Eating Disorders Paper

     The family tends to play an important role in the development of eating disorders. Males tend to have very strict, domineering fathers who encouraged development in sports. It has also been recognized that many men with eating disorders may not have had a father figure around at all. (Zerbe, 1992) Their mothers have been described as overprotective and controlling. (Romero, 1994) Adolescent boys with eating disorders relate that parents or siblings are usually on diets as well and there tends to be an emphasis on food and dieting

This studies goal was to examine the extent to which family environment and attachment styles are concurrently related to eating disorders.

We are all genetically and socially affected by our families. Families serve as the matrix of our identity. It is through interactions within the family that we develop a sense of who we are and how we fit in (Minuchin, Rosman & Baker, 1978). Parents serve as role models, providing examples for attitudes, coping skills, and eating habits, as well as setting standards for perfection, ambition and acceptance (Hall & Cohn, 1992). Many researchers claim that family dynamics are at the root of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa. The role of dysfunctional family interactions in the pathogenesis of anorexia nervosa has been given a prominent place in the research field. Evidence for a specific

Some studies have shown a correlation between physical, sexual and/or emotional abuse and eating disorders, but there appears to be no casual link. (Tripp, 2001). Between 30 to 50% of adult women report an unwanted sexual experience in either childhood or adulthood. This paper explores the connection between sexual abuse, specificity during childhood, and eating disorders. Eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating and over exercising. Because of the complex nature, factors such as family interactions, self-esteem, core beliefs, body mass, depression, body image and laxative

However, the bulimic woman appears to sabotage her own ambitions for thinness. This is likely an expression of castration anxiety or rather fear of retaliation by the maternal object. This anxiety is expressed in ambivalent feelings about the body. Conceptually, this hypothesis seems to have support from empirical research demonstrating that most eating disorders surface during adolescence, a period of tremendous growth and development (Ringer & Crittenden, 2007).

Conducted on Jul 10, 2016, XYZ executed a study on whether or not childhood psychopathology is affected in children of women with eating disorders. Two different age groups were examined; 48,403 children at the age of eighteen months old and 46,156 children at the age of seven years old. If a mother had multiple children, only the first born child was studied. The younger group was measured in cognitive, motor and language development, temperament, and attachment. The older group was given the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to determine where they were psychologically. The mothers had one of the following; anorexia nervosa(AN), bulimia nervosa(BN), both anorexia and bulimia, or no eating disorder(NED). The study concluded that

The purpose of the study is to identify what may be the onset of bulimia nervosa and whether or not it is related to a person being subjected to criticism based on their weight/ shape and eating habits. This is the first of studies that take a look at a year prior to having bulimia nervosa. This study was conducted through a control case study which is a study that looks at both a group that does have a disorder and a group that does not have the disorder. It also determines if a factor affects either of the groups and how that factor affects it. The study observed three separate group of women. The women with eating disorders were recruited from eating disorder treatment settings, which were women who were previously diagnosed with bulimia nervosa. The healthy women along with women with a psychiatric diagnosis were recruited from high schools and university campuses. A total of 180 women were observed. The first group of sixty women was women who had bulimia nervosa and ranged between the ages of 15- 38. The second group, which were the healthy women, their age ranged from 15-39. The healthy women reported not being diagnosed with any disorder. The last group of sixty women’s ages ranged from 14-38 and they were diagnosed as having psychiatric disorders. The study was done on all Caucasian women. Women were excluded if they were pregnant, had physical conditions or psychosis (mental disorder). For the healthy women, they were first evaluated with the DSM-IV to determine no

As Beattie (1988) and other theorists have noted, “food is the most concrete symbol of the maternal object,” (p. 456). Reexamining Allison’s and Melissa’s cases suggests that bulimic symptoms were used as a means to express repressed rage towards the maternal object. Instead, this aggression toward the maternal object was redirected onto the self via bingeing and purging.

Over the past years, the pervasiveness of eating disorders, Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa, has risen notably amongst women in the Western World. Eating disorders (EDs) are mental disorders “characterized by a persistent disturbance of eating or eating-related behavior that results in the altered consumption or absorption of food and that significantly impairs physical health or psychosocial functioning” (American Psychiatric Association (APA), 2013). The most well-known types of eating disorders are Anorexia and Bulimia. Anorexia is characterized by these three attributes: “persistent energy intake restriction; intense fear of gaining weight or of becoming fat, or persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain; and a disturbance in self-perceived weight or shape”( American Psychiatric Association (APA), 2013). Bulimia is distinguished by the following: “recurrent episodes of binge eating, recurrent inappropriate compensatory behaviors to prevent weight gain, and self-evaluation that is unduly influenced by body shape and weight” (American Psychiatric Association (APA), 2013). In the United States alone, approximately 0.5-3.7% and 1.1-4.2% of women respectively suffer from Anorexia and Bulimia in their life time. The alarming statistics brings this question to light, “what is the cause of an eating disorder?” Numerous academic research and studies by scholastic specialists have pointed that the etiology of eating disorders can be traced to not one, but several

