Factors of Being Thin

An eating disorder is when a person will starve themselves to be skinny to the point of becoming unhealthy. Many factors can put a person at risk for developing an eating disorder. Ego deficiencies can be caused by a mother. The child’s interactions with the mother can lead to serious ego deficiencies. The mother will feed them in times of anxiety rather than hunger, and comfort at times of tiredness. The child will grow up confused and unaware of their own needs. They will fail to develop genuine self reliance and they will not be in control of their behavior, needs, impulses and body. The child wants to seek their own independence and some control in their life. They seek ways to become more independent and to have more control in their lives. They come to a conclusion that one way they can obtain more control and independent is by rigidly regulating the amount of food they place in their own body. Therefore they extensively control their bodies’ size, shape and eating habits. By using this type of behavior style for obtaining control and independence develops into an eating disorder.

Cognitive factors are deficiencies that contribute to a broad body distortion and therefore a person can have concerns about their body shape and weight. They willfully stick to extreme and specific dietary rules. When they break the rules they feel a lack of self control, failure and temporarily abandon all efforts to restrict their eating, and therefore binge. Binge eating is a form of anorexia. A person will binge eat sometimes taking in as much as 1,000 calories at a time and than self induce vomiting after eating. They can even take it a step further by abusing laxatives or diuretics. The eating disorder intensifies and the guilt from over eating causes them to sometimes eat more and therefore trigger more induced vomiting in an effort to correct the situation.

Mood disorders can lead to depression which can set the stage for eating disorders. Close relatives of people with eating disorders have a higher rate of developing an eating disorder. Research has found that people with eating disorders have a very low rate of serotonin, the same that is found in depressed people. The eating disorder can be helped by the use of antidepressant drugs. These drugs would be the type that helps increase stimulation of the production of serotonin.

Biological factors suggest that certain genes may leave some people more susceptible to eating disorders. If someone has an identical twin that has an eating disorder they are more likely to develop an eating disorder as well. If a fraternal twin has an eating disorder only about 20% of the other twins will develop an eating disorder. Every person has a weight set point which keeps a person at a certain weight based on genes. When a person falls below this weight brain chemicals are activated and the lost weight is gained back by producing hunger and lowering metabolism. A person with an eating disorder produces a preoccupation with the presence of food and the desire to binge and they are able to shut down the weight set point and control eating almost completely.

Societal pressures can contribute to a person developing an eating disorder. The western standard of the female beauty shows a strong preference for a thin female figure. Glorifying thinness creates a prejudice against the overweight person. People who are over weight are judged as not having self control and begin less attractive and sometimes even lower in intelligence. The fashion and movie industries stress thinness and many times reject people from jobs based upon their weight and appearance. Therefore people in fashion, acting, and modeling are much more likely to develop eating disorders.

Another factor is the family environment. As many of half of families of people with eating disorders have a history of emphasizing thinness, physical appearance, and dieting. The families are usually dysfunctional and are over involved in the details of each other’s lives and are clingy. The push by one of the family members for independence threatens the families’ harmony and closeness and may unknowingly lead that family member to develop an eating disorder. The control of eating is a way for that family member to exert their independence and control over their lives apart from the family unit.

Racial and ethical differences can have an impact on the likelihood of eating disorders. Girls in different racial backgrounds were surveyed about what qualifies as being the perfect girl. White females in America described the perfect girl as being 5’7, 100-110 pounds and look like supermodels. Females of African American families that were surveyed said that the perfect girl was smart, easy to get along with, easy to talk to, not conceited, funny, and not necessarily pretty but well groomed. The different cultures and ethnicity have an impact on the perspective of the perfect female.

Gender differences can have an effect on developing eating disorders. Women are more likely to have eating disorders than men. Men can develop an eating disorder but it’s a very rare occurrence. Men will develop them because of the requirements and pressures of a job or a sport and want a lean toned thin shape. Men are more likely to exercise to lose weight where women are more likely to diet making the female more prone for eating disorders.