Bulimia Nervosa Nature Vs Nurture

Eating disorders are serious, potentially life-threatening conditions that affect a person’s emotional and physical state (Nationaleatingdisorders.org, 2015). Bulimia Nervosa is a common eating disorder where diagnosed patients will have recurring and frequent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food and feeling a lack of control over these episodes. Following this binge eating, the patients will compensate for the large amounts of food they have just eaten by vomiting, using a large amount of laxatives, excessive exercising, fasting or a combination of all these behaviours (National Institute of Mental Health). I chose this topic because I have encountered a number of people my age, including people very close to me who are going through or overcoming an eating
disorder, therefore , this really interested me to find out more about them, what causes them and why people my age and even younger are going through this distressing illness. In today’s culture we are now seeing more children than ever under the age of twelve fighting eating disorders. The overall idea of having a good image or being thinner starts from 1st – 3rd grade, 42% of girls in these grades want to be thinner (Collins, 1991). I find this very surprising, because as a girl myself I can say I was not thinking about my weight at this age. Nowadays things are different, more girls are hearing and seeing things on the T.V and from other family members that may make them act this way. I feel that at such a young age girls should not even be starting to think about their weight, this age is meant to be the beginning of your life, your care free days. By age 6, girls are starting to learn about their bodies more and express concerns about their own weight or shape.
40-60% of elementary school girls (ages 6-12) are concerned about their weight or becoming too fat. This concern then follows them throughout their life (Smolak, 2011). A number of contributing factors combine to trigger eating disorders. This essay will investigate the nature vs nurture debate in relation to the origins of Bulimia: is it a genetic or social constructing, and how eating disorders are being thought of in a whole different light. There has been a debate about nature vs nurture for decades; people are more recently questioning and debating between attributing genetics for the behaviour of some eating disorders or the environment. It has been said, “Genetics load the gun, and the environment pulls the trigger.” Family history and genetics are additional factors and they may be the main reason for eating disorder development in children. However, cultural pressures and body image also have an involvement. With the merging of pre-existing genetics and environmental triggers, younger children have been diagnosed much more over the past decade (Colleen Thompson,
2011). Historians of fashion have stated that the average female that is perceived to be attractive has changed over the past half century in the sense that people have felt the need to be a lot thinner nowadays; some have even commented that Marilyn Monroe would be considered "fat" by today’s standards. The aim of this essay is to investigate the genetic, environmental and psychological affects Bulimia Nervosa has on people in general today. It will outline the effects of genetics, environmental, and other psychological influences that can cause Bulimia.