Body Image and Disordered Eating.

•What is Body Image?•What are causes of Eating Disorders?•What are eating disorders?•Treatment•Prevention

What is Body Image?

It is the mental picture you have of your body.

It includes: – your physical appearance – your perception of how others see you.

A healthy body image means acceptance

Social Pressure Control Puberty Family Depression Upsets

Causes of Eating Disorders.

Social Pressure

In societies which do not value thinness, eating disorders are very rare.

In surroundings where people value thinness highly, they are very common.

Control

It has to be said that dieting can be a very satisfying activity.

It can be especially satisfying for girls in their teens who may often feel that weight is the only part of their lives over which they do have any control.

Puberty

A girl with anorexia may lose or not fully develop some of the physical characteristics of an adult woman

She may look very young for her age. Dieting can therefore be seen as a way

of putting off some of the demands of maturing, particularly the sexual ones.

Family

Accepting food gives pleasure to whoever is providing it, refusing it will often cause offence.

Some children and teenagers seem to find that saying no to food is the only way they can either express their feelings or have any influence in the family

Depression

Many sufferers with bulimia have depressive symptoms

it may be that their binges started off as a way of coping with feeling unhappy.

Upsets

For some people, anorexia or bulimia seem to be triggered off by an upsetting event

Sometimes it need not even be a bad event but just an important one

Types of Eating Disorders.

Anorexia Bulemia

Bulimia

Signs and Symptoms Fear of fatness

Binge-eatingNormal weightIrregular periodsVomiting and/or excessive use of laxatives

This condition usually affects women in their early to mid-twenties who also have been overweight as children.

It will affect 3 out of every 100 women. Suffer from an exaggerated fear of

becoming fat.

Anorexia

Signs and Symptoms Fear of fatness

Under-eatingExcessive loss of weightVigorous exerciseMonthly periods stop

Anorexia usually starts in the mid-teens Affects 1 fifteen-year-old girl in every

150 Other members of the family have often

had similar symptoms.

anorexia begins with the everyday dieting

About a third of anorexia sufferers have been overweight before starting to diet.

In anorexia the dieting and the loss of weight continue until the sufferer is well below the normal limit for her age and height.

Sufferers with anorexia actually have a normal appetite, but drastically control their eating.

The teenage girl with anorexia may also develop some of the symptoms of bulimia.

Treatment.

Anorexia Try to get back to somewhere near an

acceptable weight. Both she and her family will first need

information. It is also important that the family see

the psychiatrist regularly

For most sufferers it will be important to discuss things that may be upsetting them

In-patient treatment consists of much the same combination of dietary control and talking, only in a much more structured environment.

Bulimia Here, the priority is to get back to a

regular pattern of eating. The aim is to maintain a steady weight Emphasis is on their keeping diaries of

their disordered eating habits and developing self-control.

Again, information needs to be given to the sufferer

Psychotherapy For those sufferers with depression in

addition to their bulimia, anti-depressant medication may be necessary.

Prevention. Inculde healthy body image and self

esteem as a priority in children of all ages Educate parents, teachers and other role

models Ensure access to body image resources

and support services

Work to promote size acceptance Increase use of healthy body image

messages by media Encourage youth and parents to focus on

accurate portrayal of real life range of body image.