Eating Disorders Research Paper

Attention Getter: February 4, 1983 was the day that opened the eyes of America to the view of the damaging effects of eating disorders. This day marks the death of the very famous singer of the time, Karen Carpenter. Looking glamorous and confident on the outside, most did not know she was suffering from Anorexia Nervosa (B5). Throughout her teenage years, she was overweight. In 1967, weighing 140 pounds, Karen was put on a water diet by her doctor. This brought her down to 120 pounds (B6). Even though she was now at a healthy weight, she was still insecure due to her large amount of celebrity peers who were the ideal, perfect weight. Taking dozens of thyroid pills a day and throwing up the little food she ate, by

Topic: What is causing young adults and teens to develop eating disorders and how can we help them?

Real beauty is found in a person's heart, not in their appearance, but the media rarely portrays this though. Most magazines and television shows feature only excessively thin people. Unfortunately, this causes teenagers whose bodies don't match those same proportions to look at their selves with hatred. Every lump and bulge becomes despised, and soon, they have a full-blown eating disorder.

A combination of genetic, physical, social, and psychological factors may contribute to the development of an eating disorder, such as Anorexia. Anorexia is an emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat. Eating disorders effect ten million females and one million males in the United States. Also 0.3 percent of the eating disorders occur in teenage children.

Media success has always been based on the exploitation of the rare or controversial. Magazines, television, and documentaries always seem to focus on unusual situations or the belittling of an individual’s habits. No one is to blame, however exploiting people and their unhealthy choices should be frowned upon, but society thrives off of the “unknown” and “lesser-seen”. Eating abnormalities seem to have become the newest trend, putting teen pregnancy and drug abuse on the backburner. Shows seem to focus solely on health implications caused by overeating, not eating, or eating foreign objects. Has the media's constant infatuation with the irregular led society to become desensitized to these outlandish topics, or has society begun to

Women, men, and young children have been tricked into thinking that flawless beauty does exist by altering images into the impossible.

Eating Disorders: disorders characterized by abnormal eating habits (ex: anorexia nervosa and bulimia). Anorexia is “an emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat (cnn.com).” Bulimia is an eating disorder in which a lot of food is consumed in a short amount of time, and is often followed by feelings of guilt or shame. This leads to those people to throw up the food. Today, so many girls believe that they need to be perfect so that they fit into society. This is wrong. Perfect is not real. Sure, some models seem like they are perfect and happy, but the truth is they aren’t. Sometimes, they starve themselves and some have even died because of this. However, this isn’t

Over the last few generation, society has fabricated an existence where the influence of media on young adolescents and children is inexorable. Children are now broadcast by their parents on every social media platform, establishing a need for acceptance based on how “cute” the child is long before they are mature enough to voice their own thoughts. While traditionally media has been know to promote a specific body standard—proven to contribute to the development of eating disorders among young adults and pre-adolescents—a new trend in media has introduced the “body positivity” movement which has begun to successfully influence people of all generations and body types.

In todays’ society, there are more than thirty million people suffer from an eating disorder in the United States, Binge Eating Disorder is one of them. Binge Eating Disorder (BED), also known as Compulsive Eating Disorder, affects more than 2.8% of adults in their lifetime. Statistics show that BED is genetic for some, while others tend to have comorbid mood, anxiety or substance abuse disorders. Even something so small, such as a malfunction in the brain insulin can cause a brain disorder that causes the addiction to food. Our society plays a significant role in eating disorders across the state. Images of men and women are plastered in books, magazines, social media and the television of being fit, lean and very thin. According to pop cultures,

One of the most dangerous experiences I have ever went through was having an eating disorder such as anorexia it eats you up without you realizing it. I was so ambitious to lose weight that it became an obsession full time.

Eating disorders is a mental disorder of eating habits that affect a person’s mental and physical health. There are different kinds of disorders, such as, binge eating is when you eat large amounts of food. Anorexia Nervosa is lost if appetite, while Bulimia you eat all the time. Pica is when you are hungry for stuff that is largely non-nutritive. Rumination disorder which usually happens as a child, but brings up food and re-chews the digested food that has already been eaten. Finally the Avoidant/Restrictive food intake disorder is the struggling of eating food.

In today's world, education is not the only necessary survival skill needed in the work force, beauty has also become part of the package. The media created a perfect body image that has caused a new worldwide epidemic. The United States has fourteen million Americans that struggle with an eating disorder. “Every woman knows that, regardless of all her other achievements, she is a failure if she is not beautiful.” (Germaine Greer)

Eating disorders can be characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating patterns that lead to poor physical or psychological health. These different forms of disordered eating can often be related to other psychiatric illness. Eating disorders are of interest to many psychologists and are commonly researched to find the biological, developmental, and social backgrounds connected to them. The most common eating disorder in the United States is binge eating disorder. People with this disorder frequently consume large amounts of food to the point of discomfort because they feel that have lack of control over their eating habits. These episodes of binge eating are commonly followed with feelings of guilt, depression, and embarrassment. The main complication

Studies have shown that three percent of males and eight percent of females who were in high school said that they have either purged or took laxatives to lose weight (3). The symptoms of bulimia are tooth erosion, swallowing problems, esophagus problems, and acute stomach distress (“Eating Disorders”). However, binge eating disorder is completely opposite from anorexia and bulimia. Binge eating is when a person over eats in a short period of time. According to Susan Frissell and Paula Harney, two percent of the population suffers from binge eating disorder (27). Studies show that depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, and stomach pain is found in many people who suffer from binge eating disorder (Elkins 45; Kittleson 4). Many people will develop binge eating disorder because they want to distract themselves from a painful event that has happened in their life (Frissell and Harney 27).

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders 5th edition defines anorexia nervosa as an eating disorder characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss; it is a serious and potentially life-threatening disorder. According to the DSM 5, the typical diagnostic symptoms of anorexia nervosa are: dramatic weight loss leading to significant low body weight for the individuals age, sex, and health; preoccupation with weight; restriction of food, calories and fat; constant dieting; feeling “fat” or overweight despite weight loss and fear about gaining weight or being “fat.” Many individuals with anorexia nervosa deny feeling hungry and often avoid eating meals with others, resulting in withdrawal from usual friends and activities