EATING
DISORDER
An eating disorder
is a complex compulsion to eat, or not eat, in a way which disturbs physical
and mental health. Often the symptoms can seem as extreme, or as extensions
of culturally acceptable behavior and preoccupations. The eating may be excessive
or limited, may include normal eating punctuated with episodes of purging,
may include cycles of binging and purging, or may encompass the ingesting
of non-foods. The most commonly known eating disorders are Anorexia nervosa
and Bulimia nervosa. The most widely and rapidly spreading eating disorder
is compulsive overeating or Binge eating disorder. These are the three most
common eating disorders. All three can cause severe, immediate and long-term
health issues and can cause death. There are numerous theories as to the causes
and mechanisms leading to eating disorders.
Addiction
The same personality factors that place individuals at risk
for substance abuse are often found in individuals with eating disorders.
With addiction and eating disorders there is a need to discharge affective
experience through action rather than feeling or being able to talk about
them, an inability to regulate tension, the need for immediate gratification,
poor impulsive control, and a fragile sense of self. Often in those with eating
disorders and substance abuse problems drugs or alcohol is used in attempts
to avoid binge eating. Similarly, those with eating disorders may deny their
problem or attempt to keep it a secret, much like addicts try to conceal their
drug and alcohol usage. Similar to genetic components of addiction, there
is a large genetic component to body type.
A
Response to Trauma
Eating Disorders should also be understood in the context of experienced trauma,
with many eating problems beginning as survival strategies rather than vanity
or obsession with appearance. According to sociologist Becky Thompson, eating
disorders stemming from women of varying socio-economic status, sexual orientation
and race, and finds that eating disorders and a disconnected relationship
with ones body is commonly a response to environmental stresses, including
sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, racism, and poverty. This reality is
further detrimental for women of color and other minority women, since they
are forced to live in a culture that embraces a narrowly defined conception
of beauty: "people furthest from the dominant ideal of beauty, specifically
women of color, may suffer the psychological effects of low self-esteem, poor
body image, and eating disorders." For minority women, being part of
multiple subordinate groups, often silenced by mainstream media and culture,
compounds the likelihood that injustice and oppression will be played out
within the body, as social injustice is internalized and eating disorders
develop as a way to cope with the stress.(1)
source
(1) wikipedia