Eating Disorders

FIVE COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT EATING DISORDERS?

Myth #1: Eating disorders are not serious; they are a lifestyle choice or about vanity.

The association between body dissatisfaction and eating disorders can sometimes lead people to mistakenly believe that eating disorders are prompted by vanity and represent a lifestyle choice to attain body ideals.

Truth:

Eating disorders are serious and potentially life threatening mental illnesses; they are not a lifestyle choice or a diet gone 'too far'. A person with an eating disorder experiences severe disturbances in their behaviour around eating, exercising and related self harm because of distortions in their thoughts and emotions. Eating disorders defy classification solely as mental illnesses as they not only involve considerable psychological impairment and distress, but they are also associated with major wide-ranging and serious medical complications, which can affect every major organ in the body. The mortality rate for people with eating disorders is the highest of all psychiatric illnesses, and over 12 times higher than that for people without eating disorders.

The development of an eating disorder is an individual pathway, where genetic and personality vulnerabilities interact with social and environmental triggers.

One of these social and environmental triggers can be body image and body dissatisfaction. Body dissatisfaction can develop when a person has negative thoughts and feelings about his or her own body. Environmental influences play a large role in how people perceive and feel about their body. A person's family, friends, acquaintances, teachers and the media all have an impact on how that person views them self and their appearance. If a person desires to meet society ideals and feels that they don't measure up in comparison to media images or personal comparisons, body dissatisfaction can intensify and have a damaging impact on that person's psychological and physical wellbeing. This is particularly important when an individual is in an appearance oriented environment or receives negative feedback about their appearance. Being teased, for example, increases a person's risk of body dissatisfaction.

Eating disorders result from multiple factors and are not caused by any one factor. While body image concerns play a role in the development of an eating disorder for many people, for some people the development of an eating disorder is not related to a desire to meet social ideals.

For some people, the process of recovering from an eating disorder can be long and challenging for everyone involved. People with eating disorders require treatment for the underlying psychological issues and the impact on physical health. treatment early in the development of the disorder can reduce the duration and severity of the illness.

Importantly, despite their seriousness, with the right treatment and support there is hope for recovery and improved quality of life at all stages of illness.