Eating Disorders
Name of Student
Institution Affiliation
EATING DISORDERS
Eating is a common problem in America today. Research indicates that among a hundred American teens, two of them are affected by eating disorders. Eating disorders may result in persistent eating behaviors that may negatively impact health. Besides, eating disorders may have adverse effects on emotions and the ability to function on other functions of life. Eating disorders may result from focusing on weight body shape as well as food. These disorders may, therefore, lead to problems of heart, bones, digestive systems, the mouth which in turn may lead to other significant diseases. This paper will, therefore, discuss the effect of eating disorder on biological and psychological developments of adolescent girls. Besides, a discussion will be provided on how findings affect the evidence-based social work practice.
Biological Effects of Eating Disorders in Adolescent Girls
Research indicates that adolescent girls with first parents with eating disorders are likely to have problems with eating disorders. Anorexia is a form of eating disorder mainly attributed to eating issues. Teens are expected to follow the footsteps and eating habits of their parents. As a result, if parents have eating disorders. Their children may follow suit. In another dimension, teens may lack motivating towards eating and therefore escalating the problem. Gray matter deficits in the brain have been evidenced to have a hand in emotional behavior towards eating (Zastrow, & Kirst-Ashman, 2006). The gray matter deficits are inherited from the first parent. Having close relatives with mental conditions is also proven to increase the chances of the development of eating disorders. Adolescent girls may, therefore, suffer eating disorders as a result.
Having history in dieting is a cause of eating disorders. The society today is keen on dieting. Weight control is a common phenomenon among teens and adolescents today. Adolescents being at the puberty stage where they are more likely to be influenced to maintain proper weight and have an appealing body shape. Besides dieting, adolescent girls are more likely to engage in activities aimed at burning calories. Eating disorders, therefore, lead to a negative energy balance when adolescent girls burn more calories than they take in. Adolescent girls, therefore, restrict the type and amount of food the intake as a form of dieting. This dieting may consequently cause growth spurts or illnesses (Melchert, 2015). This may affect the overall biological development of adolescent girls who are at puberty stages.
Insulin-dependent diabetes is proven to cause eating disorders. Research indicates that at least 25% of girls having insulin-dependent diabetes develop eating disorders. The most common effect of this phenomenon is the skipping of insulin injections. Skipping insulin injections hurt adolescent girls as it may be deadly as a result. Insulin-dependent diabetes is associated with weight gain (Pinhas-Hamiel, Hamiel, & Levy-Shraga, 2015). With the stigma associated with overweight bodies among adolescent girls, this leads them to skip meals. The overall health of the individuals is affected negatively; as a result considering that individuals with insulin-dependent diabetes are on drugs.
Psychological Effects of Eating Disorders in Adolescent Girls
There are several effects caused by eating disorders. Among them is perfectionism. Considering that adolescent girls are at an age where they want to look good and feel beautiful about themselves, they become critical to their appearances. Weight is an essential factor in looks and appearances. To maintain what adolescent girls, consider as “ideal appearance,” they set high expectations of their bodies (Brownell, & Walsh, 2017). These expectations can only be met by dieting and phenomena such as maintaining gym ethics. Self- oriented perfectionism rises as a result of the psychology of the girls highly oriented to perfect looks.
Adolescent girls having histories of anxiety disorder are highly likely to develop eating disorders. Research indicates that two-thirds of people with anorexia have accounts of anxiety disorders. Social phobia especially is the main contributor. Adolescent girls have their psychologies fixed that they are not appealing as a result of their looks. This makes adolescent girls anxious in a social gathering with them indicating low self -esteems as a result (Culbert, Racine, & Klump, 2015). The notion that their appearances are not appealing enough causes a ripple effect of these girls practicing poor eating habits as a method of trying to improve their presentations. The psychology of these adolescents is then oriented towards failure to eat as a result of lack of self-love.
Body image dissatisfaction is another problem that causes eating disorders for adolescent girls. How girls feel about and in their bodies is essential. When girls feel good about their bodies, their confidence and self-esteem are high. However, when adolescent girls feel bad about their bodies, their confidence and self-esteem is low and therefore leading to image dissatisfaction (Castellini, Godini, Amedei, Faravelli, Lucchese, & Ricca, 2014). This may lead to girls practicing fasting, especially for girls with big bodies — eating disorders of starvation. Therefore, studies conclude that adolescent girls with image dissatisfaction have a higher chance of depicting eating disorders than their counterparts who experience image satisfaction.
Effect of Findings on Evidence-Based Social Work Practice
These findings can be used to solve the problems of eating disorders among girls. The results of insulin-dependent diabetes are essential as social workers will be oriented to alleviating issues among groups of people with insulin-dependent diabetes. Besides, the findings on the image satisfaction may be used by social workers to identify individuals who require help related to eating disorders. The practice of dieting will also profit from these findings as social workers will come up with proper dieting practices.
Conclusion
There is a strong relationship between eating disorders and adolescent girls. Various factors and effects of eating disorders are discussed. Most of the factors causing eating disorders attributed to social pressures.
References
Brownell, K. D., & Walsh, B. T. (Eds.). (2017). Eating disorders and obesity: A comprehensive handbook. Guilford Publications.
Castellini, G., Godini, L., Amedei, S. G., Faravelli, C., Lucchese, M., & Ricca, V. (2014). Psychological effects and outcome predictors of three bariatric surgery interventions: a 1-year follow-up study. Eating and Weight Disorders-Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 19(2), 217-224.
Culbert, K. M., Racine, S. E., & Klump, K. L. (2015). Research Review: What we have learned about the causes of eating disorders–a synthesis of sociocultural, psychological, and biological research. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 56(11), 1141-1164.
Melchert, T. P. (2015). Biopsychosocial Practice: A science-based framework for behavioral health care. American Psychological Association.
Pinhas-Hamiel, O., Hamiel, U., & Levy-Shraga, Y. (2015). Eating disorders in adolescents with type 1 diabetes: challenges in diagnosis and treatment. World journal of diabetes, 6(3), 517.
Zastrow, C., & Kirst-Ashman, K. (2006). Understanding human behavior and the social environment. Cengage Learning.