The Psychology of Eating Disorders - Essay Example

A Research Paper On the Psychology of Eating Disorders Introduction Many people attain to some type of perfection in their lifetime, whether that image is put there by a parent, a teacher, or someone who is special in life. Popular online media and women’s magazines have also been a culprit for many decades in promoting how young women should physically look when attempting to achieve ‘perfection.’ Models and ballet dancers are two professions where being exorbitantly thin is the ideal image for their field of work. In more recent years now, both plus size models and a well-rounded female dancer is becoming more of a normal image on the global stages (Fernandez, 2012). Both professions are still highly charged, however, with promoting that ethereal, waif-like young girl who could float away at the first breath of the wind. Attempting to achieve that image presents mental obsessive problems as young girls in particular, begin to starve themselves and engage in toxic behaviours such as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa (Mayer, 2011; Shoker 2011). Researching the Eating Disorder Issues When discovering that someone has a problem with an eating disorder, some people will turn away and avoid confronting the issue, while others may stage an intervention in order to get someone into medical treatment (Shoker, 2011). Indeed, there are sometimes ethical issues involved in how to treat someone with an eating disorder, such as implementing overt or covert coercive methods of getting someone to eat better, to take medications if needed, and to determine patient competency and mental capacity so as to design and implement a functional treatment model and its application (Matusek & Wright, 2010). Not all patients will respond the same way to a standard solution. In such cases of eating disorders, much of what is occurring with a patient, has to do with her social and economic environment, the nature of her focus on her dilemma, and what type of family and friends she has around her for a support base. A disastrous combination, for example, is if a young ballerina, not only has a teacher who is telling her to lose weight, but also a ballet mother that also tells her to lose weight, once she gets home at night. There is no mental relief and the pressures can build to a dangerous level as regards her mental viewpoint of herself, one that may last a lifetime (Matusek & Wright, 2010). A medical clinician, uncovering such an environment and infrastructure of damaging influences surrounding the dancer, must move carefully to pick apart the threads of negative thoughts the dancer has already acquired. In such cases, isolation from these influences, as part of a clinician’s duty to protect the patient, provides a much healthier way to begin applying a solution. The one foreseeable problem would be the dancer’s wish to be able to continue taking daily ballet classes, which means she might not accept going into isolation where she could not get to class. These solutions can only be suggested after a thorough physical and mental evaluation, with the physical components to be looked at very closely for weaknesses from prolonged disorder effects, as found in bulimia, where a person continues to throw up daily. Traditionally, previous research has shown that non-White women and young girls have less incidents of eating disorders, with White females taking up nearly 80% of those cases where research studies were conducted (Gordon, Castro, Sitnikov, & Holm-Denoma, 2010). This implies a certain cultural environment where more normal-looking female bodies are valued more, along with their own cultural diets. Yet, it is also essential that equal testing and evaluations take place so as not to miss potential eating disorders in non-Whites, just because they tend to have less problems. In a research study conducted by Gordon et al. (2010), the sample population consisted of 276 female undergraduate students enrolled in Introductory Psychology at a large south-eastern university. The mean age was 18.88 years of age, with a range between 17 to 49 years old. Sample ethnicity was 29% White, (n=79), 44% Black (n=122), and 27% Latina (n=75) (Gordon et al., 2010). The study covered three semesters and in the last two, only Black and Latinas were included in order to order to oversample ethnic minorities. Over the three semester included, the Latina females were 29% Cuban (n=22) or Puerto Rican at 19% (n=14). The remaining balance of Latina females came from various South American countries, and Mexico, with six or less as representatives of each country included. Therefore, Latinas remained its own group without split-outs. For Blacks, 78% (n=95) were United States citizens, 21% (n=25) were Caribbean (Jamaica or Haiti), and 2% (n=2) were African (Gordon et al., 2010). A number of tests were applied, which are shown below without getting into more minute details. (Fig. 1, Gordon et al., 2010, p.138) In analyses, using a one-way covariance ANCOVA framework, the results showed that in individual ethnic groups, there were differences in selecting the ideal body shape for one’s own group image, with White females selecting slimmer body images as representative of their group. Latinas selected a slimmer body image for their ethnic group than did Black females. In a second ANCOVA, there were no differences in perceived current body shapes (Gordon et al., 2010). In a third ANCOVA, in using the self-esteem and socioeconomic status (SES) control, there were ethnic group differences in regards to the personal ideal body shape. Black females selected much larger personal ideal body types than both the Latinas and White females. The final ANCOVA showed that all ethnic groups saw the mainstream body ideal for the United States as being the same size (Gordon et al., 2010). Conclusion In the Gordon et al. (2010) research study, cultural environments have definite effects on how ethnic groups, particularly females, see the ideal perfect body image. In general, non-White ethnic groups and their cultures choose larger body shapes as ideal, compared to the overall United States choice of ideal body shape, with White females choosing much slimmer body shapes, and Latinas choosing much thinner body shapes than Black females. Aside from the physical aspects of the damage done to the body when eating disorders take place, the mental intelligence process also changes and patients see themselves in a much different way than the rest of the world does. Body dissatisfaction is the high risk factor in eating disorders and so is control issues. In engaging in eating disorders, patients see this as the way to control what is happening to them and it provides a warped method for trying to change their bodies and what they see in the mirrors (Shoker, 2013; Mayer, 2011). The control process occurs when patients eat and then throw it up at a later moment when no one is looking. In controlling the body and the purging process, it was to control and shape the body into what the patient wants. Yet, the whole process is a big secret and it is only by accident (in most cases) when the disorders are discovered. While Anorexia Nervosa is visually obvious because the person becomes very thin, Bulimia Nervosa can hide somewhat because the body change is a bit less drastic. Nearly 1.6 million people in the United Kingdom, are affected by eating disorders and of these, 11% are males. The prevalence of those ballet dancers (men too) who are engaged in eating disorders, ranges at nearly 10 times greater than those in other professions (Shoker, 2013). To add to the issues, is the need for physical strength in the body to be able to dance on a daily basis, and when eating disorders take over, there is added strain to the dancers’ bodies during the body building process as well as malnutrition. Both problems then break down a dancer’s body in a never-ending spiral that is quicker than if it were just a matter of over-working the body by dancing too much. Resources Fernandez, C. (2012, 15 April). English National Ballet chief orders dancers to put on weight after audience complaints that stars are too thin. Daily Mail Online. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ Gordon, K.H, Castro, Y., Sitnikov, L. & Holm-Denoma, J.M. (2010). Cultural body shape ideals and eating disorder symptoms among White, Latina, and Black college women. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 16(2), 135-143. doi: 10.1037/a0018671 Matusek, J.A. & Wright, M.O. (2010). Ethical dilemmas in treating clients eating disorders: A review and application of an integrative ethical decision-making model. Eating Disorders Association, Wiley Online Library. doi:10.1002/erv.1036. Mayer, A. (2011). The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Eating Disorder Symptoms Among College Women. National Conference On Undergraduate Research (NCUR). Retrieved from http://urpasheville.org/proceedings/ncur2011/papers/NP50886.pdf Shoker, S. (2013, 27 June). Ballet and Eating Disorders: ‘Unspoken Competitiveness’ Adds Pressure to Be Thin. BBC News England Online. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-22985310 Read More