Introduction
Eating disorders are mental health diseases in which a person’s attitudes toward food, motor activity, physical image, or other self-image hurt their health. They are accompanied by physical hazards and complications that stem from abnormal eating behaviors. Lifelong emotional cycles and low self-esteem, a tendency to ignore feelings and pain, and block out anger are common indicators of an eating disorder. At their core is the attachment of excessively much importance to body shape, whereby the person tries to prevent weight gain using extreme measures.
These hardships are now common among young people because the media creates an image of the ideal figure and eating disorders originate from the desire for the ideal. It is most typically noticed in women, though several men equally suffer. Obsessiveness and ego are two personality qualities that might promote the growth of a negative psychological perception of own physique (Meier et al. 362). An eating disorder is a severe illness that can be fatal, therefore, a comprehensive treatment of such conditions is necessary.
Forms of Eating Disorders
Hardships with food relationships occur in people of all ethnicities, genders, ages, weights, and clothing sizes. However, genes can play a crucial role in developing diseases. Studies indicate that a person whose family has a history of eating disorders is more likely to experience the condition than those whose family members have not experienced PPT (Piran 23). Nevertheless, there can be other reasons, for example, anorexia and bulimia are common in industrialized cultures, where thinness is associated with notions of beauty and is widely replicated in the media. Finally, eating habits acquired in childhood have an important role in shaping relationships with food. Treatment of eating disorders is comprehensive and includes psychotherapy, dietary control, and medications, particularly those that increase serotonin levels (Piran 23). However, each disease has distinct characteristics that should be considered in the treatment process.
Anorexia Nervosa
In anorexia nervosa, the person is seized by a fear of gaining weight and wants to be thin. Such an individual has a distorted perception of physical shape and worries that the weight will increase, even if it does not happen. The person with anorexia weighs himself frequently, eats little, and chooses strictly certain foods (Grogan 38). Some anorexics exercise excessively, induce vomiting, or use laxatives to lose or maintain the current weight – these symptoms are closely related to bulimia nervosa. In this condition, the person loses weight dramatically, and irreversible changes in internal organs may develop.
Anorexia is influenced by biological, genetic, cultural, personality, family, and age factors. Young women or adolescent girls most often have this condition, but men are also at risk (Linardon 914). One crucial factor is the dysfunction of neurotransmitters that regulate eating behavior, such as serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline. For example, the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene regulates serotonin levels, a decrease that causes depression (Grogan 38). Anorexia is susceptible to the obsessive personality type, characterized by a desire for perfectionism, low self-esteem, and controlling behavior.
Bulimia Nervosa
Bulimia is characterized by recurrent bouts of overeating which the person in fear of gaining weight ‘compensates’ by inducing vomiting or taking laxatives. A person’s self-esteem with bulimia is closely related to figure and weight (Petre). It often develops in people who have experienced anorexia nervosa. Therefore, it was initially described in scientific papers as a syndrome accompanying anorexia nervosa. However, in 1979, diagnostic criteria for bulimia were first identified, and in the 1990s, it began to be treated as a separate disorder (Grogan 38). As with anorexia, bulimia affects people prone to perfectionism and excessive control of their lives.
Psychogenic Overeating
This eating disorder often occurs due to the stress reaction. People who have experienced the death of a loved one, an accident, or severe emotional turmoil begin to binge on their feelings. Psychogenic overeating is characterized by rapidly consuming large amounts of food in a small amount of time, often in the absence of feelings of hunger, loss of control over the amount eaten, feelings of guilt (Petre). It can be caused by environmental factors and the impact of traumatic events. A study showed that women who experienced regular binges had experienced adverse events in the year before the condition’s onset (Petre). People with psychogenic overeating were often victims of physical abuse. Other risk factors may include childhood obesity, critical comments about weight, low self-esteem, depression, and childhood physical or sexual abuse.
