Eating Disorders Research Paper

Eating Disorders: The Political, Social and Psychological Issues: Test I

Venessa Bento

York University

Question I: Describe how eating disorders can be viewed as multi-determined disorders.

A multi-determined disorder refers to any mental or health condition that can be determined by multiple factors. These factors can be based on predisposing social, economic, or sociocultural factors. Examples of social factors include mass media influences, such as television, magazines, and public advertisements/campaigns; social media influences, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and etc. Other social influences can involve the pressures to be thin.

In addition, sociocultural factors such as bullying, peer pressure, perfectionistic parental

The concepts of dieting and binging are intertwined because bingers are generally considered as dieters. The reason is because bingers typically go on a strict diet afterwards in order to compensate for their excessive eating. However, contrary to this statement, dieting actually leads to binge-eating because it promotes the adaptation of a cognitively regulated eating style. In short, when people diet they go often force their bodies to go into starvation mode. As a result of starving, the body becomes vulnerable to disinhibition and consequent overeating

Sufferers of bulimia exhibit recurrent episodes of binge-eating, recurrent inappropriate compensatory behaviours, such as purging, fasting, and misusing purgatives or aperients, and excessive exercise. Onsets of binge-eating in bulimic sufferers typically begins during or after an episode of dieting. It is evident that severe and prolonged restriction of food can potentially lead to the development of severe eating disorders. Factors that influences dieters to binge-eating include temperamental, environmental, genetic, and physiological factors. Temperamental factors involve an individual’s mounting concerns that include weight gain/loss, low self-esteem, depression, social anxiety, distress, and overanxious disorders. Childhood abuse whether sexual of physical, and the notion of internalizing a thinner body ideal are all examples of environmental factors that increases the risks of bulimia. Thus, influencing dieters to exercise binge-eating. In addition, bulimia can be considered a heritable disorder, which means that familial transmission between parents to their children may be present. Also childhood obesity and early experiences of puberty can also increase the risks of bulimia. Therefore, all of these factors contribute to bulimia, and explains how dieting can lead to