Symptoms Of Eating Disorders, Sexually Abused

When Eating Disorders Are A Symptom

Although more girls and women have eating disorders than people in any other group, eating disorders can strike anyone regardless of their age, their gender, or any other classification. The common factor present in the majority of cases of eating disorders is that the person, usually without thought to the matter, substitutes the subject of food for everything else in his or her life over which he has or feels no control.

In this aspect, what could be termed underlying causes usually fits into either of two categories. You will find many people who suffer from eating disorders attempting to use food and their intake thereof to compensate for the circumstances of their current lives. This includes such situations as a youngster who either is or feels extremely neglected, a woman who is being abused by her spouse or partner, individuals who feel that their lives are in the hands of other people rather than themselves, and any number of variations which lead the person to feel that the only thing within her range of control is when, what, and how much she eats.

You will also find that many people who suffer from eating disorders have been sexually abused. The eating disorder gives such a person the feeling that she is no longer powerless. In many cases, a person who has been sexually abused will use her newly-unattractive body as an unconscious defense over being victimized again, feeling that no one will harm her because she is now grotesquely skinny or grotesquely obese.

When you take these factors into consideration, it should be easy to understand that not only is an eating disorder very little about food, but rather unmet or unresolved feelings and needs. Simply expecting or demanding that the person adhere to a healthy manner of eating will be of no real help; the only means of true help for an eating disorder is to assist the person in coming to terms with whatever psychological problems or life problems have generated the condition in the first place.

In other words, getting a good meal into the person will accomplish nothing, but helping her to regain her personal strength and self-image will accomplish very much.