All My Children

While eating and body image are sources of concern or exasperation for millions of people, for some they become the focus of extreme and potentially dangerous behavior. According to the American Psychiatric Association, at any given time roughly a half million people in the United States are affected with an eating disorder. Of these, 95 percent are young women between the ages of twelve and twenty-five, most from middle- or upper-income families. (These conditions are rarely seen in developing countries.) Athletes, models, dancers, and others in the entertainment industry are at particular risk, usually because of intense concern over maintaining a particular, often unrealistic, appearance or level of performance.

The two most common eating disorders, other than obesity, are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Continue Reading »

What influences cause such seemingly unrewarding and even dangerous behaviors? While each case is unique, potential contributing factors include the following:

• Cultural factors. In developed countries, advertisements, films, videos, and TV programs continually display images of bodily perfection, especially for females. Those who are shapely, sleek, and most of all thin are seen as successful, sophisticated, desirable, and apparently free of emotional or personal pain. A vulnerable individual who desperately desires these attributes but cannot attain them through normal means may buy into this and thereby set in motion unhealthy and extreme behaviors. Continue Reading »