It is commonly believed that eating disorders are a consequence of societal pressure and the nurturing of a person. In our society, the media and other portrayals of the body show an ideal, thin body. It is suggested that body dissatisfaction drives people for thinness.(insert picture 1)What Causes Eating Disorders?
Those who have relatives with eating disorders have a 10 times greater lifetime risk of developing an eating disorder (Tiemeyer, 2009). The cause of the connection is highly debateable.
Studies have found that people with bulimia nervosa often come from a family environment where they have been subjected to physical, emotional or sexual abuse. It has also been noted that those who come from a family where body image is considered important are more susceptible to importance.
Specific traits increase the risk of anorexia. People who eventually develop an eating disorder may:
· Have low self esteem
· Are perfectionist
· Are highly critical of themselves
· Have depression or similar mental disorders
· Are adolescents
· Had problems during birth
· Have Hormonal Abnormalities
No matter how predisposed one is to developing an eating disorder, eating disorders can often only be triggered by traumatic life experiences.
“Doctors studying the causes of the eating disorders anorexia and bulimia believe it has less to do with media images of slim-figured models and more to do with biological and genetic factors“(BBC, 1999). (insert picture 2)
By comparing the genes of people suffering from eating disorders
to those who aren’t, scientists have found specific genes which may make a person more susceptible to anorexia. Scientists have found numerous chromosomes that they claim are responsible anorexia and other eating disorders. Low or high levels of the chemical messenger, serotonin may attribute to the likelihood of one developing an eating disorder appears to run in the genetics of some families. Family and twin studies have found that genetic factors account for than 56%-76% of the variance in development of anorexia (Tiemeyer, M, 2008).The controversy lies as to whether or not the link between eating disorders and family is caused by the environment that one has been subjected to, or genetics.
Questions:
What do you think? Are eating disorders are predominantly caused by social/family/media pressure (nurture) or genetics (nature)?
Information gathered from:
http://www.psychiatric-disorders.com/articles/eating-disorders/bulimia/bulimia-causes.php
http://www.psychiatric-disorders.com/articles/eating-disorders/anorexia/anorexia-causes.php
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/259226.stm
http://eatingdisorders.about.com/od/riskfactors/a/heritability.htm
http://eatingdisorders.about.com/od/riskfactors/f/edsgenetic.htm
http://news.msu.edu/story/792/
BY:Alex, Cathy, Katy
Eating Disorders
ReplyDeleteEating disorders are primarily caused from the nurture of one’s self and her/his surroundings. Things such as per pressure, family issues, self consciousness and other issues can cause mainly girls to diet or to become anorexic. Men on the other hand have the male model as a muscular fit person; this puts pressure on men today to work out in gyms or at home.
Women however take their image more seriously, and how they see their own body can sometimes be very different to how other people see it. Social pressure or girls wanting to look like models can increase some one’s self consciousness dramatically. Family issues or life issues can also raise insecurities for women and this can allow them to portray themselves as not worthy. In order for them o gain attention they put themselves in very dangerous situations by starving themselves.
Women and men do this because of their nurture! What their life involves and their surroundings is the whole reason to why people conform and believe that they are not good enough.
Alex W
I believe that eating disorders are caused by nurture. If you are bought up in an household where being a healthy weight was the ideal weight, the chances of anorexia or bulimia are much lower than that of a person who is bought up in a household where being skinny and eating chocolate is frowned upon. Not only is household upbringing an important part in the tackle of anorexia and bulimia, peers and friends also play an enormous role.
ReplyDeleteDepending on the certain persons ‘circle’ of friends at school and the amount of stereotypical judgement involved within that ‘circle’, the rate of an eating disorder varies. Again, if all of this circle of friends ate a piece of lettuce for lunch and one of the friends was eating a big salad for lunch, it would be understood that the big salad eater would feel out of place and consequently would cut down the amount of food they were consuming for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which could then pose a threat to their becoming anorexic. Clearly, this example shown provides evidence that the nurture of the salad eater could cause anorexia to become a disease to them. If the salad eater was put in the position at home where a big healthy meal was presented and the table was not allowed to be left until the plate was empty, this could also lead to another situation where the salad eater stays healthy, thus still showing that nurture controls eating disorders.