Orthorexia
This eating disorder is characterized by an obsessive desire for a healthy and proper diet. Individuals with orthorexia choose food not according to their gustatory preferences but based on their ideas about the product’s nutritional value. They often refuse floury, spicy, fatty, salty, and sweet food and products that contain certain ingredients such as starch, gluten, alcohol, and chemical preservatives (Petre). Derivatives are considered either beneficial or harmful: the former are eaten in large quantities, while the latter, according to the person with orthorexia, should not be ingested, even with an acute feeling of hunger (Petre). If this condition is violated, the individual may subject themselves to sanctions: to tighten their diet or exercise in large quantities. Fears and restrictions extend to the foods themselves and correspondingly to the way they are prepared. It can lead to complications in communicating with family and friends: people with orthorexia find eating at guests, canteens, and cafes challenging.
Orthorexia is not officially recognized as a disease since there are no effective methods of diagnosis. Moreover, the problem is insufficiently researched as there is a version that it is anorexia nervosa, as both anorexics and orthorexics are characterized by anxiety, perfectionism, and a desire to control their lives (Petre). However, people with an obsessive desire to eat properly are far from always striving to be thin. Some researchers regard this behavior as a ritual typical of obsessive-compulsive states or a manifestation of hypochondria. Finally, there is the hypothesis that orthorexia is not a disease, but a social tendency, excessive adherence to which can lead to other eating disorders.
Relationship Between Body Image Issues and Eating Disorders
The perceptions and emotions one has about their body make up their body image. Body image can vary from positive to negative sensations, and an individual may feel positive, negative, or a hybrid of both at distinct intervals. Possessing a positive body image means the ability to embrace, cherish, and esteem one’s physique (Derenne et al. 130). This is not the same as body satisfaction because one can be uncomfortable with parts of own body while yet accepting it for all of its imperfections. Positive body image is significant since it is one of the defensive variables that can reduce the risk of thriving in an unhealthy relationship with food (McLean et al. 146). When individuals have consistent negative emotions about their bodies, it is considered body dissatisfaction. Body dissatisfaction is an internal affective and psychological process characterized by a social environment such as expectations to conform to a particular beauty standard.
People who are upset with their bodies are far more prone to participate in negative weight-reduction practices involving anorexia. As a consequence, they have a greater chance of developing the issue. According to research, social networking use has been related to higher body dissatisfaction and poor dieting habits (Uchôa et al. 1508). When users perceive and compare themselves to social networking pictures and read expression posts on social platforms. They may have body dissatisfaction since they think they will never be able to respond positively to the idealized form portrayed.
Body and Soul Theories
The need for food is one of the primary biological necessities. According to A. Maslow’s theory, such prerequisites related to survival must be satisfied at least minimally for higher-level needs to become relevant (Derenne 133). Nevertheless, food also has a social meaning connected with interpersonal interaction from birth. Eating habits are determined by family and community traditions, religious beliefs, life experiences, doctors’ advice, and fashion (Derenne 133). The issue of eating disorders is now well-known and even popular, and the terms “anorexia” and “bulimia” are no longer strictly medical concepts. Moreover, anorexic girls have become firmly established in the fashion prevalent in societies with a high standard of living.
From ancient Greek philosophy to the emergence of medical science, the notion that the body is a dirty component of man, while the mind is his pure essence, has become entrenched in Western European culture. At the same time, women were considered nearer to the body and men to the rationale. That is why girls became carriers of various diseases, such as anorexia and hysteria, more often. Emancipation only made it more challenging for women to claim the male sphere while retaining former social positions (Smolak 34). It was contesting to combine both, but it was embodied in the figure of the anorexic, whose image became mass in the second half of the 20th century and has not lost its popularity in the 21st century.
Social media allowed girls seeking extreme thinness to unite and develop their system of values. The emergence of such groups and accounts is a reaction to the culture’s demands to be both thin and healthy, build a career and take care of a family (Guarda). The obsession with thinness and exhausting weight loss methods are not individual deviations but a characteristic of a culture that has placed numerous demands.
