Eating disorders are very common nowadays. It is said that around 30-40% of teenage Americans are suffering from this dreaded condition. Eating disorders are becoming more and more the norm rather than the exception to the rule. This disease afflicts our youth. The ¡°perfect figure¡± never had such pressure as to causing eating disorders. Eating disorders are a new phenomenon. Most of the victims of eating disorders are young?aged 12 to 24 years old. What causes eating disorders? What are the most common eating disorders? What is the role of society in these eating disorders? Should we take eating disorders seriously?

Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity
The most common eating disorders are Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity. Eating disorders surface most of the time in the event of an individuals dieting. Largely psychological in nature, eating disorders threatens the health as well as the physiology of an individual affected by it.

Anorexia
Anorexia is a condition where an individual will literally starve herself to death. The cause of this can be attributed to the low self-esteem of an individual which is rooted in her physical appearance. Anorexia is a condition largely attributed to women. This eating disorder is also a psychological abnormality because an individual suffering from it more or less equates eating as a sin. The victims of this eating disorder also lack the rational ability to see her underweight problems.

Bulimia
Individuals suffering from the eating disorder bulimia, on the other hand, are into eating sprees, splurging on obsessive amounts of food. However, after their heavy consumption, bulimics purge themselves by exaggerated and forced vomiting and even using laxatives.

Obesity
Obese people are those that are overweight, having 20% or more of their ideal weight. These individuals suffer from an eating disorder mainly caused by overeating. Although obesity is not deadly in itself, it increases the risk for other more serious illnesses such as heart attacks and high blood pressure.

Eating Disorders are Just Symptoms
These eating disorders are caused by a psychological condition. These low-self esteem, inferiority complex-laden eating disorders are actually pressures that are asserted by outside forces to an individual. The lack of resiliency to pressure is one of the victims main traits. Eating, or not eating in this manner, becomes an outlet for the pressure. The pressure might be from friends who have better figures, a casual tease of classmates, a TV advertisement or peer pressure. ¡°The media plays a big role in shaping the psyche of teenagers today,¡± noted a psychoanalyst, ¡°super-models, music videos, advertisements, magazine opinions and movies?these are just some of the factors shaping a person¡¯s way of viewing things. But, in fact, these are entirely not based on reality.¡±

Eating disorders are actually beyond eating disorders per se, but those disorders are actually symptoms of other abnormalities in the individual psychology. The pressure in today¡¯s youth had radically changed from those of their predecessors. Today, in the advent of technology, pressures are coming from a larger community. Stress is felt not just from the community but also from the world.

Also, eating disorders show how the society is being pulled into an invisible trap. An individual¡¯s safety net, helping her in pressures and problems, is lost and there is no way out. Eating disorders also spring from hopelessness of individuals. This also mirrors the society¡¯s hopelessness, and this generation¡¯s cries. Thus, eating disorders are beyond JUST being eating disorders, it echoes us as a people because we are all fat.

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