Many and varied arguments (Eating disorders - how are they caused?)

Member Name: foxylou1980

Product:	Eating disorders - how are they caused?
Date:	05/02/09 (201 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: That the conditions are becoming more recognised and treated

Disadvantages: We may never know the exact cause, may differ from person to person

There are many and varied arguments as to the cause of eating disorders, such as anorexia, bulimia and compulsive eating, and it seemd unlikely that we'll ever find a definitive answer. It seems to me that there are many factors involved in how people develop these terrible conditions.

In recent years there has been so much media attention on celebrities weight; it has become something of a national obsession! Every women's magazine you open will have some kind of article on dieting and celebrity weight loss (I prefer to read men's magazines myself as there's much less of this nonsense in them!). For any woman who is overweight (or just believes she is overweight) these articles are incredibly attractive; promising fast weight loss with the the minimal amount of effort. It is undeniable that some of these articles are quite useful, promoting healthy eating and exercise as a means to weight loss. What I myself find so worrying is that very young girls are reading these magazines and feeling that they have to conform to this "ideal" image of women. I have a seven year old daughter myself and I really try to keep her away from magazines like this; we never have them in the house so she doesn't see them. I also don't discuss my weight in front of her.

The world of fashion has always perpetuated an image of "skinny" as desirable; I remember when I was about 13 years old in the early 1990s and the whole "heroin chic" craze was in the media. Even the fact that there have been a few well-publicised cases of young models literally starving themselves to death has not had an impact on this ideal; to me many of the models of today look almost emaciated, nothing like the more "curvy" supermodels of the early 90s, such as Cindy Crawford and Helena Christensen (who were still very slim!)

The main issue I have with the idea of the media being solely responsible for anorexia and bulimia is that these two illnesses are well documented as occurring throughout history, before we had all this saturated media coverage of celebrities. However there's no doubt that eating disorders are on the rise, and I believe that the media does play a part in this. Most worrying to me are these "pro-ana" websites that have sprung up in recent years, something I didn't have to worry about in my teens.

Another argument is that anorexia is used as a form of "control" for the sufferer. For example, a young girl who is being sexually abused may starve herself as she feels it is the only thing she can control about her life. The brain chemical serotonin has also been linked to anorexia; low levels are thought to trigger and exacerbate the condition.

In the case of compulsive eating, I have some personal experience. I went through a very difficult time personally when I was around 16, and I believe that this was when I started using food as a substitute for love and happiness. I gained a lot of weight very quickly and I'm still a bit overweight now at the age of 28. I find it virtually impossible not to eat food if it's in the house; for example I could never open a box of chocolates and eat just one; the whole box would go down very quickly until there was none left! However, these days I tend to turn away from food when I'm unhappy (I smoke a lot of cigarettes instead which is even worse!)

I think that many people in the Western world have developed a very unhealthy attitude to food; on the one hand we're advised to eat healthily and cut down on saturated fats, but then you walk into Tesco and the shleves are piled high with a massive choice of tasty but unhealthy treats!

Summary: Very difficult to find an exact cause; early intervention is essential to help sufferers