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Eating Disorder and Prevention Measures

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Eating Disorder and Prevention Measures

Introduction

An eating disorder is the malfunctioning of the body caused by a mental disorder that

causes abnormal eating routines that affect an individual's psychological and physical health.

Abnormal eating behaviors lead to different types of eating disorders. The first one is binge

eating disorder, which can be described as a situation where a person develops a habit of taking a

lot of food compared to time. Anorexia entails fear of gaining more weight and losing body

shape, forcing a person to reduce the amount of food intake accompanied by excess exercise

(Stice et al., 2019). Bulimia nervosa is a combination of the two disorders where a person eats a

lot of food within a short period and afterward decides to over-exercise and reduce food intake to

counter the effects of binge eating. Pica is another disorder where individuals eat nonfood items

all the time. There is also rumination syndrome, where a person regurgitates undigested food to

reduce food intake.

According to Stice and Hoffman (2004), about 10% of young women experience either

one or multiple eating disorders. The situation is better in men as their bodies are engaged in

hard work, which requires a lot of energy. The number of young females affected by eating

disorders is about 95% of the total number of women in the current generation. The diseases are

also associated with other adverse effects, both physical and psychological (Martin‐Wagar et al.,

2021). Reduction of eating habits risks a person to death. Out of all the patients affected with

eating disorders, a small number of about 25% don't get treatment over the issues. The small

numbers are due to the high cost of eating disorder treatment procedures. Since the treatment

procedures are very high, most healthcare facilities don't afford inpatient treatment for severe

conditions (Stice & Hoffman, 2004). Therefore, many efforts have to be made at individual and
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corporate levels to develop strategic programs to help effect prevention measures against eating

disorders. The paper looks at the overview of eating disorders, the causes, and some of the

findings from the analysis. The aim is to provide better prevention mechanisms to help prevent

eating disorders among our young people, especially females.

Overview

Prevention of an eating disorder as a mental disorder requires a lot of effort. For this case,

one must identify the various types of eating disorders and the possible causes to come up with

preventive measures. In our case, understanding every kind of disorder will help us develop the

best preventative measures, especially after identifying specific causes. An eating disorder is a

mental disorder that makes the most significant part of psychiatric problems. Most affected

persons are females, and severe disturbances in their eating habits characterize the problem.

These disturbances include bingeing, purging, fasting, and excessive concerns over body shape,

beauty, and weight (Baranowski & Hetherington, 2001). Individuals experiencing eating

disorders tend to experience many complications if the condition is not diagnosed early for

measures to be taken. Some of the difficulties associated with eating disorders include diabetes,

hypertension, loss of teeth, kidney dysfunction, malnutrition, infertility, depression and stress,

and even cardiac unrest. The most challenging complication females experience through

bingeing is increased weight and body size, becoming obese. There are also psychosocial effects

that impair the minds of individuals, leading to behaviors like social exclusion, chronicity, and

relapsing to existing behaviors such as drug abuse and other behaviors. Patients with advanced

stages of eating disorders are prone to death, suicide, and risk of substance abuse. They also

experience behaviors such as unstable moods, anxiety, and personal physical disorders.
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The increase in cases of eating syndromes relates to the emergence of various eating

behaviors and for multiple purposes. There are several types of eating that the population is

experiencing, and mostly the female gender is affected in large numbers.

Anorexia nervosa

It makes the highest composition of eating disorders amongst young people because of

peer pressure and advancement in fashion. Anorexia nervosa is when a person restricts food

intake leading to deficiency in energy supply compared to the body requirements that result from

loss of body weight compared to a person's age, sex, physic development, and general physical

health. The condition comes about because of fear of gaining excess weight and becoming obese.