-Mel
Based on the information that was collected from both this blog and other studies, it is clear that Eating disorders are the product of family, environment and media (Nurture). As seen in magazines and on the television, the “perfect” body is described as stick thin. A research group in American (Anorexia Nervosa & Related Eating Disorders, Inc.) says that ‘one out of every four women uses unhealthy methods of weight control—including fasting, skipping meals, excessive exercise, laxative abuse, and self-induced vomiting.’ (Media Awareness Network). If people didn’t get these ideas of a perfect body from media, then perhaps they would perceive the ideal body image as something different. This shows that the media is clearly responsible for eating disorders such as Anorexia and Bulimia.
ReplyDeleteIt is also believed that eating disorders are a result of peer pressure and social standards. Teenagers are especially vulnerable to social and peer pressure, which explains why peak rates of anorexia happen in the teen years. ‘According to statistics from the National Eating Disorders Association, by the time they reach college, 92 percent of young women have tried to control weight through dieting, and 22 percent "often" or "always" diet. ‘(Psychiatric Disorders.com)
Overall, I believe that it is clear that eating disorders are a result of nature.
I believe that eating disorders are cause by both nature and nurture social, family, media pressures and biological factors. A lot of disorders are started by people looking at the media and thinking that they have to look like that. Also, at school many children and teenagers are tested about their weight or anything else and increase a low self-esteem, which lead to eating disorders. People sufferer eating disorders by many different social problems. Some being low self-esteem from, being teased about their appearance, being shunned and going through a difficult break-up. People believe that this is happening because they were fat and if they become thin similar thing won’t happen again. Everyone is different and everyone will have different causes for eating disorders. Eating disorders can be a result of nature r nurture; it is not sure what causes eating disorders for sure.
ReplyDeletehttp://concernedcounseling.com/communities/eating_disorders/causes.asp
Eating disorders are definitely caused by environmental factors. As mentioned in the report above people are more likely to develop an eating disorder if another family member has it. This is simply because a person sees the family member undergoing an eating disorder and being rewarded by a better body; thus they may try to model their behaviour. In other family environments where good bodies/ body images are encouraged, children may go to extremes to achieve “the family’s desired look”. Although specific chromosomes or levels of serotonin may add to the possibility of developing an eating disorder, there is no way a person could develop one unless give the correct environment. Traumatic experiences such as bullying may cause a person to believe “they are not good enough” and thus ignite the desire to be thin. In other cases, as mentioned above, abuse sexually, physically or mentally also causes a person to think they are not “thin enough”. However, genes may decide some of these factors. For e.g. it is mentioned in the report that a person’s traits such as “being a perfectionist” or “highly critical” will cause higher risks of an eating disorder development. Now it may be in a person’s nature to be “a perfectionist” or “highly critical”. Thus this will cause higher risks of an eating disorder.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the origin of eating disorders can be from multiple sources. An eating disorder is to eat, or avoid eating, in a manner which negatively affects both one's physical and mental health. Anorexia and bulimia are primarily diseases of the mind are often thought to be closely related to OCD.
ReplyDeleteBiological causes of Anorexia and Bulimia can be low serotonin levels and low cholecystokinin levels in bulimics, which could be hereditary. Many of the chemicals and hormones related to anorexia and bulimia are associated with the hypothalamus in the brain> Damage within the hypothalamus can lead to abnormalities in temperature regulation, eating, drinking, sexual behavior, fighting, and activity level.
Bad body image could also be hereditary though. Many studies have found that daughters of mothers with bad body image problems are a lot more likely to also struggle with their body image as well.
However, the media is the most often blamed today for creating an unhealthy standard for girls to live up to. Girls are being diagnosed with anorexia or bulimia and credit their disease to their childhood dolls, or tv shows and movies they watched while growing up. Studies have proven that the media is the most likely cause of anorexia and bulimia.
