One thing most scientists, doctors, and other specialists disagree on is the cause of eating disorders. A humanist would say that a person develops and eating disorder after several failed attempts of becoming self actualized. Therefore the person will fall all of the way down to the bottom of the ladder of needs and feel they are not worthy enough to even fulfill the basic needs, including food.
A behaviorist would feel that a person with an eating disorder developed it as a reaction to a certain stimuli in their life. Some of the common stimuli which trigger eating disorders are; family or other relationship problems, a person’s casual remarks about weight, the feeling of inadequacy, and pop culture. Most people agree with the behaviorist point of view, and feel that there are triggers, usually more than one, which trigger eating disorders. Another common view about the cause of eating disorders is the constant battle between the person and their negative mind, and the person feels obligated to obey the commands of the negative mind.
Treating eating disorders is usually a very long and difficult process. There are many different forms of treatment a patient can receive, but the type of treatment along with the effectiveness of the treatment generally depends on the individual personality and background of the patient.
The two basic types of treatment are physical and psychological. For some patients the psychological treatment alone will help cure them, but in many cases both psychological and physical treatment are required. (Bloks, 2004)
Despite the amount of therapy are person goes through, it is believed that a person can never be cured of an eating disorder. People who have had eating disorders at one time in their life will continue to struggle with it, either consciously or unconsciously for the rest of their lives. Eating disorders are a very serious mental and physical illness which people need to be more educated about. It is the only hope to prevent it.
Due to the long damaging effects of an Eating disorder it is a must that it is diagnosed right away before too much damage occurs. Diagnosing an eating disorder is hard do to the many other signs of the patient such as, related sickness, mental stability, and current stresses. All these things cause a person to alter eating habits, but after a certain amount, change done to the body then it could be classified as an eating disorder. (Tozzi, 2005)