Eating disorder
[50] These websites are often interactive and have discussion boards where individuals can share strategies, ideas, and experiences, such as diet and exercise plans that achieve extremely low weights.
Some authors report that unresolved symptoms prior to gastrointestinal disease diagnosis may create a food aversion in these persons, causing alterations to their eating patterns.
[123] Hilde Bruch, a pioneer in the field of studying eating disorders, asserts that anorexia nervosa often occurs in girls who are high achievers, obedient, and always trying to please their parents.
[125][126] In various studies such as one conducted by The McKnight Investigators, peer pressure was shown to be a significant contributor to body image concerns and attitudes toward eating among subjects in their teens and early twenties.
[127] Eleanor Mackey and co-author, Annette M. La Greca of the University of Miami, studied 236 teen girls from public high schools in southeast Florida.
"Teen girls' concerns about their own weight, about how they appear to others and their perceptions that their peers want them to be thin are significantly related to weight-control behavior", says psychologist Eleanor Mackey of the Children's National Medical Center in Washington and lead author of the study.
According to Life Works an article about eating disorders "People of any age can be affected by pressure from their peers, the media and even their families but it is worse when you're a teenager at school.
[139] Socioeconomic status (SES) has been viewed as a risk factor for eating disorders, presuming that possessing more resources allows for an individual to actively choose to diet and reduce body weight.
Eating disorders among individuals that participate in competitive activities, especially women, often lead to having physical and biological changes related to their weight that often mimic prepubescent stages.
The following statistics taken from Susan Nolen-Hoeksema's book, (ab)normal psychology, show the estimated percentage of athletes that struggle with eating disorders based on the category of sport.
Lastly, the majority of the cross-cultural studies on eating disorders and body image disturbances occurred in Western nations and not in the countries or regions being examined.
[149] There is a relationship between "thin ideal" social media content and body dissatisfaction and eating disorders among young adult women, especially in the Western hemisphere.
Through personal blogs and Twitter, this community promotes eating disorders as a "lifestyle", and continuously posts pictures of emaciated bodies, and tips on how to stay thin.
[154] In the majority of many African communities, thinness is generally not seen as an ideal body type and most pressure to attain a slim figure may stem from influence or exposure to Western culture and ideology.
Traditional African cultural ideals are reflected in the practice of some health professionals; in Ghana, pharmacists sell appetite stimulants to women who desire to, as Ghanaians stated, "grow fat".
[156] However, the emergence of Western and European influence, specifically with the introduction of such fashion and modelling shows and competitions, is changing certain views among body acceptance, and the prevalence of eating disorders has consequently increased.
[160] In China as well as other Asian countries, Westernization, migration from rural to urban areas, after-effects of sociocultural events, and disruptions of social and emotional support are implicated in the emergence of eating disorders.
[161] Similarly to the West, researchers have identified the media as a primary source of pressures relating to physical appearance, which may even predict body change behaviors in males and females.
Additionally, qualitative data linked changing attitudes about dieting, weight loss and aesthetic ideas in the peer environment to Western media images.
The impact of television was especially profound given the longstanding social and cultural traditions that had previously rejected the notions of dieting, purging and body dissatisfaction in Fiji.
[168] Patients attributed their restrictive food intake to somatic complaints, such as epigastric bloating, abdominal or stomach pain, or a lack of hunger or appetite.
[160] Compared to Western patients, individuals with this variant anorexia demonstrated bulimic symptoms less frequently and tended to have lower pre-morbid body mass index.
[190] Non-heterosexual male adolescents are consistently at higher risk of developing disordered eating than their heterosexual peers for various body image concerns, including worries about weight, shape, muscle tone, and definition.
Neuroimaging using fMRI, MRI, PET and SPECT scans have been used to detect cases in which a lesion, tumor or other organic condition has been either the sole causative or contributory factor in an eating disorder.
[248][249] longitudinal research showed that there is an increase in chance that a young adult female would develop bulimia due to their current psychological pressure and as the person ages and matures, their emotional problems change or are resolved and then the symptoms decline.
It is essential to develop specific scales for people under 18 years of age, given the increasing incidence of ED among children and the need for early detection and appropriate intervention.
If a person is experiencing comorbidity between an eating disorder and OCD, exposure and response prevention, coupled with weight restoration and serotonin reputake inhibitors has proven most effective.
[290][323] Treatment can be expensive;[324][325] due to limitations in health care coverage, people hospitalized with anorexia nervosa may be discharged while still underweight, resulting in relapse and rehospitalization.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and NHS England both advised that services should not impose thresholds using body mass index or duration of illness to determine whether treatment for eating disorders should be offered, but there were continuing reports that these recommendations were not followed.
[332][290] To help patients cope with conditions during the pandemic, therapists may have to particularly emphasize strategies to create structure where little is present, build interpersonal connections, and identify and avoid triggers.
