Eating disorders are characterized by the changes in a person’s eating behavior that is either a significant reduction of food or substantial overeating. The causes of these states may vary from the feelings of distress to the concern about one’s body and therefore one’s appearance. As a rule, adolescents and young adults suffer from eating disorders, but children and older adults may face these problems too. Anorexia, bulimia and binge eating are the primary types of eating disorders ("Eating Disorders | Psychology Today", 2015, n.p.).
Cases Background Information
Anita is a perfectionist. That is why she is worried much about her look. Anita’s self-evaluation and self-worth are very low because of her weight and her body form. She also suffers from anxiety, which resulted in problems with sleep and concentration. Some bad situations in Anita’s life contributed to her self-perception. However, Anita has not lost the ability to trust other people.
In the second case, she has difficulties managing food intake. However, sometimes she copes fairly well. Such behaviors as excessive exercises, self-induced vomiting and fasting are characteristic for Anita. Moreover, she suffers from anxiety and depression. Anita demonstrated the ability to trust other people and has security in romantic relationships.
Diagnostic Impressions of Simulations
In the first stimulation, Anita has distinct symptoms of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. It is hard to distinguish between these two cases, as we do not know if she was losing weight and how she was eating. Therefore, the main symptoms of Anita’s eating disorder are:
Low self-evaluation and perceived self-worth overly related to her body shape and weight.
Distorted body image.
Inappropriate purging behaviors aimed at preventing weight gain.
Rigid exercise regime.
Self-induced vomiting, inappropriate medication use, and fasting.
Anxiety symptoms, such as problems with sleep and concentration caused by excessive worries.
Potential Problematic Areas
In the industrialized societies, where the images of successful people seem to be perfect, many tend to think that the key to the successful career and consequently the worry free life is thinness. Moreover, media has created the ideal, though unrealistic, image of successful people. There are also certain kinds of sports that require from the participants specific body forms, and therefor urge them to intense dieting. These sports may be gymnastics, ballet, modeling, figure skating and many others. Family attitudes can sometimes influence the development of eating disorders in teens. Some parents worry too much about being accepted by society and put pressure on their children ("Eating disorders", 2016). Very often people suffer from eating disorders because of the spiritual aspects of their life, namely fasting during the Lent.
Genetic factors play an essential role in the development of this illness as well as the environmental factors that increase the risk of eating disorders development. Under the sociocultural influences, many people, mainly women, have a distorted body image and this is the basis of eating disorders. Parents and their parenting styles do not have the responsibility for their children’s eating disorders, because it is only a matter of gene and environment interaction. However, “women with eating disorders may similarly be over-concerned about their children’s weight, even when it is well within normal limits” (Mazzeo & Bulik, 2009, n.p.).
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), each type of eating disorder has its specific criteria. Speaking about anorexia nervosa, DSM-5 defines the following criteria: persistent reduction of food intake, which causes low body weight; intense fear to gain weight or constant behavior, which prevents gaining weight; the perception of one’s body shape and weight, and its influence on person’s self-evaluation and self-worth (Golden, 2015, n.p.).
The criteria for diagnosing bulimia nervosa are repeated binge eating with losing sense of control over eating; such behavior as “self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or other medications, fasting or excessive exercise” (Golden, 2015, n.p.); once a week’s binge eating occurring for three months; the influence of body shape and weight on person’s self-evaluation and self-worth (Golden, 2015, n.p.).
Stressors and Protective Factors
Let us consider who is at risk of eating disorder development. The first risk factor is, as it has already been mentioned, genetic vulnerability. Due to the mental nature of the illness, psychological risk factors form the biggest group. Among them are low self-evaluation, perfectionism, stress, depression, negative emotions, trauma and others. Protective factors of eating disorders are high self-evaluation, critical evaluation of media’s images, positive emotions, the ability to cope with difficulties and some others. These are factors that depend on the person. There are also family and socio-cultural protective factors, such as parents’ support, eating regularly with the family, going in for sports that do not require extra thinness and peer support ("Preventing Eating Disorders", 2015).
Developmental and Cultural Considerations
Anita is a perfectionist by nature. She wants everything to be flawless and ideal. Here hides the reason why she does not like her body shape and is not satisfied with her weight. In her mind, the picture of perfect appearance does not coincide with the one she sees in the mirror. That is why she takes radical measures in order to bridge the gap between these two pictures.
