Eating Disorder
Running Head: Eating Disorder
Eating Disorder
Khae Saechao
UC Merced
1
Eating Disorder
2
How does eating disorder affect a person life? Does eating disorder had an impact on the
society as a whole? What is the reason that causes eating disorder? Usually eating disorder
occurs when a person tends to go on a diet. A person who is on a diet would eventually advance
to the next stage which is anorexia, or bulimia. Eating disorder is “severe alterations in eating
patterns linked to physiological changes. The alterations are associated with food restriction,
binge eating, purging, and fluctuations in weight. They also involve a number of emotional and
cognitive changes that affect the way a person perceives and experiences in his or her body
(Wardlaw, pg 435). ” Meaning that a person who has eating disorder would have to go through
all these types of syndromes like purging, vomiting, weight losses, and loss of appetite.
The main types of eating disorder are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and also bingeeating disorder. Anorexia nervosa is “an eating disorder involving a psychological loss or denial
of appetite, followed by self-starvation; related in part to a distorted body image and to various
social pressures commonly associated with puberty (Wardlaw, pg 436)”. For example, a person
with anorexia often see and believe that they are fat but they are actually skinny, even though
others people had comment on their thin body type. The cause of anorexia may occur because of
the media where a person sees a super model as their model type and want to be like them, tall,
skinny and pretty. Another case is where their parents set a high standard for them to follow and
they do not want to disappoint their parents. Bulimia nervosa is “an eating disorder in which
large quantities of food are eaten at one time and then purged from the body by vomiting, or
misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas (Wardlaw, pg 436). The type of person who develops
bulimia is the opposite from anorexia; the one who had family problems, where their parents do
not really care about them. Binge-eating disorder is “an eating disorder characterized by
recurrent binge eating and feelings of loss of control over eating that have lasted at least six
months. Binge episodes can be triggered by frustration, anger, depression, anxiety, permission to
eat forbidden foods, and excessive hunger (Wardlaw, pg 436).” The types of people who develop
binge-eating disorders may come from their parents who are addicted to alcohol or the ones who
have suffered from sexual abuse.
Eating disorder is still very complex, where researchers are still doing research about
finding the best solution to help people with their eating habits and trying to understand them.
Eating disorder is still vague, and many researchers are finding a way to the related it to other
field within psychology. In the Journals of Counseling Psychology and Journal of Consulting
and Clinical Psychology, they not only focus on eating disorder but also take a look at obesity,
sexual abuse, personality, social behavior and people who has problems with living. They are all
related in one way or another, like having stress or personal reasons.
Eating Disorder
3