Pretty Unhealthy by Nikki Stamp

Author:Nikki Stamp
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2019-07-17T16:00:00+00:00

Why do we get eating disorders?

I remember at 15 years old being told during PE class to line up, take off our shoes and file into the gym where our height and weight were recorded. They weren’t looking for people who were too big; it was to screen for eating disorders. A girl in the year below me had just been hospitalised for anorexia so the school decided to be proactive in a way that was probably not that helpful. But we did fit the profile of the typical sufferer: middle-class, white teenage girls. I remember at the time feeling highly self-conscious that our bodies were being judged and measured.

What we know now is that that this ‘typical’ picture of someone with an eating disorder misses many people. We were being assessed for being ‘too skinny’ but eating disorders happen to all kinds of bodies from different races and social classes, including males. My school also assumed that, once one girl had been diagnosed, we would fall like dominoes; while your peer group does influence your behaviour, it’s a simplistic view of how these disorders develop.

There is never one single simple cause for developing an eating disorder. They arise in people who are vulnerable and are also exposed to other risks. Research suggests that emotional distress sits at the centre of this: the eating disorder becomes a way of coping with that suffering. There are also certain personality traits, such as perfectionism, neuroticism and avoidance, that are seen more commonly in those with anorexia and bulimia. On top of that, the social and cultural experiences we have can then tip the balance. The way we value thinness or muscularity can be triggering for vulnerable people. Women who internalise an ideal and apply it to themselves are more likely to develop an eating disorder. We need to care about the consequences of poor body image because it is strongly associated with eating disorders.

We need to know more about anorexia, bulimia and disordered eating because of how terrible they can be to live with. Research has looked at the causes of these illnesses and how sufferers can recover. Specialised brain MRIs have shown some possible differences in the pathways connected with reward or in the ability to override motivation to eat and even a disconnect with physical symptoms, concrete thinking styles and a difficulty with emotions, which is called alexithymia. This could explain why sufferers use their behaviours (subconsciously, of course) to avoid dealing with their emotions. The brain of someone with anorexia might even have a muted response to the taste of food. We could even see something called epigenetics at play, when our genes change the way they instruct the body to work after a particular event. This research could provide more clues about how these illnesses happen and how we can treat them.

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