Causes of Eating Disorders

10 Key excerpts on "Causes of Eating Disorders"

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  Nutrition

  Science and Applications

  • Lori A. Smolin, Mary B. Grosvenor, Debbie Gurfinkel(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  F7.2 What Causes Eating Disorders? LEARNING OBJECTIVES • Discuss the genetic factors that influence the development of eating disorders. • Discuss the psychological factors that influence the development of eating disorders. • Describe how a society’s body ideal affects the incidence of eating disorders. Canadian Content Genetic, psychological, and sociocultural factors all contribute to the de- velopment of eating disorders (Figure F7.1). Eating disorders typically begin in adolescence when physical, psychological, and social developments are occurring rapidly, but they occur in people of all ages, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds. They are more common in women than men. The Public Health Agency of Canada reports that 3% of women will be affected by eating disorders in their lifetime. 4 In an Ontario community, the prevalence of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa was 2.1% in women and 0.3% in men. 5 bulimia nervosa An eating disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating following by inappropriate compensatory behaviours in order to prevent weight gain, such as purging behaviour like self-induced vomiting, or misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas. Fasting or excessive exercise can also be observed. bingeing or binge eating Binge eating is characterized by eating excessive amounts of food in a short time, often with a sense of loss of control and feelings of embarrassment, self-disgust, depression, or guilt. purging Behaviours such as self-induced vomiting and misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas to rid the body of kcalories. binge-eating disorder An eating disorder characterized by the same binge eating observed in bulimia nervosa but there is no purging. other specified feeding or eating disorder or unspecified feeding or eating disorder An eating disorder that is similar to a fully characterized disorder, but does not include all the listed characteristics.

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  Eating Disorders Sourcebook, 5th Ed.

  • James Chambers(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Omnigraphics

    (Publisher)

  This chapter contains text excerpted from the following sources: Text beginning with the heading “What Is Body Image?” is excerpts from “Having Body Image Issues,” girlshealth.gov, Office on Women’s Health (OWH), January 7, 2015. Reviewed December 2018; Text under the heading “Body Image and Mental Health” is excerpted from “Body Image and Mental Health,” Office on Women’s Health (OWH), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), May 17, 2018.

  Chapter 22 Environmental Factors in Eating Disorder Development

  Researchers cannot pinpoint a single cause for eating disorders. Instead, they view eating disorders as complex illnesses that can have a variety of contributing causes, including genetic, biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors. Some of the environmental factors that may increase the likelihood of an individual developing an eating disorder include sociocultural pressures to attain a certain standard of thinness, media messages about diet and weight loss, exposure to traumatic events, stressful or chaotic family dynamics, and mothers who frequently express dissatisfaction with their own bodies or criticize their daughters’ body shape or weight.

  Sociocultural Ideals

  American media and popular culture promote an image of the ideal or “perfect” body that is unattainable for most people. Fashion models, actors, and celebrities featured onscreen or in magazines tend to fall within a narrow set of norms that include only those who are extremely thin or extremely muscular, and editing technologies such as Photoshop and airbrushing are often employed to remove any blemishes, wrinkles, or love handles. When people internalize these unrealistic standards of beauty, it may contribute to the development of a negative body image, an obsession with weight and appearance, and eating disorders. Although many people who are exposed to sociocultural ideals of thinness do not develop eating disorders, studies have shown that some individuals are highly vulnerable to such environmental messages about weight and beauty.

  Dieting

  In response to societal pressures to attain a certain ideal body shape, many people resort to restrictive dieting or other extreme weight loss measures. Americans spend an estimated $60 billion each year on fad diets and dangerous weight loss products, despite the fact that 95 percent of people on diets fail to achieve permanent weight loss. In addition to their ineffectiveness, restrictive diets are also a common precipitating factor in the development of eating disorders. Dieting increases people’s preoccupation with food and weight and generates feelings of guilt and shame surrounding eating. For some people, these feelings contribute to the development of eating disorders.

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  When Dieting Becomes Dangerous

  A Guide to Understanding and Treating Anorexia and Bulimia

  • Deborah M. Michel, Susan G. Willard(Authors)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • Yale University Press

    (Publisher)

