Dysfunctional Family Systems and Disordered Self-Image

Many extreme pressures exist in modern society which directly affect a large number of the population to the point of extremity. In an age of high technology, rapid development, and intense social pressure, the pressure to be the best of the best prevails. Many people succumb to the pressure in a variety of ways, some beneficial, and some detrimental. Eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa in part result from an intense pressure to achieve the perfect ideal body weight and physical appearance. Emphasis on being perfect begins early in childhood and continues to grow with age, sometimes so much that a personality takes on a perfectionistic drive affecting every aspect of

In a study by Marchi and Cohen (1990) maladaptive eating patterns were traced longitudinally in a large, random sample of children. They were interested in finding whether or not certain eating and digestive problems in early childhood were predictive of symptoms of bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa in adolescence. Six eating behaviors were assessed by maternal interview at ages 1through 10, ages 9 through 18, and 2.5 years later when they were 12 through 20 years old. The behaviors measured included (1) meals unpleasant; (2) struggle over eating; (3) amount eaten; (4) picky eater; (5) speed of eating (6) interest in food. Also data on pica

Many children and adolescents not only express dissatisfaction with their figure, shape and weight, but also exhibit disordered eating behavior, such as binge eating (eating a large amount of food with a sense of lack of control), food restriction, laxative abuse and vomiting. For children and adolescents, eating disorders can overlap in many instances. As an example, some children alternate between periods of anorexia and bulimia. Eating disorders typically develop during adolescence or early adulthood. However, research has shown that they can start in childhood, too. Females are much more vulnerable. Only an estimated 5% to 15% of people with anorexia or bulimia are male. With binge eating, the number rises to 35%

“Twenty million women and ten million men suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life”(What are Eating Disorders, 2016). What can cause a person to develop an eating disorder? The type of significant amount of eating would include bulimia nervosa, or binge-eating disorder. There are other eating disorders that cause dramatic weight loss such as anorexia nervosa. “According to the Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy & Action, the risk of developing an eating disorder is from fifty to eighty percent determined by genetics” (Parks 46). Thirty percent of people develop an eating disorder through a traumatic incident such as rape or abuse. There can be other causes to developing an eating disorder. This can be biological factors, sociological factors, and psychological and emotional health. Biological factors can include a person’s brain chemistry, age, gender and genetics; the genes passed on from one or both parents. Adolescents and females are most

The possible relationship between sexual abuse and the development of an eating disorder has gained attention over the last few years. Researchers have attempted to clarify this potential link using a variety of population samples and research methodologies. As will be shown, the results of these investigations are rather diverse and sometimes inconclusive. In the following review of the literature, the complex relationship between sexual abuse and eating disorders will be examined while also discussing the methodological limitations of the various designs.

The two most common eating disorders are bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. Both disorders, primarily affect young women, therefore the majority of the research on eating disorders has been done with women subjects. The onset of bulimia is between adolescence and early adulthood while the onset of anorexia is between early and late adolescence. Not only is the onset different but the disorders are unique. Bulimia nervosa is characterized by loss of control over eating which leads to food binges. These episodes are interspersed with episodes of purging, such as vomiting or laxative abuse, to keep weight down. The goal of anorexia is also to keep weight down , but to a

People use food to cope with their feelings instead of using it to satisfy their hunger. People can become bulimic to gain a higher self-esteem. It is not a response to hunger; it is a response to depression, stress, and low self-esteem. Bulimia has no concrete cause; researchers are beginning to think it is caused by dissatisfaction of the body (“Bulimia: Symptoms, Causes...” 1-4). Men are also susceptible to becoming bulimic. It is the drive for thinness, perfectionism, and the fear of giving up that triggers eating disorders in men. Men are under much pressure to look strong and maintain control. They are pressured to take care of the financial worries and be the foundation for a family. “Around 33% of men have an eating disorder” (Hall 1-4). Even though it’s women who are mostly affected by bulimia, it’s still a serious issue when it happens to a man. Even though stressful events are reasons for eating disorders, they aren’t the only reasons.