A number of different theories have been asked to explain the connections between family factors and environmental factors and Bulimia. Some of these theories say that Bulimia stems from a conflict between mother and daughter about development and dependence. Girls are usually closer to their mothers and discouraged to do things for themselves earlier than boys. Therefore a bulimic's bingeing and purging can show a tie between wanting comfort, which is food and believing that they do not deserve it, by vomiting and thinking that they are too fat. Mothers who also diet or worry too much about their weight may provoke their child to develop an abnormal attitude towards food, this also counts for a father or sibling who may make fun of or tease

Klein suggests that eating disorders develop through our internal and external objects. According to Klein, internal objects are experienced as relating to each other within the self. She also talks of how important our relationships with our family, parents and especially mothers are. She suggests that if the care for child is inadequate, the child will create a false sense of self or one that plays to the needs of others. A child’s home life is very important to psychological development (Christensen, 2013), especially seeing both parents live together, this helps teach the child relational care outside of one’s self. The relationship between the patient suffering from anorexia nervosa and her mother is usually described as overwhelming, leaving no room for the daughter to separate and individuate. Ones refusal of food is a way of establishing a sense of self, an attempt to separate from the mother to survive psychically. On the other hand, Abraham Maslow proposes that eating disorders can rise out of an attempt to regain control in one’s life, a person struggling with anorexia may be restricting her food intake because eating may feel like the only area of her life she can control. He also suggests that according to the ‘Hierarchy of needs’ the biggest influence on our well-being involves the love and support from friends and family, this idea falls under the Love and belonginess needs. Conferring to Maslow, in the absence of our love and belongingness needs, many people become vulnerable, lonely, show signs of social anxiety and even clinical depression, which relates broadly to Klein’s view of the internal/external objects and our relationship with our families and especially

According to Davison et al., (2013), disorders are the “result of unconscious conflicts in the individual”. The psychoanalytic paradigm concentrates on childhood and defines what the individual has been through during childhood is reflected in his/her adulthood. Davison et al., (2013) stated that anorexia nervosa disorder usually starts to develop in adolescence due to past unstable relationships between parents and the child. Indeed, being overprotective and overinvolved in the child’s life by taking all the decisions for him without giving him a voice, as it is seen in the case of Karen Carpenter, lead the child to feel powerless, insecure, and have a low self-esteem. A lack of control is felt by the child and is then transformed into high self-control later on. Approaching adolescence, the child becomes more conscious about the society demands on appearance and as a result respect those requirements to be accepted by transforming him/herself into a thinner silhouette. This self-control over a strict diet creates an identity to the individual. According to Mushatt (1983), problems in the family increase the probability to develop an eating disorder as anorexia nervosa. The roles played by the parents of Carpenter family were well defined: her mother has control over everything and her father was following her mother’s commands in order to satisfy her. Concerning Karen’s father, his passive behavior did not help to lower the anxiety level felt at home and to bring back stability within the family. Indeed, being a perfectionist mother does not help the child to grow up normally. The fact that Karen’s mother was over controlling could also have participate in her development of the anorexia Nervosa disorder. Karen was not taking her own decision which is defines as it as an “infantilizing decision making” by Msuhatt (1983). As explained in her biography, Karen Carpenter did not even

However, there is environmental causes, such as the stress due to living with anorectic or bulimic family member, that seem to accompany the genetic predisposition, presenting the importance of both factors. In addition, previous research has suggested that childhood adversities may be associated and contribute to triggering eating disorders. Regarding this, it is difficult to distinguish if the disease is primarily genetic or if it’s a result of a stigmatization of search of a socially constructed

Furthermore, there are other ways—besides a daughter’s perception of her father—that parenting styles can affect the development of eating disorders in females (Jones, Leung, & Harris, 2006). The research of Jones, Leung, and Harris dove deeper into the different paternal rearing behaviors and core beliefs and their influence in the development of disordered eating behaviors in females rather than simply looking at perception alone, and they found some similar themes. Their research discovered that core beliefs i.e. abandonment, vulnerability to harm, etc. mediated the relationship between different paternal behaviors and the factors that can directly cause eating psychopathology. Individuals with disordered eating tended to have more negative memories of paternal rearing and higher levels of three core beliefs: abandonment, defectiveness/shame, and vulnerability to harm. This research also found that the daughter perceiving their father as overprotective was predictive of a drive for thinness. This data shows that paternal rearing behaviors are related to daughters developing and maintaining eating disorders. Therefore, fathers are pertinent when considering how body image issues/eating disorders may develop and be maintained.

When researching and treating patients with eating disorders, one often turns to the relationship a female patient has with her mother and how that may impact the development and maintenance of an eating disorder; it also may examine how mothers influence the treatment process. However, not as much thought is given to the importance of father-daughter relationships in respect to patients with eating disorders. Examining the father-daughter dyad provides insight into the roles that a father’s own body image, emotion expression, psychopathology, and parenting styles play in the development of their daughter’s eating disorder, and the influence a father has during the treatment process; this information can be extremely helpful and important when treating a female patient with an eating disorder.