Factors Affecting Anorexia Nervosa - Essay Example

Body Image Introduction On many college campuses, substantial attention has been paid on the effects of physical characteristics and self-perceptions of the body on women's behaviors, cognitions, and its influence. Most of the time, issues like the physical attractiveness, body image satisfaction, weight concerns, and eating problems have become apparently the most important concerns on many women. Although research from Wardle et al. (1993) has found a much lower prevalence of eating disorders in non-Western countries, it is apparent that diagnoses of eating disorders are particularly prevalent among young women and girls (with an approximation of 90 to 95 percent of those diagnosed). Thesis Sentence Accounting to several significant factors that constitute to Anorexia Nervosa, this paper asserts that the media and society play a huge part and has a great influence on women with eating disorders. History During the year 1870s, anorexia nervosa first existed and was initially perceived as a nervous disorder associated with young women. But in the 19th century, anorexia is defined as: "(1) a refusal to maintain a normal body weight with body weight at least 15 percent below that expected; (2) an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat despite being underweight; (3) body image distortion, 'feeling fat' and overvaluation of thinness; and (4) a reduction of food intake, avoidance of fattening foods, often with extensive exercise, self-induced vomiting, laxative or diuretic abuse so as to achieve the weight loss and maintain a low body weight" (qtd. in Malson 3). Out of many studies from different researchers about the severity of eating disorder, it was Lacey's (1985) "false self" and "borderline" eating-disordered patients that corresponded to the most severe forms of the illness. Lacy's (1985) idea on "false self" was actually motivated from observations of Winnicott (1975) that discrepancies in the self came out either as an adaptation to a lack of emphatic encouragement and support from the primary caretaker, or as an unintentional consequence of miscuing between mother and child. Consequently, due to this disruption, it might cause problems in introspective/reflective awareness, or insufficient consolidation of self-regulatory skills. Since there is already a lack of inner awareness, an adolescent eating-disordered woman might present with an undemanding, compliant personality that is sensitive to outer, but not inner signs (Eliot 2004). Accordingly, the woman might tend to be a "people pleaser" whose pseudo-maturity and intuitive autonomy are part of the false pretense. On the other hand, the so-called "borderline" patients encompassed the most seriously ill group even up to the present day. Particular characteristics portrayed by these patients are the perception of themselves as overwhelmed, always in danger, of no value, and unattractive. Correspondingly, they see other people as corrective, controlling, and insensitively critical. Their fragmented sense of self and fragile ego boundaries often result in poor impulse control and a anxious search for external tension regulation. Behaviors that are exhibited in order to lessen and alleviate a sense of internal emptiness and despair cause these patients to be poly-symptomatic and particularly difficult to help. Factors Affecting Anorexia Nervosa There are in point of fact numerous factors that can be enumerated that affect eating disorders in women. It may be due to socio-cultural factors, family problems, individual vulnerability as a result of trauma or things that might have gone wrong in the difficult early mother-child relationship, and the influence brought about by the mass media. In sticking with the scope of this paper, the socio-cultural factors and the mass media are the only factors that are further discussed aligning to this paper's purpose. Socio-cultural Factors As women reach adolescence, they undergo a lot of physical changes like their size and shape. It is also during this time when culture and society tell girls that being thin is beautiful, and much more, very important. It is simply for this reason that girls become increasingly aware of their bodies thinking that their bodies provide powerful stimuli to themselves and to others. It seems as if there has been a recent cultural mandate that women, for them to be valued, must be beautiful. And for them to be beautiful, most women are obsessed of becoming thin since it is attractive and striking for most people. This idea posted in our present-day society has been identified by Bruch (1978) as the primary symptom of anorexia nervosa. Even though it is proven to be self-destructive to an extent, this behavior is supported culturally. The failure of women for this endeavor have been considered by Bordo (1993) as the causes of a mind-body dualism in which the anorectic person experiences her body as alien of even as an enemy. Mass Media What has mass media got to do with the body image Taking a quick look at the power of the mass media, we will then be able to formulate statements as to what and how it becomes one of the factors that affect eating-disorder. Just as mass media acts as informants in the dissemination of information, it too can greatly influence women's view on body image. Mass media is so powerful and influencing to the public that most of their information shared becomes the standard or model for people. It is the mass media that unknowingly amplified the stereotypical concept that social success of a woman lies in a slender