Eating Psychopathology Essay

Eating disorders bring significant psychological and physiological harm to individuals who suffer from the disorder. Eating psychopathology is defined by distinctive disruptions in eating habits and weight-regulation behaviour, (Fairburn, C. G., & Harrison, P. J., 2003). This particular form of psychopathology, although a general term, manifests itself through several characteristics. From anorexia nervosa, characterized by excessive pursuits of weight loss and selective food restriction, to bulimia nervosa, characterized by recurrent binge eating and frequent episodes of self-induced vomiting (Fairburn & Harrison, 2003). Both types of eating disorders display psychopathology that involves a multifactorial system of biological, familial, and social variables. Understanding these variables separately as well as the interaction between them is crucial to developing an understanding of the causality of eating psychopathology (Beato-Fernández, L., Rodríguez-Cano, T., Belmonte-Llario, A., & Martínez-Delgado, C., 2004, Johnson, J. G., Cohen, P., Kasen, S., & Brook, J. S. …show more content…
Both authors emphasize the childhood adversities that put individuals at risk for eating psychopathology. However, that is as far as the results can go. Such adversities can increase an individual's likelihood of developing an eating disorder, but there is no concrete evidence to prove causation. This is supported by the reality that there are some children who show resilience to their adverse environments; even though they experience adversity at a young age, not every child displays a psychopathic disorder. This is shown through Beato-Fernández’s and Johnson’s studies; of their initial sample, every single child whose social environments were assessed didn’t not develop eating psychopathic behaviours later in life. Therefore, demonstrating that adverse social and familial variables are not the only causes of eating