Anorexia nervosa has two aspects. One is characterized with restriction, and the second one is

purging type (Stice et al., 2019). The restrictive type of anorexia nervosa is whereby a person

reduces the amount of food and does a lot of exercise, therefore, losing weight. The bingeing

disorder involves eating and purging using diuretics, misusing laxatives, and inducing vomiting

even before the food is digested. Anorexia can be measured using BMI, which most affected

individuals experience a BMI of below 15. Most of the females affected with this disorder both

at puberty and post-puberty experience loss of menstrual periods caused by excessive weight

loss.

Bulimia nervosa

Bulimia nervosa is a combination of both bingeing eating syndrome and anorexia

nervosa. The first part of the disorder is where individuals experience excessive eating within a

short time, and afterward, they tend to compensate for excessive eating with purging. In most

cases, vomiting is the best way of purging. A person overeats to the point of vomiting the whole
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amount of food r either usage of diuretics or even excessive exercise (Martin‐Wagar et al., 2021).

Most young females experience bulimia nervosa through continuous fasting. The condition is

slightly different from anorexia nervosa because, to some extent, body weight is maintained

above the minimum levels.

Binge eating disorder

The disorder comes about due to excessive eating quickly without compensatory

behaviors such as vomiting and exercise present in bulimia and anorexia nervosa. The episodes

involve eating excessively and repeatedly than average. People with the disorder eat to a point

where they feel uncomfortable, and it always comes even when not feel hungry. Affected people

tend to segregate themselves from others due to low self-esteem because of the amount of food

they eat (de Zwaan, 2001). To ascertain that a person is experiencing a binge eating disorder,

they have to experience excessive eating once a week for three consecutive months with a lot of

distress.

Pica

The disorder involves the intake of non-nutritive food that is not developmental or

cultural. People with such conditions are likely to use paper, soap, chalk, clay, and other non-

nutritive foods. The disorder is mainly caused by iron deficiency, malnutrition, and to a large

extent, pregnancy. It is a disorder that often affects people with Schizophrenia and those affected

with an impairment-related mental disorder (Martin‐Wagar et al., 2021). Most diagnoses are

based on the lasting of such behaviors for at least one month.

The other common eating disorder is rumination, which involves repeated spitting out of

food (Martin‐Wagar et al., 2021). The diagnosis is based on the lasting of such behavior for at
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least one month. It is also impossible to attribute such a condition to another medical condition.

It can also occur when a person is experiencing other eating disorders.

Research Finding

After digging deep into types of eating disorders, it is evident that there is no definite

cause of the problem. Most of the issues are related to lifestyles and other factors experienced in

a daily routine. We, therefore, identified several possible reasons related to several types of

eating syndromes. Biological and environmental aspects of life contribute a more significant

percentage to the eating disorder in most situations. The cultural beliefs of thinness contribute a

lot to some of the diseases. Cultural beliefs that encourage thinness as a way of beauty get people

suffering from eating disorders. Other cultural beliefs which shun thinness as beauty force young

ladies to practice binge eating habits (Baranowski & Hetherington, 2001). Afterward, most of the

young females compensate with purging. It is also clear that individuals previously exposed to

sexual abuse from community members get involved in eating disorders. It is also evident that

disorders such as pica and contemplation disorder affect people with intellectual disabilities. We

have identified that only a single syndrome can be diagnosed at a time. There is also the effect of

the pro-ana culture of most websites, which tends to promote certain eating disorders for the

benefit of their products. Young girls get influenced by such adverts, and they lose their self-

acceptance because of body shaming. Some of the adverts encourage young girls to use products

that will reshape their bodies, and once the product fails, they are affected with depression that

drives them to food either to reduce the intake or have excess within a very minimal time.

Psychopathology has also been traced to have some contribution to eating disorders. The

study centered on body image disturbance which revolves around weight and body shape. It also

touches on the fundamental aspects of self-worth for many ladies. Therefore the fear of gaining
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more weight or losing too much has been the origin of eating disorders among most females

(Salafia et al., 2015). Considering anorexia as one of the eating disorders that has affected many

people, its psychopathological features involve body perception, emotion processing, and

interpersonal relations between one person and another. Therefore, ladies with higher eating

disorders have high body dissatisfaction.