The issue of treating eating disorders is multi-component and complex, for it consists of the need to determine the approach to both body and soul. Spinoza’s theory of dualism suggests that one body entity has two aspects, the physical and the mental (Shah 113122). When the philosopher speaks of the desirable part of the soul, and the physician tells of the liver, they talk about the same thing, but each in his language. For the practitioner who treats mental illnesses, the question of the properties of the soul should not come first.
It is enough to temporarily recognize the fidelity of physicalist assumptions and work with the psyche as the doctor works with the internal organs. This is the compromise to which another theorist, Galen, is inclined – to recognize the existence of the soul but to treat always only the body. Today, many physicians would agree with this because the soul, which modern people sometimes call consciousness, exists, but it is impossible to describe its properties. The ontological status of consciousness is not defined, and this should concern philosophers-theorists, not doctors-practitioners (“Overview Eating Disorders”). Doctors need to follow the same scientific paradigm in treating somatic diseases to influence the psyche effectively. The psyche reacts to changes in the body, and issues with the intellect must be corrected in the same way as with the body, which works like a mechanism conditioned by biological laws.
Treatment Features
Concerning the seriousness and complexity of these disorders, patients require comprehensive treatment under the supervision of a diverse group of specialists. During the consultation, the doctor should find out all the details of the patient’s anamnesis and symptoms. Moreover, it is necessary to ask the patient and his relatives qualifying questions about stressful and traumatic situations, eating habits, and relationship to appearance and weight (Hallward et al. 13). To determine the consequences of eating disorders, consultations with a therapist or pediatrician, nephrologist, gastroenterologist, endocrinologist, neurologist, cardiologist, and other specialized specialists are prescribed (Zam and Ziad 32). A comprehensive approach is the most significant prerequisite of treatment plan, which aims to restore the body after the consequences of eating disorders.
The methods and techniques depend on the type of disease and the patient’s personality. It is usually conducted with the help of cognitive-behavioral therapy and psychoanalysis. The final goal of treatment is to develop the ability to cope with stress and the correct attitude toward appearance and food, increase self-esteem, stabilize mood, and eliminate apathy, anxiety, depression, or impulsive behavior. Medications can be prescribed only if it is impossible to eliminate the disorders by nonpharmacological means (Uchôa et al. 1508). It is significant that all skills and results of psychotherapy and drug treatment should be reinforced in daily life.
Necessary Changes
One needs to comprehend proper habits to alter the critical situation of the growing incidence of eating disorders. It is necessary to realize that good nutrition in the family should become part of a healthy lifestyle, a good practice, not a temporary diet. It is imperative when raising children because compliance with the principles of good nutrition in the family is the primary way to prevent digestive and endocrine systems diseases. However, the transition to a healthy diet should be wise; it is crucial to gradually change the wrong way of life (Brewerton 447). In the first place, it concerns the correction of eating patterns, reducing the dominant role of food motivation, and eliminating the improper connections between emotional discomfort and food intake.
Furthermore, it is necessary to comprehend that all food restrictions should be extended to the whole family to change the situation. This recommendation allows one to reduce externalized eating behavior. Moreover, it helps avoid unnecessary tension in the family and makes loved ones not passive observers but like-minded and active participants in the transition to a healthy diet. It is vital to eradicate the family’s typical stereotype of stress eating (Weinbach et al. 1353). Children should be taught to distinguish between states of hunger and emotional discomfort. These can be physical activity, walks, dancing, breathing exercises, music, knitting, showers, and baths. These principles will contribute to the formation of the proper culture of consumption and, therefore, can affect the reduction of the level of morbidity.
Conclusion
Excessive weight and disordered eating are significant public health issues in America and other western countries. Although therapies are provided for both disorders, prevention is significantly more efficient in lowering risk and expenditure. Their treatment always requires a comprehensive approach, but it is important to remember that the body and the soul are interconnected. Promoting healthy lifestyle is a logical progression toward controlling the increasing trend of weight gain and eating disorders. Therefore, initiatives intended to encourage changes and distributing knowledge are the most prosperous.
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