Alexandre Martin G.

Pine
4PSY665
Activity 3

Questions for Feeding and Eating Disorder:

1. Why do you think anorexia and bulimia always confused? Kindly support your answer.
- This is because of the similarities between anorexia and bulimia about distorted body image. According
to the DSM-5-TR, in the criteria of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, they have excessive self-
evaluation about their body weight and shape (Anorexia nervosa criterion C and bulimia nervosa
criterion D). They may tend to misevaluate themselves and perceive that they need some
compensation for their distorted body image. An individual with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa
has a fear of gaining weight, has a desire to lose weight, and has a level of dissatisfaction with their
bodies that makes the clinician confused in differentiating these two disorders.
2. Have you ever experienced any of the feeding and eating disorder
- No, but there was a time that I limited my food intake because of my problems.
3. From the case study presented, what do you think is the main factor of Tina’s eating disorder?
- I will discuss it using a biopsychosocial perspective. Biologically, Tina has an older sister who was
diagnosed with bulimia nervosa and her father who has been treated for OCD and major depression, so
genetically, she is vulnerable to a psychological disorder. Socially, the people surrounding Tina during
her developmental years affected how she perceived her body. Before, she was teased about her
weight at home and school and mostly her family activities were focused on exercise and discussions
about body shape and weight. The way her environment treated her left an impact on her
psychologically. Her experiences during her developmental years led her to develop negative ways of
thinking and coping skills to deal with her anxiety about her body. Her self-esteem got affected, and her
social skills became impaired.
4. If you are Tina’s Psychologist what would be your diagnosis about her problem and your recommended
therapy for her?
- My clinical impression of Tina’s case is Body Dysmorphic Disorder. I will recommend she undergo
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to challenge her negative thoughts about her body image and learn more
flexible ways of thinking. I will also suggest she consult a psychiatrist for medicines if necessary.
5. Do you think being “fit”, “thin”, or “lean” equates to being “healthy? And why?
- No, I believe being healthy is from within. It does not matter how visually thin or thick an individual is; it
is more of the internal. Just like in physical health, there is some individual with a slimly built body that
is considered healthy, and they are thin because of their physique. However, there are some individuals
with a round or fat build body but are considered unhealthy because of excessive unhealthy food
intake. On the other hand, just like in mental health, we cannot say that the individual is healthy if we do
not dig more into them.