female body, greater self-esteem and sexual appeal. Most researchers agree that mass media has likely contributed greatly to the increase in anorexia nervosa. Researchers and mental health clinicians have suggested that modern-day influences of the media may be connected with the development of women's self-esteem. Mass media is universally present in youths' lives via television and movies, magazines, and advertisements. One author dedicates her two works in criticizing the media. It was Pipher's (1994, 1996) clinical works that scrutinize and examine how media advertisements set unrealistic expectations on physical appearance of women. Agreeably, it was supported by media theorists and researchers alike. They all agree of the apparent connection between the influence of media and negative psychological impact for adolescent women. Such negative impacts brought about by the media include eating disorders, body image problems, and the construction of negative gender stereotypes (all of which is studied closely by researchers and clinicians). Media coverage and messages influence women on what to wear, what to weigh and how to shape muscles. Such messages may bring about worries to adolescents about their physical appearance and self-evaluations. Feminist Theory In a feminist sense, some theorists as well as researchers assert that a fundamental task of the development of women involves getting the most out of ways in order to increase physical attractiveness and appeal to others and most of the time, for attracting men. College students are of the center of this study for the reason that eating disorders like Anorexia Nervosa usually prevails during the adolescent years of women. During adolescence, Wurman (1989) stresses that it is a period during which women struggle with their bodily concerns in an attempt to resolve issues of personal identity. Additionally, the adolescence stage of women is the developmental period in which the issue of body image becomes the most important concern for many girls. Notwithstanding Wurman's (1989) statement, Bruch (1978) suggests that it is both normal and socially adaptive for girls to diet, apart from an objective or health-related need to lose weight. However, Alexandra Eliot (2004) has found that there has been diversity of opinions about the causes and origins of the illness and claims that "the roots of eating-disorder disturbances are largely embedded in factors that long predate that onset of puberty and may be related to a dysfunction in the early mother-child relationship" (p. 14+). Conclusion In summing it up, most of the body image studies done, show common reasons and factors that seem to agree with each other. Nevertheless, this paper has found two major factors that greatly counts when it comes to issues of body image - media and society. Even most clinicians agree that consumerism fueled by the media does create an enormous influence whether the quest for a perfect body represents a cultural preference or a distinct psychopathology. The media can mold the evolving attitude that the body needs to be managed and manipulated rather than used as a means for improvement or identity. In supporting this claim, Kilbourne (2002) reminded that "the obsession with food and weight control that grips many American women not only supports $60 billion diet industry, but jeopardizes women's health and self-esteem as well. From the statements made after gathering evidences, images of cultural gender are portrayed through television, movies, and advertisements (collectively media) that directly linked to the way adolescent women evaluated their physical appearances. Women's inclination to weight loss and thinness is also been greatly molded by the culture created by the society as stated earlier. As a final point, this paper confirmed the accountability of the media and society in its role in eating disorders in women. Works Cited Bordo, Susan, ed. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body. Berkeley: U of California P, 1993. Bruch, H. The golden cage: The enigma of anorexia nervosa. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978. Brumberg, J. The body project. New York: Random House, 1997. Eliot, Alexandra O. A Concept of Self in Eating-Disordered Adolescent Girls: A Consideration of Genetic Factors. Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association. 2004, 7(1), p. 14+. Lacey, H. Time limited individual and group treatment for bulimia. In D. Garner, & P. Garfinkel (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy for anorexia nervosa and bulimia (pp. 431-456). New York: The Guilford Press, 1985. Kilbourne, J. "Slim hopes" Advertising and the obsession with thinness. Paper presented at the meeting of the Academy of Eating Disorders, Boston, MA, 2002 April. Malson, Helen. The Thin Woman: Feminism, Post-Structuralism, and the Social Psychology of Anorexia Nervosa. New York: Routledge, 1998. Pipher, M. Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. New York: Grosset/Putnam, 1994. Pipher, M. Media and adolescence. Symposium conducted at St. Catherine's School, Richmond, VA, 1996 March. Wardle et al. (1993 Culture and body image: body perception and weight concern in young Asian and Caucasian British women, Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 1993, 3(3), pp. 173-181. Winnicott, D. Through pediatrics to psycho-analysis (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books, 1975. Wurman, V. "A feminist interpretation of college student bulimia". Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 1989, 3, pp. 167-180. Read More