Eating Disorder as a Result of Distorted Idea of Social Image - Research Paper Example

Eating Disorder : A Result of Distorted Idea Of Social Image Introduction In today’s modern world, visual media has become one of the most important influence on the lives of human beings. People are influenced by the fashion, physique and the lifestyle of the models, actors and other personalities shown on the television (Abraham & Llewellyn-Jones, 2001, p.3). The media has successfully implanted an ‘idea’ in the mind of the society that being thin means being successful (Abraham & Llewellyn-Jones, 2001, p.1). The constant exposure to the image of a thin bodies shown on television has led adolescents to believe that only thin people can have great relationship, great job and a great life (Abraham & Llewellyn-Jones, 2001, p.3). This belief has led women in their adolescence and adulthood to take drastic and unhealthy steps to reduce their weight (Abraham & Llewellyn-Jones, 2001, p.11). This attempt to reduce weight at any cost has led to the development of disorders called as the ‘eating disorders’. Eating disorder is not just a physical problem. It also affects the mental, social and emotional health of a person. Hence, it is extremely important to understand the roots of eating disorder if it needs to be cured completely. As ‘eating disorder’ has its roots in the social thinking pattern, to solve the problem of eating disorder what is necessary is a shift in a belief of the whole society. Eating disorder can be conquered completely only when people realize that every human being is unique and hence, has unique body. Respect for healthy body rather than a ‘thin’ body is a need of an hour. Definition of eating disorders According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders IV TR (2000), a person can be described as suffering from eating disorder if she is diagnosed with “anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN) and eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS) which includes binge eating disorder (BED) as well as a variety of subclinical or more appropriately “atypical” eating disorder presentations.” (Costin, 2007, p. 4). Anorexia nervosa is a disorder in which a person becomes overly cautious about the calorie intake and indulge in excessive physical exercise to lose weight (Kreipe, 2006, p.1). Bulimia nervosa is a disorder in which person suffering from it tries to get rid of the food from the body by methods of vomiting, using laxative etc (Kreipe, 2006, p.1). People suffering from BN indulge in erratic eating patterns like fasting for a period of time, eating excessively for a period of time and then later throwing out the food through vomiting and laxatives (Kreipe, 2006, p.1). The Behavior Pattern People suffering from eating disorder adopt a very unhealthy and harmful eating behavior patterns with the aim of losing or maintaining the body weight (Kreipe, 2006, p.1). People suffering from AN become very conscious of the calorie intake as they fear gaining weight. (Kreipe, 2006, p.1). People suffering from BN also fear gaining weight however, instead of restricting their calorie intake, they indulge in eating large amount of food and then try to avoid gaining weight through different methods like fasting, vomiting, exercising and using laxatives immediately afterwards (Kreipe, 2006, p.1). In this way, people suffering from eating disorders follow a very harmful and unhealthy eating behavior pattern. People suffering from eating disorders think that ‘being thin’ is the only thing that can make them happy (Kreipe, 2006, p.1). Their thinking, their behavior, their fears and their goals are directed only towards one thing and that is, losing weight (Kreipe, 2006, p.2). However, because of severe conflict between their mind and their body needs regarding the food intake, they suffer from emotional and psychological problems. People suffering from eating disorders suffer from an unending vicious cycle of crash dieting and binge eating (Kreipe, 2006, p.2). This leads to feeling of guilt, low self-esteem, anger and frustration (Kreipe, 2006, p.2). Etiology There is no one single cause of development of eating disorders in a person. There are many factors like socio-environmental factors, genetic factors, psychological factors, family behavior patterns, biological tendencies and lifestyle factors that play a part in development of eating disorder in people (Cooke and Sawyer, 2004, p. 27). At the same time, one cannot deny the major part that ‘the social conditioning by the media’ is playing in the development of eating disorders among people in their adolescence. 1.Genetics It seems that the root cause of eating disorder is a desire to lose weight. However, recent studies like those conducted by Bulik et al (2005) and Bacanu et al (2005) show that genes play a major part in development of eating disorder like anorexia nervosa (Kreipe, 2006, p.3). This doesn’t mean that genes are directly responsible for the development of AN. The psychological disorders like anxiety and depression, which are developed due to genetic factors, make a person vulnerable to eating disorders (Kreipe, 2006, p.3). Twin studies have reveled that “approximately 50% of the variance in anorexia and bulimia nervosa is explained by genetic factors” (Cooke and Sawyer, 2004, p. 27). The chances of relatives of people suffering from eating disorder developing eating disorder is double compared to the relatives of people not suffering from eating disorder (Cooke and Sawyer, 2004, p. 27). 2. Psychological disorders It was found that the emotional and the psychological changes that people in their adolescence go through lead to low self-esteem and self consciousness (Hsu, 1990, p.82). Studies found that in the western societies, adolescent females suffer from miserable state of mind due to their self consciousness about their body image (Hsu, 1990, p.82). This leads to unhappiness and depression. To feel better and to gain some comfort, people suffering from psychological disorders like depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, fears and emotional disturbances indulge in binging on sweet and sugary food. To compensate the feeling of guilt, they go for crash diet. These unhealthy eating patterns lead to eating disorders. People suffering from depression are at great risk of developing eating disorders (Cooke and Sawyer, 2004, p. 27) as they feel better when they binge on sweet food (Kreipe, 2006, p.3). 