What are some views on eating disorders?

[dana]

I'm writing a paper arguing for the raising of awareness of eating disorders. I would just like to know how different people view eating disorders and what they think of them. I would also like to know if anyone doesn't really see a need to raise awareness and if so why?

[TheProblemSolver]

Why would you need to raise awareness for eating disorders? The way I view eating disorders is that they were individuals who either ate too much or too little and are now stuck like that. Just eat right and that's all that's needed.

[Lauren]

YES they need to raise awareness.
Many people suffer from them. When I went to highschool I knew a lot of girls (not really boys) with eating disorders. Its bad and its an epedemic.

People do it because they feel like their body weight is out of control (whether it is or isnt) and go to unhealthy, difficult and damaging extremes to achieve a certain look.

If a person really does need to lose weight they need to do so in a healthy way.

If a person does not need to lose weight they can excersize/eat better but not develop an eating disorder!

This reflects the mental health of a fat nation with anorexic (not all) beauty standards. A little funny isn't it? More attention should be drawn to this because it reflects the mental health of our society as a whole and what factors upset it.

This is also interesting in gender studies as more girls suffer from eating disorders one would wonder if they are more pressured to look good than boys and the repercussions/studies of that etc etc
(Though boys may have horrible eating disorders as well that need to be treated equally, of course)

Hope I helped you

[Elitza]

In terms of your last question and raising awareness, I'm not sure I agree with it but its a view to consider: everyone is aware of their existence therefore more doesn't need to be done to 'raise awareness' as such. Like the other year when everyone on facebook was changing their status to their bra colour etc to 'raise awareness' for breast cancer. I thought what's the point in that! Do something, sponser someone, give money to charity etc to actually do something useful. But 'raising awareness' seemed like a stupid argument to me because you have to have been living under a rock to have never heard of breast cancer so I don't think that that it achieved anything at all. Similarly, with all the stuff the media write about eating disorders everyone is aware of them. However, perhaps it would help to raise awareness of 'real' eating disorders as opposed to the media's spin on them.

From what I understand, it is more younger people who get them where they can be more easily attributed to a cause e.g. wanting to look thinner, or like a particular role model. This is more the childlike manifestation of the disease, and as far as I can see it is how the media then sees all eating disorders. They say that seeing thin models makes people want to be thin. However, it is obviously much more complicated than that. I believe that in younger people when they're going through puberty etc and everything's changing then it is common to have a role model who you would like to look like. That would be part of the problem. The other part would be that in times when they may have little control over their lives, they are exerting control the way that they can which is by food.

However, I don't think anywhere near all eating disorders can be blamed on actresses, models, or even how the media idealises them. I think, especially in older people, it is the control aspect which is a more key factor. The feeling of having control over your life, and the addictive feeling of losing weight can be very strong.

I have a friend who is anorexic and at no point has she said that she is losing weight to 'look good' like the media would have us think. She can see perfectly well when other people around us are incredibly thin and she can see that they would look better wider and healthier. She is incredibly self-conscious and does not think that she looks better for being thinner. But unfortunately despite this insight, it is still a difficult thing to overcome because it is a mental illness. And unfortunately for her she fell into it because she is a perfectionist, and she wants to create order in her life.

[Serene E]

It's an anxiety disorder.

[Mark]

Eating disorders are a stigma in high school that goes unaddressed and worsens throughout life. And its not just aneroxia. Think about people who are overweight. They typically are binge eaters/stress eaters who eat when they have problems. It also manifest in other areas such as uncontrolled shopping sprees and other very impulsive behavior.

Awareness needs to be raised because eating disorders are a side effect of other issues in peoples lives that they need to take care, the eating disorder is just the by-product.