Subjects:
disorders and their causes. Many eating disorders have been proven to emerge
during adolescence and often serve as the foundations to more serious
problems like anorexia and bulimia. This essay will explore the development of
eating disorders in adolescent girls. It will show that these disorders are closely
connected to the biological and psychosocial changes that occur during the
Many teen girls suffer with anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder in which
girls use starvation diets to try to lose weight. They starve themselves down to
skeletal thinness yet still think that they are overweight. Bulimia, meanwhile, is a
disorder in which young women binge on food and then force themselves to
vomit. They also often use laxatives to get food out of their system. All of these
young women who suffer from this problem are considered to suffer from a
psychiatric disorder. While the causes are debatable, one thing that is clear is
that these young women have a distorted body image. (Wolf, pp.214-216)
What is extremely alarming is that the current thin ideal for women in
Western society, which is unattainable for all but a very
. . .
while we must emphasize personal problems, it is necessary to keep an eye on
social messages. This entails a person writing down what is bothering them
and then honestly answering the questions. Brooks-Gun have done some
work on this issue. It appears that
problem eating develops during early to middle adolescence, and that these
early patterns influence later eating behaviour. Now, at least, she can have control over something in
her life. Families that set high standards for achievement, gave little
support for autonomy, and blurred interpersonal boundaries left adolescent girls
with deficits in their self-esteem. In this step and process lurks the greatest
healing process, for so many of these illnesses are based on illogical thought
patterns. 71)
Aside from the pubertal changes that the authors found significant in this
issue, family relationships were also detected to influence the emergence of
eating disorders. The two psychologists examined 193
white females and their mothers during the former's middle-schooled years
(13. To "Well, because then
I would be worthless and no one would like me" she would have to start
considering the issues of whether her weight was connected to her self-worth. They are directly connected to pubertal maturation and the
increases in body fat that occurs during this phase. It is a very serious issue when
someone's body shape is determined by genetic disposition and yet they try to
alter it to fit some kind of imaginary ideal of how a person should look.
Essay's Topics
All research is for reference purposes only.