Most of the studies conducted by researchers have found out that eating disorders most

likely originated from a genetic predisposition. In an instance, the genetic link was found on

chromosome 1 in multiple family individuals who experienced anorexia nervosa (Stice et al.,

2019). A person related to someone with eating disorders has ten to twelve times the chances of

having eating disorders. Genetics plays a critical role because 50% of eating disorders can be

attributed to genetics (Stice et al., 2019). The rest of the cases originate from developmental

problems and other external sources.

The Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Health Disorders discovered that eating

disorders are primarily caused by psychological reasons. The psychological issues are in line

with criteria of separate Axis I, which is always considered comorbid, and it affects the

personality of individuals affected by eating disorders (Edition, 2013). The effects of comorbid

on personality start to showcase themselves as early as when the child is a toddler. The various

developments of personality traits from childhood contribute to eating disorders. At puberty, the

features become extinct due to hormonal changes and different sociocultural influences. Many

expectations from society play a critical role in developing self-esteem, resulting in an eating

disorder. Parental and social isolation may contribute to eating disorders among young females

in society.
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Most of the diagnosis shows that affected female experience weakness, fatigue, high sensitivity

to changes in environmental temperature, loss of weight, and stunted growth (Waller, 1993). The

few men affected with eating disorders experienced reduced growth in beards, low libido, and

inability to erect during sexual acts. Apart from pregnant mothers, the other group of young

females experiencing eating disorders tends to have a frequency of vomiting, which further

causes problems such as acid reflux. An eating disorder has different effects, such as polycystic

ovary syndrome, which affects obese people and happens to ordinary people.

Treatment is also an essential aspect as a preventive measure. The treatment procedures

vary from one disorder to the other. They mainly involve counseling, nutritional advice,

moderation in exercise activities, and reducing eliminating food from the body. Some of the

associated symptoms of eating disorders can be controlled using a medication, and in a more

severe condition, patients are advised to get hospitalized. It was discovered that approximately

0.7 and 0.5 of people with anorexia and bulimia respectively respond positively to medication

within five years. The treatment of Binge eating syndromes has become very challenging with

only 0.2 to 0.7 of the situation effectively responding to medication (Kuipers et al., 2017). It is

also on alert that anorexia and bulimia have high chances of causing death if the condition gets to

the worst situation.

Most developed countries tend to experience many people with eating syndromes.

Anorexia distresses about 0.4% of the population, while bulimia disturbs 1.3% of the total

number of productive young women. Only 1.6% of the total population of young women is

affected by binge eating disorders, and the number is twice that of the men who tend to exercise

binge eating. From the analysis, it is velar that most men are only affected with binge eating, but

the other eating disorder young women are the once dominated the high numbers of victims. The
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rate of eating disorders in most developed countries appears to be lower because of financial

stability and a harsh economic environment. The research identified that anorexia and bulimia

occur over ten times in energetic young women compared to their male counterparts. According

to Salafia et al. (2015), eating disorders start during late childhood and early adulthood, where

most females are affected by peer pressure and the feeling of impressing other people in society.

Critiques

The research findings show that most of the researchers we unable to come up with

concrete preventive measures to the problem of eating disorders (Salafia et al., 2015). However,

some of the preventive measures brought forward by the research have been supported

empirically, while others require further investigation to discover their effectiveness in solving

the existing problems. The study has provided vital predictors of several types of eating

disorders, but with the development in research has been identified that emotional distress,

impaired interpersonal functioning, and body dissatisfaction are the critical indicators of eating

problems. The study has also failed to connect eating disorders and autoimmune and other

chronic disorders (Smith et al., 2008). The research has also based all the arguments on the 20th-

century view on eating disorders, but in a real sense, the recent researches show that there is a

need to establish if an eating disorder is one of the modern lifestyles of most people. The study is

also deficient in providing preventive measures that could help reduce incidences of eating

syndromes. Therefore, more researches on preventative measures apart from medication and

counseling sessions will be of importance.

