as six years. Many people with eating disorders are spending all their life savings on treatment and even dying as a result of a lack of it. Treatment options include in patient care where the patient resides in the facility and works with a team of specialists, partial residential care where the patient goes home at the end of the day, and outpatient care in which the patient sees therapists, but lives at their own home. The cheapest of these options is outpatient care and even then insurance companies refuse coverage. Just one day of inpatient care can cost from $800 to $2500 and a month of treatment can range from $24000 to $78000. Many people and families spend their live savings trying to pay for treatment. Often times appearances can be deceiving when it comes to people who suffer from eating disorders. They may feel and look well, but may have electrolyte, fluid and mineral imbalances, heart and blood pressure irregularities, and stomach problems which puts them at risk for sudden death. A bulimic person at a normal weight may actually be starving and severely malnourished. Short periods of treatment have been showed by studies to lead to a high rates of readmission. Despite the American Psychiatric Association's care guidelines, because of the high cost of treatment insurance providers might require early patient discharge. There are

Get more content

There are two main types of eating disorders, and one that has not yet been confirmed as a disease. These are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge–Eating Disorder. These disorders are not due to a failure of will or behavior, but are real, treatable illnesses in which certain poor patterns of eating take on a life of their own.

These disorders usually co–occur with other illnesses such as depression, substance abuse, and anxiety disorders. Women are more likely to suffer from eating disorders, but they do occur in both sexes. They can happen at any age, but mostly occur in adolescence or young adulthood. Sometimes, these illnesses are serious enough to cause death, so early detection is essential in learning how to treat the...show more content... This disease can lead to death, and the most common causes are complications of the disorder, such as cardiac arrest, electrolyte imbalance, and/or suicide.

Bulimia Nervosa is surprisingly more common than anorexia. This disorder involves binge eating and then immediate purging of the food by self–induced vomiting, diuretics, enemas, or other medications. It may also be followed by fasting or excessive exercise. These people usually weigh within the normal range for their age and height, but they fear gaining weight and feel intensely unhappy with their bodies. They will almost always hide the behavior due to shame and disgust of the binging, and will feel relieved once they purge.

These are the two most common eating disorders, and I believe society has contributed to these immensely. So many magazines, movies, and commercials depict women and men with almost impossible body types. America is the only country which will condemn a person for being overweight. All too often, images of what is beautiful involves having a size two dress size or a 30 " waist for men, which is almost unachievable for most of us. I have spent the better part of my life comparing myself to

models and movie stars wishing I could look like they do. As a society, it is important to teach our young ones that God gave us what we have, and some

Introduction

According to the Merriam–Webster online dictionary, binge eating is defined as uncontrolled compulsive eating, especially as a symptom of bulimia or binge eating disorder(BED). Individuals, who suffer from a (BED), usually, consume, abnormally large amounts of food, quickly. The condition causes sufferers to eat until they are painfully full. we live in a society that accepts encourages overindulging . Therefore, there are probably several occasions on which we eat more than we should. In order for a person to be diagnosed with a (BED), they would have to experience episodes of ("Binge Eating"). that "occur, on average, at least 2 days a week for 6 months Wonderlich et al. (2003). Binge eating is an old problem, whose...show more content...

Research also suggests that genes may be involved in binge eating, since the disorder often occurs in several members of the same family. Certain behaviors and emotional problems are more common in people with binge eating disorder. These include abusing alcohol, acting quickly without thinking (impulsive behavior), and not feeling in charge of themselves

What Are the Symptoms of Binge Eating Disorders?

Those who suffer from binge eating disorder may have a problem with obesity. Even if patients with binge eating disorders are not obese They are usually in poor health. According to the article Medical morbidity in binge eating disorder, patients with (BED) Have "poorer functioning and lower scores on all six scales of the General Health Survey." (Bulik & Kjennerud, 2003). Research proves that Low scores on the general health survey leads to an "increased prevalence of joint pain, headaches, gastrointestinal problems, menstrual problems, shortness of breath, chest pain, and Type II diabetes (Bulik & Kjennerud, 2003)

Bingers have been known to suffer from sleeping problems;. in fact Statistics show that people with (BED) "are Seven times more likely to experience sleeping difficulties than those without binge–eating disorder" (Bulik & Kjennerud, 2003). A study from the article Patterns of food selection during binges in women with binges eating disorder, has proven people with binge–eating disorder "consume significantly more meat than (those) without

An eating disorder is an illness that involves an unhealthy feeling about the food we eat. "Eating disorders affect 5–10 millions Americans and 70 million individuals worldwide" (www.eatingdisorderinfo.org 1). They also affect many people from women, men, children, from all ages and different races. People who have eating disorders usually see themselves as being fat when they really aren't. This usually deals with women or teenage girls mostly. They watch television, movies, read articles in magazines, and see pictures of the celebrities whom they want to be like because they have the "ideal body" that everyone wants and craves for. The media makes us all think we need those types of bodies to be happy with ourselves, be more successful...show more content...

