| To what extend does society contribute to eating disorders | [Tapez le sous-titre du document] |

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Arthur Vincent April 16, 2010
Jessica Lorenzo

Presentation Report

Sociology Spring 2010

Eating disorder is a situation where human eating behaviour is abnormal, which results in an excessive, insufficient or irregular food intake. It is a psychological disease that affects mostly inhabitants of industrialized countries, mostly women but men are starting to suffer from it increasingly. This has become an important preoccupation for scientists and doctors because, the cause of Eating Disorders are complex and multiple. Nevertheless, two major causes can be defined. The first cause for eating disorder is that this habit results from emotional trauma, which most of the time has appeared during childhood, a feeling of rejection because of physical appearance in young children for example. The second major cause for eating disorder appears during Piaget’s Formal Operational Stage, especially adolescence. During this period a lot of body characteristics are changing and the need for the adolescent to build an identity inside the society is the first preoccupation. In order to build an identity inside the society with the actors of this society that is constantly moving and where the image and the physical appearance seem to be essential; the adolescent will reflect his own image in people around him (friends, family etc…) but sometimes they are rules by the idea of perfection lead by the media. Unfortunately the consequences of eating disorders can be disastrous, because people who suffer from this disease are stuck in a vicious circle where their body is the first preoccupation and everything around has no importance. Sometimes diseases like Anorexia or Bulimia can lead to death due to under-nutrition and psychological depression. It seems that industrialized society has an important responsibility in this health problem. As a