Eating Disorders Essay

Eating Disorder

Eating disorders have become a major problem in the world we live in today. Most of the time you can tell if someone has an eating disorder, but there are times when it is almost impossible to notice until the person who has it becomes seriously sick. Needless to say it is an issue that many have been fighting to overcome. There are so many things that can cause eating disorders. Such as peer pressure, bullying, society and celebrity hype, family expectations, stress, etc. But, let's be clear about a misconception that many people seem to have. Most folks assume that it is practically only women who suffer from eating disorders, but this way of thinking could not be more wrong. We will get into more of this as we go on.

To top things off let's start with the primary drive of hunger and its effect on eating disorders. The primary drives are basically considered as the biological needs for which provides you with motivation. Basically what I mean by this is when you get hungry isn't your first thought to search for food. The same thing applies when you are thirsty. We would not be able to live if not for these drives. There are a number of eating disorders that a person can acquire that are brought on from their primary drive. Such disorders include binge-eating, anorexia, and bulimia (Hunger Motivation, n.d.). Anyone who suffers from binge- eating will continue to binge without purging. Because of that they either become severely overweight or even worst obese. Those who fight with anorexia constantly consider themselves to be overweight which gives them a fear of eating and they start to starve themselves. This goes against our natural primary drives of hunger. Lastly we have bulimia also known as bulimia nervosa. Folks who suffer from it tend to over eat large quantities of foods. In order to make up for their large amounts of food intake they account for it by over exercising, constantly vomiting, and fasting. All of these disorders are tied to our primary drive in a complex way.

Like I mentioned earlier there are a great deal of misconceptions about gender and emotion when on the subject of eating disorders. It has always been a stereotype that women are more likely to become obese than men. I will be honest this can be true to a certain point. According to human anatomy it is said that woman naturally store more fat and have a harder time losing it because they are made to store fat since women give birth. . (Green, Cameron, "Gender Differences in Treating Adolescents with Eating Disorders" (2013)). As for men studies suggest that they are able to loss fat much faster than women which has been proven to some extent. Because of stereotypes like these it affects not just men and women but young girls and boys as well. This is where all the disorders start. (Green, Cameron, "Gender Differences in Treating Adolescents with Eating Disorders" (2013)). For example young girls see their favorite female singers and actresses who are slim and can fit into small clothing. So by society rules this defines beauty, and because of this many young girls start to engage