PROPOSAL ON EATING DISORDERS

Proposal on Eating Disorders

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction2

Background of the Study3

Problem Statement4

Aims and Objectives4

Significance of the Study5

Research Questions6

Chapter 2: Literature Review6

Prevalence7

Underlying Causes9

Treatment12

Chapter 3: Methodology15

References17

Chapter 1: Introduction

Background of the Study

Eating disorders have long been viewed as a “culture-bound syndrome,” as they have been historically observed in white, upper-middle-class teenage girls in the United States. Eating disorders have often been interpreted as expressions of conflicted feminine identity in the wake of capitalist expansion and as the embodied representation of conflicting cultural discourses regarding individualism and dependency (Spitzer, 2006, 12). Recent reports, however, note increasing rates of incidence in other ethnic groups, persons of diverse economic backgrounds, boys and men, and non-Western cultural contexts.

This diversification of the “typical” profile, coupled with increases in reported cases, produces something of a conundrum. On the one hand, the appearance of eating disorders in such a wide range of people across the globe might seem to lend credence to studies suggesting a biological basis for the disorders. On the other hand, the apparent coincidence of these increases with the expanded reach of western cultural ideology suggests cultural factors as a precipitating factor (Fairburn, 2008, 19).

Regardless of where one locates causation, the fact remains that individuals who suffer from eating disorders are significantly impaired in their abilities to care for themselves, to interact with others, and to pursue school or employment. Their bodies are often ravaged by the disorder, leaving their bones brittle and weak, their teeth fragile, their heart and other organs often permanently damaged. Given this, and the increasing numbers of people struggling with these illnesses, one might legitimately argue that eating disorders should be classified as a “disability,” and their sufferers afforded all the rights and protections given to other disabled individuals (Hudson, 2007, 27).

Problem Statement

Research on the prevalence of eating disorders has identified distinct gender differences among those diagnosed. Anorexia and bulimia are found primarily in women, while men make up a more substantial, though not equal, portion of those diagnosed with binge-eating disorder (Tylka, 2008, 17). While the precise reason for this discrepancy is unknown, many believe that societal pressure on women to be thin and the general value placed on appearance in society play an important role (Tylka, 2006, 22).

Aims and Objectives

The aims and objectives of this study are:

To highlight the causes of eating disorders

To discuss the prevalence of eating disorders in children

To suggest different techniques to overcome eating disorders

Significance of the Study

Adolescents have a high degree of exposure to media, with 80% reading magazines for at least 4 hours a week and the average girl watching 3 to 4 hours of television every day (Tylka, 2008, 10). These media promote the ultra-thin body ideal as desirable and attainable by using primarily ultra-thin models and female TV characters, printing abundant dieting articles and ads, and printing fitness articles that focus on weight loss or attractiveness (Garfinkel, 2007, 55).

Adolescents internalize these messages about thinness. Some studies have found that adolescent girls describe their ideal body types as similar to media ...