But in order to do this we need to stop looking at other people and seeing what's missing from ourselves. Stop buying the magazines and diet products, stop looking at the people in television and movies, and just be us. We need to have more confidence in ourselves and show other people what we can get in life without having the perfect body.

People who have Anorexia Nervosa have this fear of gaining weight so they result by not eating regularly or eat littleamounts of food or not eating at all. People see themselves as being fat but instead they are skinny. "Anorexics usually strive for perfection" (www.mirror–mirror.org 1). So in doing this they feel like not eating anything can make them look perfect and have the body they want. "The lack of food can cause a person to become very thin, develop brittle hair and nails, dry skin, and a low pulse, become not able to stand the cold, and suffer from constipation and sometimes diarrhea" (Hendrick 3).

Anorexics put other people's feelings in front of theirs. They also feel that the only thing in their lives is food and their weight and this shows that they have low self–esteem for themselves. "Signs and symptoms are noticeable weight loss, becoming withdrawn, excessive exercise, fatigue, always being cold, and muscle weakness" (www.mirror–mirror.org 1). There are many more signs and symptoms for this illness. "An estimated 10 Get

Introduction

Eating disorders are psychological problems marked by an obsession with food and weight. There are four general categories of eating disorders these are; Anorexia nervosa, Binge eating and Bulimia nervosa. However this disorder affects individuals of various age groups; it has become more popular among teenagers these days. For the purpose of this research plan the writer will focus on age group of ages 15 to 19 because teenagers most vulnerable to eating disorders fall into this age group. Moreover, in doing so it will also be possible to determine the significance of this research and apply it to today's lifestyle. Anorexia is a medical condition in which youngsters, mainly during the onset of puberty, begin to starve...show more content...

It was found that "Anorexia, Bulimia and Binge eating are life threatening diseases.'' (Voelker, 2008). These findings support the view that Anorexia Nervosa is known to be the third most common chronic illness for teenage girls in Australia after obesity and Asthma Beumont, (cited in Eating Disorder,2008).

Genetic factors Bulik et al. (2007) states that genetic trait responsible for heritability of anorexia ranges from 50% to 83% thus it is uncontrollable and these could cause some people to be vulnerable to developing anorexia. These findings support the fact that, if a teenage girls with biological mother or a sister with anorexia is at a higher risk of getting or inheriting the disease. It may also be that some teenagers have a genetic tendency towards perfectionism, sensitivity and perseverance, all traits associated with anorexia. Consequently, Diconsiglio (2009) discovered that from 50–80 percent of suffers inherit a gene that makes them more likely to develop an eating disorder. "Emotional problems are not the root causes of these diseases; instead they spark it in children who already have the gene. He further explained that it is quite vital for teenagers to avoid cases which may increase the gene coding for eating disorders. On the other hand care should be shown to them so that teenagers can overcome the eating disorder promptly.

Parental Behaviours

Research has shown that, family plays the vital role on the growth of a child, for instance study

Nutrition is both physically and mentally essential in daily lives. While people have knowledge of severe underdeveloped nutrition in other parts of the world, they fail to realize the malnutrition that may be affecting their own bodies. Every human needs a proper diet with nutrients which provide the individual with energy, structure, and regulation to maintain the body (Smolin and Grosvenor 21–22). In order to lead a healthy lifestyle, a person must also have a healthy body image. However, healthy body images have been rapidly decreasing in recent years. Both men and women are constantly urged to fit a specific body image in order to be happy, admired, and loved. In countries where a food shortage is a constant concern, obesity is...show more content...

After a period of time, their extreme hunger overpowers their control and they eat a great amount of food in a short period of time, which is referred to as binging. In fact, the name bulimia is taken from the Greek words bous ("ox") and limos ("hunger"), implying hunger of such intensity that a person can eat an entire ox (94). Since the great amount of food that they consume is not on their strict diet plan to be thin, they become very fearful of a possible weight gain and they purge. Induced vomiting, taking laxatives, and excessively exercising are examples of purging in somebody with bulimia. After doing this they feel guilty, yet relieved. Once the person realizes that they can eat basically anything that they want without gaining weight, they make it an ongoing cycle. However, there are many side effects. These include constipation, dehydration, damaged tooth enamel, breakage of stomach and esophagus lining, depression, and may even result in death (101). Bulimia may be caused by pressure to achieve or to fit a certain body image. Since they often crave and binge on foods rich in carbohydrates, the illness can be from an imbalance in the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain (Engel, Reiss, and Dombeck). There are many psychological illnesses associated with this eating disorder and others. These include alcoholism, drug abuse, self–injury, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Panic Disorder, and Multiple Personality

Get more content