  The specific ways that eating disorders enhance self-esteem vary, but feel- ings of increased control, confidence, and achievement are fre- quently reported. The disordered behaviors can also be a means of getting attention and feeling special. T H E B I O P S Y C H O S O C I A L M O D E L We have said that there is never one single cause of eating dis- orders. Instead, they are quite complicated, and a variety of fac- tors appear to contribute to their development. Many proposed explanations focus primarily on one aspect or another of eating disorders, whether biological, cultural, or psychological. These models are too simplistic or limited to account for all facets of these disorders. A ‘‘biopsychosocial’’ approach includes all di- mensions of eating disorders and explains why some women develop these illnesses while others do not, despite common- ality across certain variables. It also provides an effective model for treatment. The specific components of this comprehensive model include biological factors, societal influences, individual personality features, and family characteristics. Biological Factors A great deal of the research examining biologi- cal factors that may make some young women more susceptible to eating disorders has focused on genetic components. In par- ticular, researchers have compared the prevalence of anorexia in sets of identical and fraternal twins. Difficulties with this type of research include the small sample sizes, how patients are recruited for studies, differences in the definitions of an- orexia, the extent to which twins share a similar environment, 32 Why Does Someone Develop an Eating Disorder? and similarities in social life (environmental factors). In any case, researchers who have reviewed studies with satisfactory designs report that there is evidence of a genetic predisposition to an- orexia. Unknown, however, is the degree to which genetics in- fluences the development of the disorder.

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  Disorders of Childhood

  Development and Psychopathology

  • Robin Parritz, Michael Troy(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Thus, the AED stands firmly against any etiologic model of eating disorders in which family influences are seen as the primary cause of anorexia nervosa or bulimia ner-vosa, and condemns generalizing statements that imply families are to blame for their children’s illness.” More recently, sociocultural models of eating disor-ders have become prominent. These explanations, briefly discussed in the opening section of this chapter on the developmental challenges associated with eating and appearance, begin with the near-constant presentation of images of actresses, fashion models, and Instagram celebrities with impossibly thin bodies and shapes. Inter-nalization of this thin ideal, coupled with the pressure to be thin (coming from oneself, family, peers, and society), leads to body dissatisfaction, negative emotions, prob-lematic dieting behaviors, and eating pathology. Indeed, research suggests that exposure to media images of the thin ideal, as well as peer pressure to be thin immediately, increases levels of body dissatisfaction. This is especially the case if girls are vulnerable in terms of already-present body dissatisfaction, perceived pressure to be thin, and lack of social support. According to Harrison and Hefner (2008, p. 381), the “thin-ideal media exposure may coax body image disturbance and disordered eating into expression by activating related cognitions and emotions.” Given that the vast majority of adolescent girls and young women do not develop clinically significant eating disor-ders, however, a single-factor model is unlikely to capture the real-life complexity of eating disorders. A biopsychosocial, multifactorial risk model provides a more nuanced explanation of the development of eat-ing disorders (Le Grange et al., 2010). As we review the genetic and environmental factors here, keep in mind that both the number and pattern of risk factors likely influence an individual’s vulnerability.

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  ABC of Eating Disorders

  • Jane Morris(Author)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • BMJ Books

    (Publisher)

  With so many theories, canny observers are likely to conclude that none is adequate and decide that for the present we cannot be sure about what causes EDs. Nevertheless, something can be said about aetiology even if it does not yet amount to a satisfactory account. And some of the things that can be said may have useful implications for the clinician. However, an open mind is required. The following is a brief account of the more important factors that are probably involved in the genesis and perpetuation of EDs. It will concentrate upon issues that may have relevance to the clini-cian. Most factors will get a mention although they are not arranged into a coherent aetiological theory; it is as Eric Morecombe once said of his piano playing, ‘all the right notes are there but not necessarily in the right order’. Eating restraint Firstly, slimming is relevant. It does seem that ‘eating restraint’—the general term used by psychologists for voluntary OVERVIEW The precise pathogenesis of eating disorders remains uncertain. • There is a widely held belief that social pressures to slim are the • most important cause of eating disorders. However, other factors must be involved. These may include genetic and psychosocial factors. • Most of the psychosocial factors are non-specific and have been • shown to be relevant also to other mental disorders. Beliefs about causation may affect the attitude to treatments of • both patient and clinician. ABC of Eating Disorders . Edited by J. Morris. © 2008 Blackwell Publishing, ISBN: 978-0-7279-1843-7. 6 ABC of Eating Disorders Box 2.2 The Minnesota starvation experiment As the Second World War was ending, starvation was widespread in Europe. Dr Ancel Keys and his collaborators conducted a study which aimed to explore the effects of starvation and the best methods of refeeding. Thirty-six men volunteered. They were mainly conscientious objectors to military service. They were selected as being both physically and mentally fit.

