Eating Disorders

Questions 1: Eating Disorders Regarded As Multi-Determined Disorders

Eating disorders are considered multi-faceted or multi-determined conditions caused by more than one factor. Such factors as genealogy or family history, diet, and a particular subculture might negatively affect a human’s life and dictate how they must live (Canada & Health Canada, 2007). Anorexia and bulimia are multi-faceted disorders heavily impacted by socio-cultural, biological, and psychological variables (Douzenis & Michopoulos, 2015). They add that ethnic community provide significant demands and constraints on people to diet and lose weight.

Studies have also shown that women with a family history of weight loss are more prone to acquire anxiety and depression problems (Douzenis & Michopoulos, 2015). Daily behaviors in a family also significantly influence parenting (Fairburn et al., 2003). For instance, being too cautious or having extreme dominance may also develop a feeding problem, with anorexia, particularly in vulnerable adolescents. When other people’s opinions and lifestyle choices become more powerful than their own, psychological issues emerge (Polivy & Herman, 1985). A schema is a way people view a character. Once established, schemas can be stored in a person’s extended cognition and used to build self-schemas. Adverse self causes a person’s character to be fragile since they think they are always being scrutinized. Self-concept then develops, resulting in more dangerous diseases, including low self-esteem and despair.

To sum up, a mix of cultural forces, individual and familial issues, and community expectations demand a person to be skinny and attractive. Because there are so many variables that might lead to the establishment of an eating problem, it is classified as a multi-determined condition. Due to the obvious pressures that may be imposed on men and women in the community, society is one of the key causes that eating disorders can be multi-determined disorders. Members of the society are under pressure to appear in a specific way to be “desirable” to the entire world.

Questions 2: How Dieting Can Lead To Binge Eating

Dieting is deliberately avoiding eating, eating small amounts, or eating only some type of diet to avoid gaining weight. On the other hand, binge eating is rapidly eating huge amounts of calories and not stopping despite the sensation of fullness. People who binge eat have a compulsion to continue eating. Notably, dieting comes before binge eating, and dieters become binge eaters. It may be argued that dieting compulsions people to manage their eating habits with thoughts of conquering the complex physical defenses (Silber, 2011; Polivy & Herman, 1985).

Nevertheless, this makes the dieter more sensitive to other factors, which might contribute to bingeing. For instance, after a  prolonged period of dieting, and since someone dieting does not want to gain weight, they may be psychologically compelled to eat rapidly – within a short time, which is practically binging. Alcohol is also another component that can contribute to binge eating (Reiter & Graves, 2010). First, alcohol leads to dieting in that people might skip meals or avoid some type of diet, and when the time to eat comes, they eat excessive quantities of liquor and later overeat. The liquor inhibits them from normal eating and interferes with their ability to manage eating habits. Everything that creates emotional stimulation will encourage overeating. The influence that families have on their children, particularly women, is a factor that contributes to eating problems. The effect of the parents may occur in two ways. The meals fed to this person and their families’ remarks about their body weight can significantly affect adolescents adopting an eating problem such as bulimia (Silber, 2011). They acquire an eating problem because it hurts their self-esteem and strives to satisfy their parents’ opinions. However, they are likely to binge eat once they get food due to their high metabolism.

Questions 2: Some of the Broad Areas of a Person’s Life that a Nutrition Counsellor Might Pay Attention to.

A dietary counselor or psychotherapist assists people suffering from an eating disorder understand and combating the issue. They pay close regard to the individual’s well-being and determine the root reason for their dietary habits (Fairburn et al., 2003). The major goals of these persons are to focus on eliminating unhealthy eating behaviors acquired by the individual and promoting long-term healthy habits. It is the role of dietitians to discover big phobias about certain meals that people feel and then to learn about the potential repercussions of not ingesting that special diet, which is why the individual may be preferentially eating or not eating.

The fundamental goal of therapy is to establish a trustworthy connection between the client and the counselor to evaluate the patient’s actions and feelings that may have resulted in an eating problem. Before a dietary counselor or psychotherapist can help, they must first understand the patient’s eating habits, attitudes, and lifestyle. To understand the therapist well, the clients must communicate their ideas and feelings. Patients’ ideas and habits frequently hinder their attempts to reduce weight (Fairburn et al., 2003). The nutritional counselor or psychologist must speak with them about their difficulties in making good food options and what drives them to make improper decisions. Specialists may also assess their melancholy, stress, and eating problems, such as binge eating. All conditions are often thought to cause weight problems.

The nutrition counselor evaluates lifestyle and socioeconomic variables, personal beliefs, organizational interactions and skills, trauma background, self-image, self-esteem, substance addiction, and sports activities. They may be concerned with familial qualities, schooling, and physical and physiological characteristics. Avoiding certain foodstuffs or kinds of food and fussy eating are examples of diet and lifestyle.

Questions 2: Ways in Which an Individual’s Family Might Influence or Contribute to Eating Problems in That Person

Parents have a huge effect on their children’s eating growth. Many decisions are made in a child’s life, including the sorts of meals the children eat and the affordability of meals. According to the module PowerPoint presentation, parents, particularly mothers, can influence their child’s (especially females’) desire to reduce weight (Sixth Module). One significant consideration is how the family behaves; if the household is problematic, the child may develop bulimia. Children absorb all they observe at school and their families and mimic their parents’ actions. If the mother engages in harmful eating habits, the kid will eventually do the same. Furthermore, if moms continue to encourage their children to be skinny, as many perfectionism mothers do, putting stress on being thin leads to bulimic signs and attitudes.

Enmeshment is characterized as an inability to maintain appropriate personal limits among family and friends, resulting in dysfunctional households. As Silber (2011) describes in the article Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa against the Patient’s Will: Ethical Considerations, there is an endeavor to repair structural issues caused primarily by codependency by addressing unsuitable bonds between a caregiver and a kid. This leads to overprotective parenting and conservatism (Silber, 2011). These caregivers are extremely possessive of their kids and exhibit a variety of protective factors (Lock & le Grange, 2005). As a consequence of this, anorexia develops. Perfectionism parents perceive their flaws in their kids and attempt to push them to be “flawless,” but in essence, this harms the kid self and leads to the development of numerous disordered eating.

References

Canada & Health Canada. (2007). Eating well with Canada’s Food Guide: A resource for educators and communicators. Health Canada. https://central.bac-  lac.gc.ca/.item?id=H164-38-2-2007E&op=pdf&app=Library

Douzenis, A., & Michopoulos, I. (2015). Involuntary admission: The case of anorexia nervosa.      International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 39, 31–35.    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2015.01.018

Fairburn, C. G., Cooper, Z., & Shafran, R. (2003). Cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders: A “transdiagnostic” theory and treatment. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41(5), 509–528. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(02)00088-8

Lock, J., & le Grange, D. (2005). Family-based treatment of eating disorders. International           Journal of Eating Disorders, 37(S1), S64–S67. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.20122

Polivy, J., & Herman, C. P. (1985). Dieting and binging: A causal analysis. American        Psychologist, 40(2), 193.

Reiter, C., & Graves, L. (2010). Nutrition Therapy for Eating Disorders. Nutrition In Clinical Practice, 25(2), 122-136. https://doi.org/10.1177/0884533610361606

Silber, T. J. (2011). Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa against the Patient’s Will: Ethical        Considerations. Adolesc Med, 6.