Magazines, TV, music, books, and movies help one make decisions and take action whether consciously or subconsciously. This large sphere of influence, however, is not always beneficial for those who suffer victim to these forms of public entertainment. The medias version of beauty, shames those who are considered overweight and scares almost everyone into thinking that being thin is the only way to be pretty. Jolene Hart emphasis how important beauty is in the American culture in her book Eat Pretty: Nutrition for Beauty, Inside and Out: “There’s a multi-billion-dollar industry built on helping us achieve greater physical beauty” (Hart 33). By creating this manipulated and untrue image of beauty, the American culture encourages eating disorders like anorexia (undereating) and sustains obesity (overeating). When interviewing Shannon Herman, a licensed professional counselor and certified eating disorder specialist, she revealed that adolescents in 2015 are exposed to media about body types and sizes more than any person in history. It goes without saying that mixed messages are bounding and truth is always relative. There are no absolutes. Media does not have mercy on anything but perfection. The perfection that surrounds today’s media causes eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. In order to achieve the body culture claims to offer, one resorts to dieting and exercise; dieting and exercise,
In “The Globalization of Eating Disorders”, written by Susan Bordo in 2003, the author declares that eating and body disorders have increased rapidly throughout the entire globe. Susan Bordo, attended Carleton University as well as the State University of New York, is a modern feminist philosopher who is very well known for her contributions to the field of cultural studies, especially in ‘body studies’ which grants her the credibility to discuss this rising global issue (www.wikipedia.org, 2015). She was correspondingly a professor of English and Women Studies at the University of Kentucky which gives her the authority to write this article. “The Globalization of Eating Disorders” is written as a preface to her Pulitzer Price-nominated book “Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body” which was similarly written in 2003. Through the use of many logical arguments and evidence, Bordo successfully manages to convince her audience that the media, body images and culture have severely influenced the ‘so-called’ trending standard of beauty and how it leads to eating disorders across the world. However, certain flaws such as hasty generalization appeared during the text. Even though, Bordo had certain errors in reasoning, she successfully manages to convey her opinions on how media has had a severe impact on people’s vision of beauty through her structure, presentation, main ideas, objectivity and her appealing tone.
They often have an intense fear of fat and gaining weight and often have distorted views of their own body image (Shapiro 2). Thus, they resort to severe food restriction, periods of fasting and even various purging methods for weight loss (Grilo 5). On the other hand, Bulimic patients often binge-eat and then looking for methods to get rid of the food due to guilt by various purging methods (i.e., self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives or diuretics and excessive exercise) (Grilo 5). Although many say that the media causes eating disorders, studies have shown that the media is not the main cause of eating disorders. The media does have a part to play in causing the rise in eating disorders in today’s society. From an early age, we are exposed to the western culture of the “thin-ideal” and that looks matter (Shapiro 9). Images on modern television spend countless hours telling us to lose weight, be thin and beautiful. Often, television portrays the thin women as successful and powerful whereas the overweight characters are portrayed as “lazy” and the one with no friends (“The Media”). Furthermore, most images we see on the media are heavily edited and airbrushed
For a long period in the United States, the ideal woman was one who stayed at home to take care of her children and keep her home clean, while her husband went out to work. This has been the set role of women for centuries because they are historically considered inferior to men. Traditionally, women were considered weak and incapable of performing any work requiring a physical effort or intellectual capacity. Even during major events and wars, they were expected to assume roles that were merely supportive of men. However, despite all the boundaries that society set for them, women did not stand, watching the ongoing cycle of life from their windows; they fought and worked hard to achieve a reassessment of the traditional
Eating disorders can be classified as many different characteristics that affect a person’s mind and body. This mental illness distresses people of any age, gender, race and ethnicity of any group in society. A person who suffers from this illness has abnormal or disturbed eating habits. Eating disorders will result in a life time of psychologist help along with medication to maintain the illness from progressing. With poor treatment and lack of attention the illness could potentially deteriorate the mind and body to death. As many symptoms can occur it is not unusual for the symptoms to change over the course of time. And most of the time the symptoms worsen in most peoples cases. Having an eating disorder doesn’t always mean you will be super
The Binge Eating Disorder is the compulsive overeating of people or their consumption of large amounts of food in recurring episodes. Unlike other eating disorders, like Bulimia, binge eating does
Anorexia and Obesity are both extreme weight conditions on the opposite ends of the spectrum that plague Western society. Anorexia Nervosa is defined as an intense fear of eating, persistent restriction of energy intake leading to significantly low body weight and a distorted view on one’s own body weight. Obesity defined simply is having too much body fat and having a BMI (Body Mass Index) over 30.
