There has been a growing concern on the impacts of food disorder in modern times. The notion that it is mostly young women who suffer from eating disorders has made the young women to be affected more than any other social group in the society. This can be attributed to media which has been presenting images of various bodies of super models that have led to poor bodily perceptions and eating disorders among young women (Gotlieb, 2000).
In order to have a clear understanding of the connections and implications of the media on the way young women perceive themselves, it is vital to have a clear understanding of what an eating disorder is, types of eating disorders, the symptoms associated with each of them and their impacts. It is also important to examine how media affects young women negatively with regard to their body images which eventually lead them to having eating disorders so as to cope with the modern trends in body sizes and modes of dressing that seem acceptable to the world (Nitcher, 2000).
An eating disorder is a compulsion to eat or avoid eating that negatively affects both ones physical and mental health (Gotlieb, 2000). It can be marked by extremes. A disorder is present when a person experiences disturbances in eating habits. An eating disorder is also defined as an obsession with food or weight that affects a person’s well being (Gotlieb, 2000). There are three types of eating disorders that are evident in modern science. These are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia and Binge disorder (Gotlieb, 2000).
Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes an eating disorder characterized by low body weight and body image distortion (Nitcher, 2000). Binge disorder is a compulsive eating where by one cannot control herself when it comes to eating. On the other hand, bulimia is eating alot of food at once (bingeing) then throwing it up, or using of laxatives to remove food from the body (purging) (Nitcher, 2000).
Binge eating disorder is more prevalent than both Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia nervosa. Most people with eating disorder have a co-existing mood, anxiety, impulse control, or substance use disorders (Gotlieb, 2000). Anorexia Nervosa is characterized by emaciation, a relentless pursuit of thinness and extremely disturbed eating behaviors such as deliberate self-starvation (Nitcher, 2000).
Young women usually have a resistance to maintaining a healthy body weight, an intense fear of gaining weight, and other extreme behaviours that result in weight loss. People having Anorexia see themselves as over weight even when they are extremely thin (Gotlieb, 2000).