The Role of Stress in the Development of Bulimia Essay

The Role of Stress in the Development of Bulimia During the past few decades, Western culture has witnessed an enormous explosion in the number of eating disorders reported among young women. One such type of eating disorder is Butimia Nervosa. According to the DSM-IV criteria it is characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating, in which the person experiences a feeling of loss of control,and recurrent compensatory behavior in order to prevent weight gain. Both of these behaviors occur, on average, at least twice a week for three months. In addition, self-evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight. Finally, there are two subcategories of bulimia. There is the purging type in which the person regularly engages in†¦show more content†¦For example, Wolf and Crowther (1983) studied indicators of binge eating episodes among undergraduate women and found that perceptions of experiencing more stress in the past year were positively related to increased severity of binge eating. However, since stress only accou nted for 6.3% of the binges it is difficult to conclude that bulimics appraisals of the stressors were different. (Cattanach, 1988) Bulimics Coping Mechanisms for Stress Some theories suggest that butimics may experience coping deficits. Coping is generally defined as the cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage environmental and internal demands and conflicts affecting a person which exceed that persons resources. Coping responses are supposed to modify the effects of potential stressors. It may be that when. stressors act in combination with dieting, women who lack coping skills may be most vulnerable to developing bufimia (Lacey, 1986). Another study found that environmental stressors were indirectly related with bulimia, such that coping acted as the mediating variable. However, the study did not discriminate between the factors which precipitated and the factors which maintained the disorder. Therefore, further research must be done to determine whether coping is influencing bufimic episodes, whether bulimia is influencing coping responses, or if this process isShow MoreRelatedEating Disorders : Bulimia Nervosa1383 Words   |  6 PagesBulimi a Nervosa â€Å"Up to 30 million people of all ages and genders suffer from an eating disorder† (Wade, Keski- Rahkonen, Hudson, 1995). 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