3. Social Factors and self image The electronic media and the print media conditions the young people in believing that only ‘thin’ people are accepted in the society. According to a study by Walster et al (1966), people in their adolescence, and particularly females, think that physical attractiveness is the only determinant of a successful romantic relationship (Hsu, 1990, p.84). Research has found that among people in their adolescence the satisfaction with the self image is related with the physical attractiveness, i.e. their self esteem is strong and high only when their physical characteristics fit their idea of ‘perfection’ (Hsu, 1990, p.84). This idea of a ‘perfect’ body is promoted by fashion models, socialites, magazines and advertisements. People in their adolescence try to copy their idols from the entertainment world. This leads to the development of eating disorders. COMORBIDITY It has been found that anxiety leads to eating disorder (Halmi, 2003, p.20). The studies of significant number of cases revealed that anxiety preceded the development of eating disorders (Halmi, 2003, p.20). The behavior and the thinking pattern of people suffering from eating disorders is found to be compulsive and obsessive (Halmi, 2003, p.20). People suffering from eating disorders become obsessed with the thought of losing weight (Halmi, 2003, p.20). Every thought and action of theirs is affected by the desire of losing weight (Halmi, 2003, p.20). Their preoccupation with the thought of losing weight and the different methods they adopt as a result of their preoccupation makes their behavior obsessive and compulsive (Halmi, 2003, p.20). This makes their thinking and behavior patterns similar to people suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (Halmi, 2003, p.20). Studies by Toner et al and Halmi et al found that the occurrence of obsessive compulsive behavior is very high among people suffering from eating disorder (Halmi, 2003, p.20). There is a strong association between eating disorder and substance abuse (Halmi, 2003, p.22). In a study by Holderness et al, it was found that people suffering from an eating disorder called bulimia nervosa have a strong chance of developing substance abuse than those suffering from anorexia nervosa (Halmi, 2003, p.22). Striegel-Moore and Hyudic found that people suffering from eating disorder are twice as likely to develop problems related to alcohol abuse than people not suffering from eating disorder (Halmi, 2003, p.22). Also, there is an increasing frequency of mood disorder and personality disorder among people suffering from BN (First & Tasman, 2010, p. 450). Hence, substance abuse, personality disorder, obsessive compulsive behavior etc. are the disorders that develop due to eating disorder. Treatment. Therapists or professionals who work with people suffering from anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are dieticians, counselors and psychotherapists (Costin, 2007, p. xi). Cognitive behavior therapy is one of the therapies that has yielded good results in helping people suffering from eating disorders to get back their self-esteem and confidence (Costin, 2007, p. xi). Cognitive therapy helps people suffering from eating disorder to change their distorted ideas and wrong perception of the image, weight and shape of their bodies (First & Tasman, 2010, p. 451). It focuses on the thoughts and the events that lead to inappropriate eating habits and practices (First & Tasman, 2010, p. 451). However, it was found that cognitive behavior therapy was not helpful in producing permanent results as some studies revealed that 70% of the individuals experienced symptoms even after the therapy (Costin, 2007, p. xi). Different motivational enhancement techniques developed to reduce the eating disorder behavior pattern have not shown any noteworthy results (Maj, Halmi, Lopez-Ibor & Sartorius, 2003, p. xvi). Family therapy in treatment of people suffering from eating disorder has been reported to give good results (First & Tasman, 2010, p. 448). This is because people suffering from eating disorder indulge in diets as they think that people around them will accept them only if they are thin (First & Tasman, 2010, p. 448). During the family therapy, the fears and the low self-esteem of the client are erased with the support and encouragement from the family members (First & Tasman, 2010, p. 448). The support from family helps the client to develop emotional strength which is the one of the most important aspect in permanent cure of eating disorders. The symptoms that are difficult to cure are psychological symptoms like depression and anxiety (First & Tasman, 2010, p. 448). People suffering from BN find it extremely difficult to cure the symptoms of binge eating and purging(First & Tasman, 2010, p. 451). These symptoms create a stubborn obstacle in permanent cure of eating disorders like AN and BN. Conclusion: Researches have shown that eating disorder results from many factors like genetic, social, biological and lifestyle. However, one thing is very clear and that is the impact of the visual and print media on the minds of young people. People from the world of music, movies, television and fashion are promoting the idea of ‘thin is beautiful’. Knowing or unknowingly, young people try to idolize them in an attempt to gain social acceptance and to attract the people of opposite sex. This leads to the onset of the vicious cycle of erratic eating patterns and emotional disturbances related to it. All these attempts to gain a ‘perfectly thin’ body leads to development of eating disorder. It is the responsibility of the society to get dehypnotized from the media impact and start accepting and respecting people for their personality rather than their bodies. References: Halmi, K.(2003). Classification, Diagnosis and Comorbidities of Eating Disorders: A Review. In M.Maj, K.Halmi, J.Lopez-Ibor and N. Sartorius (Eds.), Eating Disorders (pp 1-32). England: Wiley Kreipe, R. (2006). Eating Disorders and Adolescents. Research Facts and Findings. Retrieved from http://www.actforyouth.net/documents/Nov063.pdf Abraham, S. & Llewellyn-Jones, D. (2001). Eating Disorders : The Facts. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Costin, C. (2007). The Eating Disorder Sourcebook: A Comprehensive Guide To The Causes, Treatments, And Prevention Of Eating Disorders. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies. Cooke, R. & Sawyer, S. (2004). Eating Disorders in Adolescence: An Approach to Diagnosis and Management, Clinical Practice, 33, pp 27-31. First,M. & Tasman, A. (2010). Clinical Guide to the Diagnosis and Treatment of Mental Disorders. UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Hsu, G. (1990). Eating Disorders. New York: The Guilford Press. Read More