Preventive measures and Recommendation

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The study's main aim was to provide measures that will help reduce the high numbers of

people affected with eating disorders. These measures will help promote healthy living through

the development of healthy lifestyles. The prevention will also help the psychiatrist detect the

problem early enough to administer the proper medication. We, therefore, propose those children

as early as five years to 7 years should be subjected to educative programs about the effects of

the eating disorder. They should be aware of the dangers of negative cultural messages on body

image and dieting.

Some measures should include emotional bites where children must provide reasons for

eating apart from hunger. Children and adolescents are advised on coping with emotions and

feelings and the importance of sharing their feelings with trusted adults. The other most

important preventive measure is to teach adolescents the importance of avoiding teasing

languages and peer groups that negatively affect behaviors (Stice et al., 2019). They should be

taught how to embrace positive vibes on people's body sizes and avoid teasing words. There is

also the importance of listening to body talks every time they feel hungry and stopping when

satisfied. It is also essential to train a child to understand the genetics of their body sizes and the

possible changes they may experience as age advances. Let the affected age discuss their fear

and hopes on various subjects. It is always important to emphasize fitness and take a balanced

diet to avoid disorders. We can also not forget the role of the internet in providing information on

prevention measures considering it the primary source of information that affects individuals'

traits leading to disorders. Bloggers and advertisement agencies should be restricted on the kind

of adverts they supply to the public because they influence young people's lifestyles, especially

on the development of self-esteem (Stice & Hoffman, 2004). Furthermore, affected people

should be subjected to cognitive therapy and other functional therapy to help them recover.
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Conclusion

In conclusion, eating disorder is a problem that has detailed the current generation and

mostly the young and energetic girls in society. Much work has been done in providing

preventive measures, which is a great encouragement to the advancement. However, preventive

measures could exist without knowing the types of eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa,

bulimia nervosa, binge eating, pica, rumination syndrome, and others. These disorders are

closely linked to several factors that attributed to their existence. These factors are genetic,

online advertisement, sexual exploitation, disturbing psychological environment, and

psychosocial surroundings. Therefore preventive measures such as treatment bite talks, fitness,

and taking a balanced diet together with peer education could significantly impact the fight

against eating disorders (Kuipers et al., 2017). It is also a fact that most affected individuals are

females compared to men in society, prompting further research to ascertain if eating disorders

are a modern lifestyle for most people.

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Reference(s)

Baranowski, M. J., & Hetherington, M. M. (2001). Testing the efficacy of an eating disorder

prevention program. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 29(2), 119-124.

de Zwaan, M. (2001). Binge eating disorder and obesity. International Journal of Obesity, 25(1),

S51-S55.

Edition, F. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Am Psychiatric Assoc,

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Kuipers, G. S., Den Hollander, S., van der Ark, L. A., & Bekker, M. H. (2017). Recovery from

eating disorder 1 year after start of treatment is related to better mentalization and strong

reduction of sensitivity to others. Eating and Weight Disorders-Studies on Anorexia,

Bulimia and Obesity, 22(3), 535-547.

Martin‐Wagar, C. A., Boswell, R. G., Bennett, B. L., Perelman, H., & Forrest, L. N. (2021).

Psychological and eating disorder symptoms as predictors of starting eating disorder

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Salafia, E. H. B., Jones, M. E., Haugen, E. C., & Schaefer, M. K. (2015). Perceptions of the

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disorders. Journal of eating disorders, 3(1), 1-10.

Smith, F. M., Latchford, G. J., Hall, R. M., & Dickson, R. A. (2008). Do chronic medical

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Stice, E., & Hoffman, E. (2004). Eating disorder prevention programs.

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