What Are Eating Disorders?
Eating Disorders are psychological disorders where individuals have disordered relationships with food, body image, and/or body weight.
What is Body Image?
Body Image is a combination of thoughts and really that a person has about their body. Body image can be a collection of positive and negative experiences any one person has at any time.
The Four Aspects of Body Image:
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Perceptual Body Image → The way you see your body (May not always be an actual representation of how you look.)
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Affective Body Image → The way you feel about your body (Feelings may include happiness or disgust, which is summarized by feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of your body.)
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Cognitive Body Image → The way you think about your body (May lead to preoccupation of your body weight and shape.)
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Behavioral Body Image → The behaviors you engage in as a result of your body image (May isolate themselves or take on unhealthy habits as a means to change appearance.)
Who is at Risk of Body Dissatisfaction?
Any person at any phase of life, may experience some form of body dissatisfaction. The following factors make people more susceptible to develop a negative sense of body image than others:
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Age: Body image is in most cases shaped during late childhood and early adolescence, but body dissatisfaction can happen at any age.
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Gender: Women are more likely to experience body dissatisfaction than men, but all genders can experience a sense of negative body image.
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Friends & Family: Role models and their opinions on body image and modelling weight-loss can increase the likelihood of an individual developing body dissatisfaction regardless of their body type.
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Body Size: People with a higher weight are at an increased risk for the development of body dissatisfaction because of societal focuses on weight.
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Depression: Individuals with low self-esteem or depression are at a higher risk for developing body dissatisfaction.
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Bullying: Those that are bullied about their appearance/weight, regardless of what their actual body type is, have an increased risk for developing body dissatisfaction.
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Personality Traits: People that have perfectionist tendencies, one way thinking, viewed as high achievers, those with beauty ideals, and those who compare themselves to others, are at higher risk of developing body dissatisfaction.
Why is Body Dissatisfaction a Serious Problem?
Body Dissatisfaction occurs when a person has constant negative thoughts and feelings about their body. Body dissatisfaction is a cognitive process influenced by external pressures that can drive people to engage in harmful weight-control behaviors, specifically disordered eating. Disordered eating places an individual at higher risk for developing an eating disorder.
What are Some Types of Eating Disorders?
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Anorexia Nervosa: A person diets and becomes greatly (15% or more) underweight, but believes that they are fat and continue to starve themselves.
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Bulimia Nervosa: Characterized by episodes of overeating (typically high-calorie foods), followed by fasting, vomiting, laxative use, or excessive exercise.
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Binge Eating Disorder (BED): Characterized by significant binge-eating episodes followed by disgust, distress, or guilt but without the use of purging, excessive exercise, or fasting that marks Bulimia Nervosa.
Protective Factors Against Eating Disorders:
Individual protective factors include:
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High self-esteem
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Positive body image
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Emotional well-being
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Critical processing of media contents
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Achievements
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Being self-directed and/or confident
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Problem solving and coping skills
Family protective factors include:
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Belonging to a welcoming family that does not exaggerate weight and physical appearance.
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Eating meals as a family.