Most people in their lifetime will succumb to some type of an eating disorder, whether it be binge eating, anorexia, bulimia, NES (night eating disorder) or NRES (night- related eating disorder), it could be any of them. Many people turn to eating because they are stressed, or sometime you are too stressed to eat. No matter the case, many people will have a lifelong struggle with some type of eating disorders, or maybe even multiple ones.

There are many theories out there as to what causes an eating disorder, is it some type of mental disease or caused by media image? Well, there is no proven answer about what actually causes them, but both mental and plays a large part in an eating disorder. When people say, “Wow, he/she has anorexia, she must be insane.” That is partially true people with an eating disorder may have very low self-esteem, which can quickly escalade into a full-blown eating disorder. Many people with an eating disorder need counseling and rehab to get over what they used to see themselves as in the mirror, people with and eating disorder do have a mental issue, but they are not insane, they just need a little help. Mental image is the biggest piece of a puzzle, yes, media image does sometimes play a part in an E.D, but after a while, it doesn’t matter how others see them, all that matters is if that person’s brain believes that they are skinny, or look like a supermodel, but normally the brain is distorting the picture, making that person look fat, TO THEM. But, that distortion in the way that person sees themselves is caused by the brain. Most of the time, because of a deficiency of the vitamins in your body then causing a chemical imbalance in the brain, distorting how you can see yourself.

Many eating disorders have a mostly mental cause, such as NES (night sleeping disorder) that causes the brain to make your body sleep walk, and go eat food in their sleep. The cause of this is purely mental, Media image has nothing to do with how you see yourself, it’s that the brain is overloaded, causing it to need energy, so it goes for the highest thing in counted calories, to kind of give the mind a sugar high. Nothing has been proven that media has any effect on anything, most people look at those people in magazines and think,” She’s too skinny”, or,” He’s too buff”. But there has been proven things about a person’s mentality that has led to certain eating disorders. Anorexia can start if that person has been sexually abused in some way, so the person does not eat to make themselves look gross so that no one will be attracted to them, to push people away as a defense mechanism. Not all causes of eating disorders are because of how a person feels when they look that magazine, or television commercial. Almost all eating disorders can be caused by something besides media. Binge eating is using food to push down feelings or memories, that that person doesn’t want to feel or remember anymore. Like if someone has been physically abused, or sexually abused , of course they would love to forget those horrible memories, but since they can’t, the smother the memories in food. Bulimia can also start in different ways, such as if that person’s parents are very strict, and they aren’t allowed to do much, they may feel as if their diet is the only thing they can control in their lives. If their parents tell them to eat their dinner, so they eat it, but then vomit it all back up just to spite their parents.

Lastly, watch out for your friends, if you start to see signs that you think are going to lead to an eating disorder, not eating enough, eating too much, going to the bathroom right after eating a big meal, hidden food in their bedroom, or even hiding food and not eating it, there are so many signs to be aware of. If you ignore these signs, your friends might end up in the hospital or even dead. If that person doesn’t catch his/her eating disorder early, they could end up with heart issues, intestinal issues, weight loss, weight gain, and may even need therapy for the rest of their life.

To conclude, many eating disorders are caused by a mental issue, not media image. Don’t forget to look out for signs of an eating disorder in yourself, and even in you friends or family members. If you catch signs of an eating disorder early you could save their life. Many eating disorders are caused by being sexually or physically abused somewhere in their past. Don’t let you past haunt you, move on, and get help.