CAUSES OF EATING DISORDERS

“We experience quite a lot of the stereotypes of being small and petite and submissive. Which I think is very much internalized by our own communities as well, to signal to us what is desirable.And conflicting with that petite ideal is the cultural focus around food, since, in many Asian cultures, sharing dishes and meals is seen as a sign of love. Relatives and friends often urge you to eat, and refusing food can feel rude or hurt a loved one’s feelings.Lee says when she talks to family, the underlying message is one of two things: Either “Oh, you look great, and things must be going well because you’ve lost weight” or “Things must not be going well because you’ve gained weight. And you’re fat.”

Read more at the Daily Dot

The seeds of eating disorders are planted early in life. It may start with a young girl dieting because she was teased at school, or a young boy working out because he wants to look like more masculine. The onset of eating disorders typically are in late adolescence or early adulthood, but is increasing among children as young as 7 years old.

The causes of eating disorders are complex and there is no one single causal factor. Here are some risk factors that have been implicated in the etiology and maintenance of eating disorders. 

 

Sociocultural pressures to be thin

The standard of beauty has shifted in Asian culture over the last 30 years to one that is unnaturally thin and unhealthy for women, but this is a standard that we are now expected to meet! Where round faces and curvy bodies were once considered as beautiful, desirable and a sign of health and wealth in Asia, thinness and angular faces are seen as ideal now.

The images you see in the media perpetuate the notion that thinness is attractive and necessary for success. In Asia, many women resort to starvation rather than exercise to achieve their desired weight and shape.

“In the world of K-pop, which touts stick-thin figures as presentable, achievable and even admirable, there seems to be a fine line between dieting and starvation, with the pressure to look slender often resulting in dangerous consequences.

A chart that has been circulating on Korean websites juxtaposes two types of weight for a certain height -- the "standard" weight versus the "pretty" weight. According to this chart, whose source is unidentified, for a woman who is 165 centimeters tall, the "standard" weight is 59.8 kilograms; the "pretty" weight is some 9 kilograms lighter, at 50.4 kilograms -- but most celebrities claim to be much lighter than both figures.”
Read more at AsiaOne

Think about this - the regular healthy weight is 10 kgs heavier than what is seen in the media! In fact, it is often impossible to achieve what you see in the media in a healthy way without resorting to the “sweet potato diet” or the latest liquid diet. These fad diets can cause serious harm to your body and mind - leaving you tired, malnourished, and unhappy.

 

Believing thin is ideal

Research has shown that the more people buy into the ideal that thin is beautiful, the more dissatisfied they are with their own bodies. They tend to compare their bodies with others that they perceive to be more attractive, particularly to those portrayed in the media. Social comparisons of this sort leads to feelings of low self-worth and disordered eating. The internalization of the thin-ideal also leads people to engage in frequent surveillance and monitoring of their own bodies and how they look. This is known as self-objectification - seeing their bodies from an observer’s perspective to be examined like an object. They then compare their bodies to their thin ideal, or what they think they should look like. Focusing on the discrepancy between what they see and what they think they should be like leads to increased appearance anxiety and body shame, as well as a loss of awareness to one’s internal physiological and emotional state.

"I thought people would stop bullying me if I lost weight, so I thought, 'I've got to keep losing [it].' It was just a vicious cycle, and there was also a lot of self-hatred. I thought my life would be better if I looked a certain way. The media, even in Bollywood movies, is always centred around the tall skinny girl who's stereotypically pretty – she's got money and settles down, etc. So, for me, seeing those media depictions in Hollywood and Bollywood, didn't help. I just kept losing weight, kept losing weight, dropped down to a size eight. I was addicted to the feeling of it.”
Read more at Vice

Social environment

More potent than media influence is the impact of family and friends. You might find yourself dreading the reunion dinner at Chinese New Year as you anticipate the oft said comment “Wah, you gain weight ah!”. Internally you yell “shut up!” while maintaining an outward smile and awkwardly laughing.

Family members and peers play an important role in transmitting the thin-ideal. Asian families often openly comment about weight and eating behaviours. The paradox in Asian cultures is that you have to eat what is given to you, but at the same time, you have to remain slim. Food becomes both a sign of love and a cause for judgment. Family and friends may reinforce disordered eating by praising when there is weight loss, and emphasizing the importance of discipline and self-control. Conversely, when there is weight gain, there may be critical comments, frequent reminders about your weight, or even controlling what you can eat and how much you eat.

Families of individuals with eating disorders are experienced as conflicted and critical, more chaotic, and less likely to express positive and caring emotions. In particular, mothers of individuals with anorexia nervosa tend to display parenting behaviours that are overprotective/high-concern, while parental indifference and neglect, and family discord are characteristic of families of individuals with bulimia nervosa.

 

Cognitive and personality styles

The pursuit of thinness is often fuelled by an obsession about food and weight, as well as a desire to be perfect.

People with eating disorders tend to focus narrowly on food and body shape, and spend a significant amount of time and energy thinking about what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat. They may also obsess about the shape of their body, how they look and the discrepancy from their ideal shape. A study found that 74% of people with an eating disorder spent more than 3 hours/day on obsessional thoughts. 

Research also suggest that perfectionistic achievement is a risk factor for eating disorders. Food becomes a way to exert control and achieve the “perfect” physical state, or to portray a “perfect” image. Dieting and exercise are approached from a rigid and punitive stance - where rules must be followed, or else. Body weight becomes the marker for success and control. Often, beneath this perfectionistic striving is worry and anxiety about failure, loss of control, or rejection.

 

Biology

The study of the neurobiology of eating disorders is a relatively new field with much more research needed to distinguish causes from consequences of an eating disorder. There is some evidence of neurocognitive changes in individuals with an eating disorder such as difficulties in attention, executive functioning, memory and mental inflexibility. The serotonergic and dopaminergic neurotransmitter system has also been implicated in the etiology and maintenance of eating disorder symptoms.