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  Understanding Abnormal Behavior

  • David Sue, Derald Wing Sue, Stanley Sue, Diane Sue, David Sue, Derald Wing Sue, Diane Sue, Stanley Sue(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Biological Dimension At this point, we have considered psychological, social, and sociocultural dimensions associated with eating disorders. However, an unanswered question remains: “If all young girls are exposed to these sociocultural pressures, why do only a small fraction go on to develop anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa?” (Striegel-Moore & Bulik, 2007, p. 188). Considering biological factors and possible gene  environment interac-tions helps us answer this question. For example, if someone has a genetic predispo-sition toward severe dieting, exposure to certain environmental factors (e.g., family pressures or societal emphasis on being thin) may increase the risk of developing an eating disorder. Conversely, those without the predisposition might find severe diet-ing to be extremely aversive. In this section we consider possible genetic influences on eating disorders. Disordered eating appears to run in families, especially among female relatives (Steiger & Bruce, 2007). Strober, Freeman, Diamond, and Kaye (2000) examined the lifetime rates of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa among close relatives of indi-viduals with and without eating disorders and found that anorexia nervosa and buli-mia nervosa occurred with much greater frequency among close relatives of those with eating disorders. Heritability estimates from twin studies are 41 percent for binge-eating disorder, 46–76 percent for anorexia nervosa, and 50–83 percent for bulimia nervosa (Bulik, Thornton, et al., 2010; Striegel-Moore & Bulik, 2007). Genetic influences may be triggered by physical changes such as puberty. In a sample of twins, heritability appeared to be low among preadolescent teens but was substantial after puberty. This suggests that either puberty itself or social processes associated with puberty (e.g., increasing awareness of sexuality and body shape) may influence the expression of genes for disordered eating through gene  environment interactions.

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  Helping People with Eating Disorders

  A Clinical Guide to Assessment and Treatment

  • Bob Palmer(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  It seems most likely that sustained disturbance of eating behaviour will be promoted by emotion mainly when the scene has already been set by some disruption of ‘normal’ feeding. That disruption may be a decision to restrain eating but could also be a predominantly emotional event. Anecdotally, people do differ in the extent to which they are readily ‘put off their food’ by emotional upset and, indeed, in the extent to which they ‘eat for comfort’. Such individual differences may well be relevant to the risk of developing eating disorder, although at present they are poorly understood. Satisfactory explanatory models of eating disorders are likely to involve both restraint and its consequences and emotional issues (McManus & Waller, 1995; Meyer et al., 1998); however, it should be remembered that a proportion of cases of BN seem to lack a history of notable eating restraint, and this proportion is substantial for cases of BED. In such cases, it may be that emotional factors alone, or with some primary problem of eating regulation, lead to clinical eating disorder.

  FAMILY INFLUENCES

  Troubled people often come from troubled families. Families provide food for children and are the context for emotional development. It may well be that styles of eating and relating to food are set down in childhood as a result of family influences. It is plausible that families may be involved in triggering or perpetuating eating disorders. There has certainly been a lot of speculation along these lines. However, it is also true that troubled people upset families and the presence of an eating-disordered member in a family is likely to upset the other family members. The evidence from clinical observation and the theories that arise from it need to be considered with this in mind.

  Many theorists have made bold statements about the way in which family life and parenting promote eating disorders. For instance, Bruch (1973) asserted the importance of the mother–child relationship and Selvini-Palazzoli (1974) that of the whole family system. However, such theories are largely unsupported by systematic research and seem insupportable as particular and specific aetiological theories. Furthermore, they have sometimes led to regrettable attributions of blame which tend to hinder rather than help any therapeutic endeavour. What evidence there is about the current family life of those suffering from eating disorders suggests that there is a wide variety rather than one or two consistent patterns (Rastam & Gillberg, 1991). On the whole, the stereotypes of the theorists have not been found (Eisler, 1995). However, there is some evidence that sufferers remember their childhood as characterised by a variety of negative features, most of which they share with people with other psychiatric disorders. Furthermore, some adverse family environmental factors, such as low contact and high expectations, have been found to be more common in the recollections of both bulimia and anorexia sufferers than in comparable subjects with other psychiatric disorders (Fairburn et al., 1997, 1999). Indeed, the general force of such family risk factors seems to be especially great for BN. A large twin study used multivariate analyses to try to tease out the likely influence of genetic and shared familial and non-shared environmental factors in BN and five other psychiatric disorders (Kendler et al., 1995). Alone amongst the six disorders studied, the model for BN suggested a significant aetiological role for familial environmental factors. Some studies suggest fewer overt problems in the childhood background of AN sufferers (Schmidt, Tiller, & Treasure, 1993; Webster & Palmer, 2000).

