Causes of Eating Disorders - Essay Example

The image in the media, which is a construct, proves to be a great influence in deciding the way young girls want to look and hence, I too was influenced by it. To add to it, frequent comparisons made by people regarding the weight of an individual also proved to be a big factor. As I was on the heavier side, I started feeling that I was unattractive and I could not concentrate on anything but just the ways to reduce weight. Initially, it began with a simple harmless dieting plan to get off the excess carbohydrates, but slowly it became a habit and later an obsession. The goal was to get to the next lower size. Additionally, I started exercising also and soon began to work out compulsively. By controlling my need to eat, I got the feeling that I could control my body in the way I wanted to and hence, the initial feeling was that of happiness and euphoria. Later, even though I knew that the habit of not eating was bad, I could not have any control over it.

I could stay without food for days and even after I ate, I would immediately vomit it off. Though I do not recall exactly how many times I would vomit in a day, I knew that it was proving to be a very difficult obsession both physically and mentally. Even though, I do not remember how exactly a simple exercise to reduce weight became a big obsession. It is true indeed that memory gets faded and hence, I am not able to recollect the exact details. The notion of memory getting faded holds good even with slave narratives. For example, Emma Crockett admits that she remembers the whippings, but her memory fails her on whether the whippings were good or bad (Tart, 1997). The obsession with not eating and looking thin and lean began to take its toll on me very soon. I realized that I could not eat anything even if I wanted to because my body began to react and vomit out the food on its own. I started feeling tired and depressed. Even though my weight reduced considerably, I started feeling that it was not enough for me. After some time, I once had a fainting episode and my body became extremely weak and fragile. Depression and anxiety also set in; hence, I was under physical as well as mental stress due to my obsession with losing weight.

With the suggestion of my friends, I decided to get in touch with a dietician who could help me get over this obsession. I was put through rehabilitation which was an intensive program that helped me get over my mental obsession with my physical self. There were withdrawal symptoms, but slowly the results started showing and I started recognizing the need to respect the body. The counseling sessions proved to be good revelations.

I came across information that showed how stereotyping of female bodies results in the mental construct that being slim is beautiful. The obsession with being lean and slim takes away from the notion of healthiness. Even though most women do not have the ambition to become actors or models, they get attracted by the stereotype created by the media and hence, get obsessed with weight loss. Though it is healthy to lose excess weight, the thin line between maintaining the correct weight and losing weight obsessively should always be drawn (Grogan and Wainwright 1996).

More than everything, the one factor that helped me most was acceptance from family and friends and how they supported me throughout the process. Over the years, I have taken the eating disorder that I faced as a learning experience and it has made me understand the importance of healthy eating as well as healthy living. Read More