Another aspect of anorexia nervosa suffers that can halt treatment is the personality traits that have been found to put children at higher risk of eating disorders. The traits are being anxious, perfectionistic, obsessive personality and negative self-evaluation that are displayed before the onset of the disorder (Kaplan). Research has shown that these traits are still persist after treatment and

Rates of Perfection obsessive Disorder is seen most commonly in teenagers and adults, and with the prevalence rate highest in people with a high Socio-economic Status. The rate of males being diagnosed with the disorder is more than females, but female’s rate with the disorder is slowly catching

Backholm, K., Isomaa, R., & Birgegård, A. (2013). The prevalence and impact of trauma history in eating disorder patients. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 41-8. Doi: 10.3402/ejpt.v4i0.22482.

Adults’ propensity to seek proximity and support when faced with a distressful situation demonstrates how attachment formations endure over one’s entire lifespan. Disorganization has also been observed in childhood and adolescence. For example, some disorganized children behave punitively toward their parents, seeking to challenge or humiliate them, while others adopt a caregiving stance, taking the role of the parent and attempting to soothe or comfort them Both of these forms of behavior are seen as controlling. Other forms of disorganized behavior include manifesting fear toward or having difficulties in addressing or interacting with the parent, exhibiting behavior that invades parental intimacy, engaging in self-injuring behaviors or

With children as early as age 7 showing dissatisfaction with their body, and as young as 9 starting dieting, eating disorders are a serious issue in our society. Taking a look at perceptions, behaviors, and medical issues associated with the disorders of anorexia and bulimia, scholars have tried to categorize and find answers to the problems which certain adolescents suffer. In this paper I focused on the two major eating disorders of anorexia and bulimia.

Michael W. Wiederman, Tamara Proyor, and C.Don Morgan, conducted a study comparing the sexual experiences of women with bulimia vs. women who suffered anorexia. Similar to this experiment control groups in the past have used bulimics and anorexics (Wiederman et al., 1996a). It had been reported that women who are bulimic have greater sexual activity and experience compared to women with anorexia, and are more likely to engage in sexual intercourse (Wiederman et al., 1996a). In addition reports have stated that “anorexia nervosa was often precipitated by menarche and the initiation of breast development, and that the anorexic individual often had difficulty negotiating heterosexual relationships, ultimately retreating from, or rejecting,

It is hard to be certain of anything nowadays as our society is constantly in change, and in retrospect, my life has been the same way. Three years ago I was reborn in a new country, an immigrant without the language and without the means, but I never gave up. Starting all over again had detrimental effects on my family and on my self-esteem. It was hard to go from being an infallible student to being the student learning English as a second language while taking classes complete different to what I knew before. I left Cuba knowing that is was gonna be a sacrifice, and I do not regret it because I know for sure that my future is more important than anything else and that I will graduate. I saw my parents struggling to make ends by the end of

This paper reviews the relationships among eating disorders, trauma, and comorbid psychiatric disorders, with a particular focus on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There have been a number of significant conclusions in the literature, applicable to clinical practice, which are essential to the understanding of the relationships between generic eating disorders and some types of trauma. These are summarized as follows: a) children's sexual assault is a non-specific risk factor for most eating disorders; b) the level of trauma linked to those eating disorders has been extended from the child's sexual assault to include a multitude of different forms of assault/abuse and; c) trauma is much more common in bulimic eating disorders compared to a non-bulimic disorder; d) As such, those findings linking eating disorders with traumatic ones have been extended to both male and female children and adults with eating disorders; e) findings linking eating disorders with trauma have been extended to both male children and adult males with eating disorders; f) several episodes or types of trauma are associated with eating disorders; g) All trauma is not always associated with severe eating disorders; h) trauma is associated with greater comorbidity (including