Other Eating Disorder Maintaining Factors
Bridget Engel, Psy.D., edited by Kathryn Patricelli, MAPeer pressure
Teens and young women experience a lot of pressure from their peers to be thin and to stay thin. One source of this pressure is "thinspiration" websites and discussion groups that have been created on the Internet by people who support and promote eating disorders. These sites offer tips and tricks on how to lose weight, start vomiting, what foods purge the easiest, and how to avoid detection. They also include inspiring photos, quotes and message boards. Because people are usually anonymous on these sites, it provides support, friendship, and justification for troubled thinking or behavior. Treatment professionals and other experts are concerned that these pro eating disorder websites generate a subculture that potentially helps to spread dangerous and unhealthy eating behaviors.
Other Maintaining Factors
Biological factors that cause eating disorders often keep them going as well. As mentioned previously, researchers suspect that body systems can help to maintain destructive behaviors. Malnutrition and unhealthy eating patterns change the level of chemicals that transmit messages in the brain, including serotonin. Some people with anorexia have abnormally high levels of serotonin in parts of the brain involved in creating and maintaining anxiety and repeated unwanted thoughts. For these people, not eating decreases levels of serotonin, which in turn reduces anxiety. Because they now feel less anxious, their eating restriction behavior is reinforced.
In contrast, those with bulimia often show increased serotonin levels in the brain for short periods of time when they binge. This seems to decrease symptoms of depression that are caused by inadequate levels of brain chemicals. Binging, therefore, temporarily lowers symptoms of depression. However, when serotonin overloads the brain after a large carbohydrate binge, anxiety, irritability, and agitation increase. These can be early feelings that lead to purging behaviors.
Electrolytes are naturally occurring chemicals in the blood that conduct electricity. They also play a key role in continuing eating disorder behaviors. Starving the body and not getting the right vitamin and minerals causes changes in electrolyte levels This then causes confusion and unclear thinking. Researchers believe this maintains eating disorder behaviors because people then continue to make poor decisions about eating and their bodies.
Resources
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Articles
- What are Eating Disorders?
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Eating Disorder Causes and Maintaining Factors
- Causes of Eating Disorders - Biological Factors
- Causes of Eating Disorders - Biological Factors Continued
- Causes of Eating Disorders - Personality Traits and Missing Skills
- Causes of Eating Disorders - Family Influences
- Causes of Eating Disorders - Cultural Influences
- Eating Disorder Maintaining Factors
- Eating Disorder Maintaining Factors Continued
- Other Eating Disorder Maintaining Factors
- Characteristis of Eating Disorders
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Eating Disorder Treatment & Prevention
- Eating Disorder Professional Treatment - Nutritional Rehabilitation
- Eating Disorder Professional Treatment - Individual Psychotherapy
- Eating Disorder Professional Treatment - Individual Psychotherapy Continued
- Eating Disorder Professional Treatment - Inpatient and Residential
- Eating Disorder Professional Treatment - Group Therapy and Peer Support
- Eating Disorder Professional Treatment - Family Therapy
- Prevention of Eating Disorders
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Questions and Answers
- Eating Disorder or Overreacting?
- Please Help. I Criticize Myself Too Much and I Need to Stop.
- I Have Bulimia
- Heavy Load
- Eating
- Odd Eating Behavior
- Husband's Weight Problem
- Help
- Do I Have an Eating Disorder?
- When Psychotherapy Does Not Help
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19 more
- Teenaged girl at risk for Eating Disorders writes, "i want to be confidant with my body"
- Do I have an eating disorder?
- I am afraid to see a doctor about my problem because of my future profession!
- I am bulimic for more than 10 years, and it is killing me...
- I don't like to eat.
- Help?
- Where do i start to get on the road to recovery
- How can I change my life?
- Is this a eating disorder ?
- how can i get my former eating habit back
- Is This An Eating Disorder
- Is this an eating disorder?
- Am I a bulimic or not?
- I Sometimes Cut
- I Wanna Be Thin!
- Bulimic
- Odd Eating Disorder
- Elder Anorexia
- Eating Disorder?
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Book & Media Reviews
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Links
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Videos
- Anorexia: What Therapists and Parents Need to Know
- Eating Disorders Myths Busted- Myth # 1: You can tell by looking at someone
- Eating Disorders Myths Busted- Myth #9: Eating Disorders are for Life
- Eating Disorders Myths Busted- Myth #3: Mothers are to Blame
- Eating Disorders Myths Busted- Myth #2: Families are to Blame
- Eating Disorders Myths Busted- Myth #8: Genes are Destiny
- Eating Disorders Myths Busted- Myth #7: Society Alone to Blame
- Eating Disorders Myths Busted- Myth # 6: Eating Disorders are Benign
- Eating Disorders Myths Busted- Myth #4: Eating Disorders are a Choice
- Myth # 5: Eating Disorders are the province of white upper-middle class teenage girls
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11 more
- Mental Health Minute: Eating Disorders
- Pediatrics: Child Eating Disorders - Part 2
- Pediatrics: Child Eating Disorders - Part 1
- Not Falling For It: How to Challenge Toxic Media Messages about Food, Weight, and Body Image
- Eating Disorder Treatment Blogging Series - Part 1
- Eating Disorder Treatment Blogging Series - Part 2
- Eating Disorder Treatment Blogging Series - Part 3
- Eating and Body Dysmorphic Disorders
- Eating Disorders from the Inside Out
- Eating Disorders Part 2: Recent Advances in Treatment
- Eating Disorders Part 1: How to Prevent Identify and Intervene Early
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