Ifemenam 1

Onyekachukwu Tanitoluwa Ifemenam

ENG4U

Kayla Hill

22nd October 2022

*3-3: First Draft of Research Essay

Topic: The Effects of Obesity on the Mental Health of Adolescents

While many people refer to obesity as a lifestyle disorder characterized by an

excessive buildup of body fat, the Cambridge Dictionary defines it as the condition of being

abnormally overweight. The rates of both adult and adolescent obesity are so high that many

refer to it as a continuing epidemic due to increasing access to unhealthy food and a larger

prevalence of unhealthy lifestyles. Even though obesity is on the rise, many individuals are

unaware of its negative implications, especially for young adolescents. Many people,

especially teenagers, experience stigmatization and discrimination from their peers because

they are overweight, which diminishes the person's sense of worth and establishes an ideal of

how they must look, leading them to hate themselves because they do not meet the criteria for

what is “acceptable” or “beautiful”. However, individuals do not realize that not everyone

desires to be that way, whether it is merely their genetic makeup or the food they eat. There

are several threats to a person's mental health when they are routinely ostracised because of

their weight, some of which include depression, personality problems, and body dysmorphic

disorder.

Many overweight teenagers don't feel like they fit in, mostly because they frequently

experience bullying and bigotry because of how their clothes fit or how much they eat.

Depression is one of the many mental health problems that this causes. Suma Chand defines

depression as a mood disorder characterized by a protracted sense of melancholy and loss of

interest. A sense of misery, emptiness, or irritability mixed with physical and behavioral
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changes that have a significant impact on a person's capacity to execute activities are among

the most typical characteristics of depression. As a result of their perception that they are

unwelcome and not exceptional, victims of this discrimination often exhibit depressed traits

and isolate themselves from others. They sometimes go ahead to take out their anger on loved

ones and end up hiding from the people who matter most. According to research done by

Blasco et al., atypical depression, a particular type of depression, was linked to teenage

obesity. Atypical depression is a type of depression in which happy occasions might make

you feel better. Even though this may not appear like a severe kind of depression, most of the

time, the depression's overall spiral may drive these kids to engage in alcohol and drug

misuse, appetite loss, malnutrition, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

Secondly, the stigmatization and discrimination experienced by these overweight

teenagers may cause a variety of personality problems, with bipolar disorder being the most

prevalent. Bipolar disorder causes abrupt changes in mood, energy, level of activity,

attention, and ability to carry out everyday tasks. The depression that some of these obese

teens may already be experiencing is strongly correlated with this mental disorder.

Uncontrolled mood swings are a major component of bipolar disorder, and these fluctuations

may cause eating disorders that exacerbate obesity in these individuals. Since the medications

used to treat bipolar disorder stimulate hunger, along with the mood fluctuations associated

with the disorder, this might lead to binge eating and general weight gain. This mental

discomfort these teenagers experience as a result of being overweight and being perceived as

different from their peers is the primary cause of this bipolar disease.

In addition, adolescents who are constantly reminded about their body image due to

their overweight nature become acutely aware of how they seem, which can lead to body

dysmorphic disorder (BDD), which very dangerous mental condition. BDD can be defined as

an obsession with a perceived flaw or ugly aspect of their appearance. It is a disorder that is
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defined by a disturbing or harmful obsession with a minor or unreal physical flaw. (Bjornsson

221.) Since these teenagers are continually being told by their friends that they are too

overweight or unattractive, this problem starts to develop and causes them to become

increasingly angry with the way they appear. This pushes these adolescents into anxiety

disorders or restrictive eating disorders, and in some severe cases, it may result in anorexia, a

condition characterized by an obsessional urge to restrict one's food intake to lose weight.

The belief that they will always have a "flaw" due to their obesity causes them to spend their

whole lives trying to correct it as that is what seems most important to them. Some people try

extreme measures like fasting and intense exercise, while others seek medical help by getting

liposuction and having bariatric surgery which could sometimes lead to death.

The stigma and prejudice that these overweight teenagers experience as a result of

their weight is the primary cause of all of the mental illnesses and problems that they

experience. This increases the number of angry teenagers who end up becoming suicide

bombers or terrorists all because they weren't loved for who they were. There would be an

increasing number of occurrences of some of these mental diseases if the bullying and

prejudice against fat people persisted. Rather than fat-shaming them and treating them

harshly for who they are, one common message that should be shared to lessen these impacts

is to show them love and appreciation for their life decisions and push them to work towards

healthy lifestyles without having to make them feel uncomfortable in their skin.
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WORKS CITED

Chand, Suma P., and Hasan Arif. “Depression.” StatPearls, 2021,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430847.

Blasco, Beatriz, et al. “Obesity and Depression: Its Prevalence and Influence as a

Prognostic Factor: A Systematic Review.” Psychiatry Investig., 2019,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7449839.

“Bipolar Disorder.” National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH),

www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/bipolar-disorder. Accessed 23 Oct. 2022.

Bjornsson, Andri S., et al. “Body Dysmorphic Disorder.” Dialogues in Clinical

Neuroscience, vol. 12, no. 2, Informa UK Limited, June 2010, pp. 221–32.

https://doi.org/10.31887/dcns.2010.12.2/abjornsson.

Veale, D., and A. Bewley. “Body Dysmorphic Disorder.” BMJ, vol. 350, no. jun18 9,

BMJ, June 2015, pp. 2278–2278.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h2278.

“The Obesity and Bipolar Disorder Puzzle” Healthgrades,

www.healthgrades.com/right-care/bipolar-disorder/the-obesity-and-bipolar-disorder-

puzzle. Accessed 23 Oct. 2022.