In “Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia: The Development of Deviant Identities” By Penelope A. McLorg and Diane E. Taub, the many issues in today’s generation, as well as many before regarding societal norms state that we envision the idea of masculinity for men and thinness in women. As with many other norms, deviance, or not conforming to masculinity and thinness, results in negative sanctions. To avoid these sanctions, some turn to Anorexia Nervosa, intended starvation and excessive exercising and Bulimia, intended cycles of binging and purging/laxative abuse. Both showing forms of behavioral deviance and Anorexia embodying visual deviance. Within the past two centuries, Anorexia and Bulimia have become not just major health issues, but also social
Dissatisfaction amongst today’s youth regarding their personal body image is increasingly common, warranting a necessary change in the norms and behaviours that are portrayed to Canadian youth. The necessary change that must be implemented moving forward is the portrayal of healthy and attainable body images through media. A 2012 ABC News article stated the average model weighs 23% less than the average woman (Lovett, 2012). Such an appalling statistic is something that must be tackled as we progress toward the future seeing as it showcases to the youth of today that anorexia and unhealthy body weight is seen as desirable or attractive. The relation between such a statistic and anorexia is clear. Such unrealistic body images featured prominently in media platforms (i.e. television, internet) and with media becoming more accessible to Canadian youth, it is unsurprising that anorexia and bulimia are being diagnosed at younger ages (Derene & Beresin, 2006). The link to such media representations and overweight is less evident however through further research it is clear that media can promote both extreme weight loss or lead to extreme weight gain. With media moving away from the promotion of healthy lifestyles, and rather working toward feeding the current media addiction plaguing Canadian children and teens, today’s media companies are feeding into the slippery slope that is weight
I agree, often people have a misconceptios or are not well informed on how eating disorders are often developed. I myself was ignorant over the matter until reading and listening to our class lecture. One of the best and first treatment options is seeking medical and professional assistants for proper health concerns. Furthermore, having a strong support group and dependable people are part of their recovery.
Medication can be prescribed to help treat eating disorder co-morbid symptoms. Medications usually used to treat eating disorders are antidepressants. Antidepressant medications have been documented by evidence based scientific treatments. There is a range of antidepressants currently approved by the FDA, including SSRIs, MAOIs, and TeCAs (Erickson, 2012). All of the drugs affect the uptake and processing of different brain chemicals including serotonin, which affect mood.
Eating disorders is an issue effecting people of all ages, genders, and ethnicities. Not only can eating disorders effect the development of a client, but also it can eventually lead to death. Eating disorder could be an issue that a client is facing, therefore as social workers we need to be aware of the factors that influence this disease. Social workers must be able to help their client by helping their client built their self-esteem and encourage healthy attitudes about nutrition and appearance. A social worker must understand the severity of this issue that requires immediate attention from helping professional. It is important for social worker to know affective prevention measure or resources to get aid for the client. By conducting
The client that was chosen for the EBP would be a 16 year old female adolescent who has an eating disorder called bulimia. Bulimia would be considered an emotional disorder where he or she would have insecurities when it comes to their body images which causes the client to have a desire to lose weight and start to get rid of their quantity of food by vomiting or binge at a short time period. Or laxative misuse. Symptoms include taking in large amounts of food at once followed by self induced vomiting to prevent weight gain. Low self esteem to body image. Being secretive when it comes to eating and lastly going to the restroom after each meal. Living with bulimia means that the individual are putting their lives in a lot of danger. Many health issues occur once a client becomes bulimia dehydration occurs, bulimia can eventually cause self harm, anxiety or depression. Clients that are bulimia not only use vomiting as a way to lose weight but they also try to over exercise which lowers their body weight making he or she look eventually
I believe that it would be most appropriate to diagnose Miss Diagnosis with Borderline Personality Disorder, Moderate Bulimia. Borderline Personality disorder is characterized by a pervasive pattern of instability across multiple domains in life, including interpersonal relationship, self-image, and affect. People who have this disorder make decisions in the moment with no prior thought or planning. They are very impulsive. Additionally, the have a strong fear of abandonment, which often leads to desperate attempts to keep people close and irrational reason for ending relationships before the person can get abandoned. They have interpersonal paranoia and, often, parasuicidal behavior. Their reasoning and logic is often very flawed and it seems that they are very black and white with no understanding of the gray area. Additionally, their
Eating disorders are serious, life-threating mental illnesses that are on the rise in society today. Obsession with one’s physical appearance, emotionally problems, or sole desire to eat can contribute to an eating disorder. There are serious consequences that come with the disorders that can be very harmful to an individual with an eating disorder, and often even fatal. Most commonly talked about eating disorders include, bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge eating. Pica is another disorder that is on the rise today with very little comprehension on exactly what is it, who it targets, or how it is treated. The severity of pica is understated being that most people are too embarrassed to admit to eating such unacceptable