An individual who has bad eating habits, but does not meet all the conditions for anorexia or bulimia is said to have disordered eating. I think it is important for us not to think in terms of eating disorders because by the time it gets to an eating disorder, there are some physiological processes not working, McGill said. These diseases were first discovered in 1870, but did not become known by the public until the 1980s after Karen Carpenter s death, according to Joan Jacobs Brumberg, author of Fasting Girls and The Body Project. In a nutshell, women have become much more critical of their bodies and I was able to describe this psychological shift from measuring their self worth in terms of good works to good looks in my book The Body Project, and I did this by looking at girls diaries, Brumberg explained. The five factors are biological, psychological, family, social, and triggers.
Some personality types are more vulnerable to eating disorders than others.
There may be genetic predisposition for anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive. There is a strong correlation between obsessive-compulsive, social anxiety and eating disorder. People with eating disorders tend to be perfectionist. These traits are not necessarily bad, it is how you use them in life, McGill said. Anorexics see the world as black and white, and no shades of gray.