subject: Why People Get Eating Disorders [print this page] It can be unsettling about the amount of people that have eating disorders. They are usually smart attractive and energetic people that work hard. They come from all different working classes and social status. The majority are women at about 95% of the people that have eating problems. The age range is usually in between 12 years of age and 25. There are a few cases that have people in age brackets above and below those numbers but that is the average age of someone with an eating disorder.
There is commonly a link between those that have eating issues with other life issues such as psychological disturbances that affect the way they think, biological issues and relationship problems. There is not on thing that starts an eating disorder for someone and can even be a variety of factors that make them resort to this behavior. The one link the ties all people with eating disorders is that they have tried dieting frequently throughout their life in one way or another.
So what actually triggers an eating disorder? There are many reasons that have been discovered that trigger bad eating behaviors but they are usually unique for each particular person. Dieting is a big culprit to causing the various eating disorders and many researchers believe if dieting was not a normal part of our society that people would not have problems with eating normal. This does not mean all dieters will get an eating disorder because there are a few other things that contribute to having eating disorders.
A lot of people with eating disorders have some type of psychological factor that plays a part in there disorder such as being a perfectionist. They have set standards for themselves that they must excel in all areas of their life and be perfect including their body and image. The reality is people like this can accomplish incredible things but still feel like they have not done enough and that they are worthless and inadequate. This leads them into trying to control their life by what they can control such as micro managing their eating habits and their weight. This leads them to feeling accomplished and in control.
Personality traits are one of the biological factors that can lead people to having eating disorders. Some personalities such as those with low self esteem and those that are socially inadequate lead them to being perfectionist and to seek approval. These two factors have shown a link in people with eating disorders.
One of the biggest contributors to eating disorders are society, social and cultural influences. The image of an attractive person in our culture is someone thin and in control of their eating habits. The truth is that not everyone has the body type to be as thin as a supermodel and the only way these people achieve this thinness is by behaviors like starving themselves and other eating disorders. Our hectic daily schedules don't help with trying to maintain normal habits and eating the way our bodies are suppose to. Our culture has labeled people that are overweight as people that don't have control and that they are failures. All of these social factors drive people to trying to attain a certain image by any means, even if they hurt themselves in the process.
