What makes one person more susceptible to an eating disorder than another???             Researchers have identified several possible factors that combine in some way to cause eating             disorders.The factors for anorexia and bulimia are the same;   they just   combine differently   for             different people to create one disorder or the other.             The possible causes are broken down into the categories of: psychological factors, genetic and             environmental factors, and biochemical factors.   Some of these   factors occur to make such a             disorder a possibility, and then something triggers the factors to induce the eating disorder. BIOLOGICAL FACTORS: -Temperament seems to be,at least in part,genetically determined.Some personality types (obsessive-compulsive and sensitive-avoidant,for example) are more vulnerable to eating disorders than others.New research suggests that genetic factors predispose some people to anxiety,perfectionism and obsessive-compulsive thoughts and behaviors.These people seem to have more than their share of eating disorders.In fact,people with a mother or sister who has had anorexia nervosa are 12 times more likely than others with no family history of that disorder to develop it themselves. They are four times more likely to develop bulimia. -Also,once a person begins to starve,stuff or purge,those behaviors in and of themselves can alter brain chemistry and prolong the disorder.Researchers at the NIMH have found several biological trends in patients of eating disorders.Many of the factors they found also occur in victims of depression and OCD. Research has shown that anorexia and bulimia patients, as well as patients of depression, have reduced levels of some specific neurotransmitters -- which are chemical messengers in the central nervous system. Victims of both eating disorders and depression were also found to have increased levels of a stress-related brain hormone. A different hormone was found to be elevated in victims of both OCD and eating disorders. Because of the links between these disorders, some eating-disorder patients have benefited from depression or OCD medication. PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS: People who are subject to eating disorders share certain personality traits, including low self-esteem, feelings of helplessness and the fear of becoming fat. They also tend to be perfectionists, creating unrealistic expectations for themselves.Many eating-disorder patients experience depression or emotional anxiety. However, it is unclear whether these are causes or results -- or both -- of eating disorders.Several forms of anxiety disorders are common among patients with eating disorders.Phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often precede anorexia, while panic disorder tends to follow. FAMILY FACTORS: -Some people with eating disorders say they feel smothered in overprotective families.Others feel abandoned, misunderstood and alone.Parents who overvalue physical appearance can unwittingly contribute to an eating disorder.So can those who make critical comments,even in jest,about their children's bodies. -These families tend to be overprotective,rigid and ineffective at resolving conflict.Sometimes mothers are emotionally cool while fathers are physically or emotionally absent.At the same time,there are high expectations of achievement and success.Children learn not to disclose doubts,fears,anxieties and imperfections.Instead they try to solve their problems by manipulating weight and food. -In addition,research suggests that daughters of mothers with histories of eating disorders may be at higher risk of eating disorders themselves than are children of mothers with few food and weight issues. -According to a report published in the April 1999 issue of the International Journal of Eating Disorders, mothers who have anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder handle food issues and weight concerns differently than mothers who have never had eating disorders. -Patterns are observable even in infancy. They include odd feeding schedules, using food for rewards, punishments, comfort, or other non-nutritive purposes, and concerns about their daughters' weight. -Still to be determined is whether or not daughters of mothers with eating disorders will themselves become eating disordered when they reach adolescence. -Also, if mothers and fathers preach and nag about junk food and try to limit their children's access to treats, the children will desire and overeat these very items. A recent study (AJCN,2003) indicates that when parents restrict eating, children are more likely to eat when they are not hungry. The more severe the restriction, the stronger the desire to eat prohibited foods. These behaviors may set the stage for a full blown eating disorder in the future. SOCIAL FACTORS: -Sometimes appearance-obsessed friends or romantic partners create pressure that encourages eating disorders.Ditto for sorority houses, theatre troupes,dance companies,school cliques and other situations where peers influence one another in unhealthy ways. -People vulnerable to eating disorders also,in most cases,are experiencing relationship problems,loneliness in particular.Some may be withdrawn with only superficial or conflicted connections to other people.Others may seem to be living exciting lives filled with friends and social activities,but later they will confess that they did not feel they really fit in,that no one seemed to really understand them,and that they had no true friends or confidants with whom they could share thoughts,feelings,doubts,insecurities,fears,hopes, ambitions and so forth.Often they desperately want healthy connections to others but fear criticism and rejection if their perceived flaws and shortcomings become known. CULTURAL PRESSURES: -In Westernized countries characterized by various forms of competition,and in pockets of affluence in developing countries,women often experience unrealistic cultural demands for thinness.They respond by linking their self-exteem or self-disgust,to their weight. -Cultural expectations can be cruel and unrelenting."In order for a woman to consider herself happy,she has to be in a good relationship,be happy with her kids,her friends have to like her,her job has to be going well,her house has to look really good -- and she has to be thin." TRIGGERS: -If people are vulnerable to eating disorders, sometimes all it takes to put the ball in motion is a trigger event that they do not know how to handle. A trigger could be something as seemingly innocuous as teasing or as devastating as rape or incest. -Triggers often happen at times of transition,shock,or loss where increased demands are made on people who already are unsure of their ability to meet expectations.Such triggers might include puberty, starting a new school,beginning a new job,death,divorce,marriage,family problems,breakup of an important relationship,critical comments from someone important,graduation into a chaotic,competitive world and so forth. -There is some evidence to suggest that girls who achieve sexual maturity ahead of peers,with the associated development of breasts,hips and other physical signs of womanhood,are at increased risk of becoming eating disordered.They may wrongly interpret their new curves as "being fat" and feel uncomfortable because they no longer look like peers who still have childish bodies. -Wanting to take control and fix things,but not really knowing how,and under the influence of a culture that equates success and happiness with thinness,the person tackles her/his body instead of the problem at hand.Dieting,bingeing,purging,exercising, and other strange behaviors are not random craziness.They are heroic,but misguided and ineffective, attempts to take charge in a world that seems overwhelming. -Sometimes people such as diabetics who must pay meticulous attention to what they eat become vulnerable to eating disorders.A certain amount of obsessiveness is necessary for health, but when the fine line is crossed,healthy obsessiveness can quickly become pathological. -Perhaps the most common trigger of disordered eating is dieting.It is a bit simplistic,but nonetheless true, to say that if there were no dieting,there would be no anorexia nervosa.Neither would there be the bulimia that people create when they diet,make themselves chronically hungry,overeat in response to that hunger,and then,panicky about weight gain,vomit or otherwise purge to get rid of the calories. -Feeling guilty and perhaps horrified at what they have done, they swear to "be good."That usually means more dieting,which leads to more hunger,and so the cycle repeats again and again.It is axiomatic in eating disorders treatment programs that the best way to avoid a binge is to never,never allow oneself to become ravenously hungry.It is far wiser to be aware of internal signals and respond to hunger cues early on by eating appropriate amounts of nourishing,healthy food. -You may read more informations on anorexia HERE -You may read more informations on bulimia HERE HOME