Anita also has a rigid way of thinking. She sometimes sets goals, which are impossible to achieve. However, in her understanding there is nothing impossible. Such models of Anita’s behavior are not seldom detrimental to either her health or interpersonal relations.
Additionally, Anita had bad experience with one upperclassman. He took advantage of her and this could not but contribute to forming her personality and reflect later in life. She could have stop trusting people because of the event. Though this situation was not a primary reason for eating disorder development, it definitely had impact on Anita and made the way for eating disorder progress.
One more event that influenced the further course of events was missing the important competitive event, which led to her team’s failure. It was difficult for Anita to go through this situation, as from her perspective, she had betrayed them. She is too demanding of herself. This feature of her character may have caused anxiety symptoms. Her excessive worries have led to problems with sleep and concentration, which are the characteristic features of Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
Avenues for Treatment
It is not an easy thing to explain people with eating disorders that they require treatment. “One of the difficult aspects in treating individuals with eating disorders, especially with AN, is patients’ ambivalence about making changes in their eating, coupled with a tendency to deny the potentially serious nature of their disorder” (Mitchell & Peterson, 2005, p.2). The final results of the treatment depends greatly on the initiator of the treatment, weather people suffering from eating disorders turned to the specialists for help by themselves or they were made to by family or close friends. Therefore, the key factor of effective treatment is patients’ understanding of the problem seriousness, its possible negative consequences and the desire to change their eating (Mitchell & Peterson, 2005, p.2).
There are many settings where specialist treat patients’ with eating disorders. The peculiarities of treatment depend on the type of eating disorder. It should be stressed that despite being a mental illness, eating disorders also require physical treatment, as mental and physical aspects of this issue are interrelated. Eating disorders are detrimental to person’s physical health and can sometimes even cause death. In eating disorder, it is important to keep to a diet, which should necessarily be well balanced. Some patients also need the help and support of psychiatrists and special kind of therapy in order to manage mental health. In some cases, specialists prescribe the patients anti-depressants. Such kind of treatment is usually applied to people, who suffer from insomnia, anxiety, nausea, have problems with appetite. Specialists may also use different theories of hypnosis (Golden, 2015, n.p.).
Speaking about the Anita’s case, the first main step towards her recovery should be realizing the need for treatment and the seriousness of the illness. In order to get such result, not only psychiatrists but also family and close friends should participate. This method is called family based therapy. It should have positive effect on Anita, as she still trusts her beloved and feels secure having them by her side. However, Anita suffers from anxiety, and that is why she should take antidepressant medications. She should also keep a well-balanced diet, so that she will improve her physical health.
In the second case, Anita trust people, and especially her boyfriend. His support is a protective factor for her. The main step for Anita is again, understanding the problem. There should be more positive emotions in her life as well as friends’ and family’s support.
In conclusion, it should be said that every case referring to eating disorder is individual. That is why treatment should be given also individually in accordance with the type of eating disorder and the degree of seriousness of the illness.
References
Eating Disorders: Cultural and Social Factors-Topic Overview. (2014). WebMD. Retrieved 2 May 2016, from http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/eating-disorders/tc/eating-disorders-cultural-and-social-factors-topic-overview
Eating Disorders | Psychology Today. (2015). Psychologytoday.com. Retrieved 1 May 2016, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/eating-disorders
Eating Disorders. (2016). Apa.org. Retrieved 2 May 2016, from http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/eating.aspx
Golden, C. (2015). DSM-5 | Eating Disorders Victoria. Eatingdisorders.org.au. Retrieved 1 May 2016, from http://www.eatingdisorders.org.au/eating-disorders/what-is-an-eating-disorder/classifying-eating-disorders/dsm-5
Golden, C. (2015). Types of Treatment | Eating Disorders Victoria. Eatingdisorders.org.au. Retrieved 1 May 2016, from http://www.eatingdisorders.org.au/eating-disorders/treatment/types-of-treatment
Mazzeo, S. & Bulik, C. (2009). Environmental and genetic risk factors for eating disorders: What the clinician needs to know. Child And Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 18(1), 67-82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2008.07.003
Mitchell, J. & Peterson, C. (2005). Assessment of eating disorders. New York: Guilford Press.
Preventing Eating Disorders. (2015). Nedc.com.au. Retrieved 2 May 2016, from http://www.nedc.com.au/preventing-eating-disorders