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  Weight Management

  • Hubertus Himmerich(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • IntechOpen

    (Publisher)

  1 Section 1 Etiological and Diagnostic Aspects of Weight-Related Disorders 3 Chapter 1 Risk and Maintenance Factors for Eating Disorders: An Exploration of Multivariate Models on Clinical and Non-Clinical Populations Stefania Cella, Mara Iannaccone, Annarosa Cipriano and Paolo Cotrufo Abstract The recognition of factors involved in the development and maintenance of eat-ing disorders (EDs) may support the choice of therapeutic strategies and improve the prevention/treatment of eating pathologies and their outcomes. Based on this consideration, the overall purpose of the chapter is to investigate how some psycho-logical characteristics link to EDs. It is organized as follows. First, the epidemiologi-cal aspects, risk, and maintaining factors for ED are outlined. Next, we present the findings from our two studies. The purpose of the first study was to identify predictors associated with the severity of eating symptomatology. Then, the objec-tive of the second study was to provide an understanding of the relationship among perceived parental bonding, self-esteem, perfectionism, body shame, body mass index, and ED risk and mainly to test a predictive ED risk model in a non-clinical sample. In conclusion, the major findings and practical implications are discussed. Keywords: perceived parental bonding, self-esteem, perfectionism, body shame, body mass index, eating disorders, risk factors 1. Eating disorder risk and maintaining factors: an overview Eating disorders (EDs) are highly prevalent psychological conditions character-ized by abnormal eating behaviors that may lead to serious health problems and even cause death [1]. The existing diagnostic classifications of EDs include anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS), avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), pica and rumination disorder.

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  Eating Disorders

  A Reference Sourcebook

  • Raymond Lemberg, Leigh Cohn(Authors)
  • 1998(Publication Date)
  • Greenwood

    (Publisher)

  New York: The Guilford Press. 36 ' Understanding Eating Disorders: Symptoms and Causes Cash, T.F, & Roy, R.E. (in press). Pounds of flesh: Weight, gender, and body images. In J. Sobal & D. Maurer (Eds.), Interpret- ing weight: The social management offatness and thinness. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter. Cash, T.F, Roy, RE., & Strachan, M.D. (1997, May). How physical appearance affects relations among women: Implications for women's body images. Poster presented at the convention of the American Psychological Society, Washington, D.C. Cash, T.F, Strachan, M.D., & Roy, R.E. (1997). Women's attitudes about male-female relations: Relevance to body-image and eating disturbances. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, Washington, DC. Cash, T.F, & Szymanski. ML. (1995). The development and vali- dation of the Body-Image Ideals Questionnaire. Journal of Personality Assessment, 64, 466-477. Cash, T.F, Winstead, B.A., & Janda, L.H. (1986). The great Ameri- can shape-up. Psychology Today. 20, 30-37. Drewnowski, A., & Yee, D.K. (1987). Men and body image: Are males satisfied with their body weight? Psychosomatic Medi- cine, 49, 626-634. Dworkin, S.H., & Kerr, B.A. (1987). Comparison of interventions for women experiencing body-image problems. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 34, 136-140. Faith, M.S., & Schare, ML. (1993). The role of body image in sexu- ally avoidant behavior. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 22, 345- 356. Fallon, A.E. (1990). Culture in the mirror: Sociocultural determinant of body-image. In T.F. Cash &T Pruzinsky (Eds.), Body im- ages: Development, deviance, and change (pp. 80-105). New York: Guilford. Feingold, A., & Mazzella, R. (1998). Gender differences in body image are increasing. Psychological Science, 9, 190-195. Fisher, E., & Thompson, J.K. (1994). A comparative evaluation of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) versus exercise therapy (ET) for the treatment of body-image disturbance.

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  Psychological Responses to Eating Disorders and Obesity

  Recent and Innovative Work

  • Julia Buckroyd, Sharon Rother, Julia Buckroyd, Sharon Rother(Authors)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Interscience

    (Publisher)

  Despite the diversity of the following chapters there are a number of common denominators. There is agreement that conventional dieting and behavioural approaches to overweight do not deliver maintained weight loss. There is agreement that there are psychological issues involved in obesity es-pecially where binge eating is involved. Finally, there is agreement that early attachment experience and a history of trauma are relevant to current eating behaviour. We begin this section with a chapter by Julia Buckroyd and Sharon Rother entitled, ‘Psychological Group Treatment for Obese Women’. The authors be-gin their chapter with a brief review of the existing responses to obesity and their limitations. They go on to identify a range of reasons why permanent weight loss is so difficult. They list the toxic environment of food in western societies, the reduction in effort, a genetic predisposition, physiological mech-anisms and the problems of lifestyle change. However, their chapter focuses on yet another factor: the psychological uses of food that maintain psychic equilibrium for a substantial minority of obese people. They then identify some of the wide range of literature in the past 15 years which has suggested that some obese people are using food for affect management. They consider some of the evidence linking these two factors and demonstrate that stress of various kinds promotes overeating. They continue by showing that binge eating is common among obese peo-ple and is associated with weight regain. They then describe some of the substantial literature which suggests that there are increased risks for obes-ity among those with poor attachment history and a history of trauma. They draw attention to the biochemical mechanisms that may be at work to produce a soothing effect in response to overeating.

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