Jillease
I believe that eating disorders are caused by nature, the reason why I believe this, is because there is proof that even in cultures that consider “fat” as beautiful and don’t have the slim role models in their society. Researchers have produced evidence that some people could be genetically more likely to develop them. A doctor believed that only western countries had eating disorders because of the pressure to be thin. Until he conducted a study on the Caribbean island of Curacaom, this is where “fat” is considered attractive. He studied 291 cases in details and he was able to confirm eight cases of anorexia nervosa.
ReplyDelete(BBC, 1999) Doctors in London have been looking for genetic causes of eating disorders; the main focus of this was the serotonin system, which functions include determining appetite levels and the role of eating all together. They looked through the whole human genome to try and find certain genes that would increase the chances of anorexia. The one gene that the doctors did pick was the 5HT2A receptor, which is involved in “regulating feeding and drugs that block it cause weight gain." (BBC, 1999) One doctor found this variation in the gene for serotonin receptors in anorexic patients. There were twice of likely to the variant gene, compared to women without an eating disorder.
Another reason why I believe that nature is consider to cause eating disorders is because a doctor in the US, did an international study, to link teenagers with eating disorders with their families. He found that 10% of his patients with an eating disorder also had a relative with the same eating disorder.
These are the reasons why I believe that eating disorders are mainly nature.
Nicole Craig
I believe that the origin of eating disorders can be from multiple sources. An eating disorder is to eat, or avoid eating, in a manner which negatively affects both one's physical and mental health. Anorexia and bulimia are primarily diseases of the mind are often thought to be closely related to OCD.
ReplyDeleteBiological causes of Anorexia and Bulimia can be low serotonin levels and low cholecystokinin levels in bulimics, which could be hereditary. Many of the chemicals and hormones related to anorexia and bulimia are associated with the hypothalamus in the brain> Damage within the hypothalamus can lead to abnormalities in temperature regulation, eating, drinking, sexual behavior, fighting, and activity level.
Bad body image could also be hereditary though. Many studies have found that daughters of mothers with bad body image problems are a lot more likely to also struggle with their body image as well.
However, the media is the most often blamed today for creating an unhealthy standard for girls to live up to. Girls are being diagnosed with anorexia or bulimia and credit their disease to their childhood dolls, or tv shows and movies they watched while growing up. Studies have proven that the media is the most likely cause of anorexia and bulimia.
Jillease
I believe that eating disorders are caused by nature, however they are triggered through nurture. Eating disorders may be side affects of other serious mental or physical problems. People that get eating disorders may have already been suffering from depression or low self-esteem and a way their mind tries to deal with these things is by triggering an eating disorder. You rarely ever see a person who is completely fine one day and have developed an eating disorder the next day – they usually have to have some problem to start off with.
ReplyDeleteAs Alex, Cathy and Katy have already said scientists have found genes that could mean that you are more susceptible to developing an eating disorder. This backs my theory because not all people when they have low self-esteem or depression enter an eating disorder only people that have the gene that could set the eating disorder off.
So in conclusion I believe that eating disorders are predominately caused by nature but to trigger them you need some other problem.
Iain
My opinion towards this topic is that eating disorders are a production of both nature and nurture. Adolescents born from parents with eating disorders will likely carry the same genetic trait (as shown in the blog, there is a 10 times higher risk of possessing these disorders or 56-76%). Such disorders are dangerous as they could kill or harm the hormone production system extremely badly. It is advised for these people to consult a dietician, psychologist or psychiatrist as soon as possible before more harm is made. In saying so about nature, it is not unlikely for people to develop these disorders if influenced by nurture. The evidence from the blog supports the propaganda produced by media, magazines and advertisements about the need to be extremely thin. Adolescents that are continuously pressured by these factors may wish to conform to the rest of the community to feel included. The young girl’s doll, Barbie, shows an example of possible leadings to anorexia in young children due to her impossible and perfect body figure; in real life, Barbie would not be able to stand up because of an inproportional body. Pressure from peers will also contribute to eating disorders if the adolescent is unable to fight for their point of view (due to low self esteem). Conclusively, it seems that environmental pressures and genetic influence produce eating disorders in adolescents and others.
ReplyDeleteTiffany