Eating Disorders and Social Learning Theory
Uploaded by liebermann on Oct 31, 2011
This essay discusses and defines both eating disorders and social learning theory, and how SLT might be used to help those who suffer with these diseases.
I Introduction
Eating disorders afflict millions of Americans, and they are serious, even life-threatening. They are classified as psychiatric disorders, and actually have little to do with food, but rather with underlying issues of self-esteem and other emotional states. They are a significant health concern.
This paper explores eating disorders, social learning theory, and how we might use the theory to help a sufferer develop a more positive body image.
II Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are most common in adolescents; they are found 10 times more often in girls than in boys; and though they are found in all ethnic groups, they are most common in whites who live in industrialized nations. The most common forms of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and nonspecified eating disorder. Anorexia occurs in two forms: restricting type and binge/purge type. Bulimia two is found in two forms: purging and nonpurging. (Pritts, PG).
These are very serious conditions: the risk of young women developing anorexia is 0.5 to 1 percent, but of those who develop the condition, death results in an estimated 4 to 10 percent of sufferers. (Pritts, PG). This is a considerable number of young women dying because they despise their appearance.
Statistics reveal how widespread weight concerns are in young people: “In 1999, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (7) reported that 58 percent of students in the United States had exercised to lose weight, and 40 percent of students had restricted caloric intake in an attempt to lose weight. … The distinction between normal dieting and disordered eating is based on whether the patient has a distorted body image.” (Pritts, PG).
The last three words of that sentence, “distorted body image,” give us a clue as to one of the basic concerns of those who treat this disease: the fact that sufferers are overly concerned with their appearance, which they see as undesirable, even grotesque or obese, even when their weight is within normal limits, or even too low. We can examine the influences on our young people that make them susceptible to these beliefs, and we can also see how social learning theory might be both a partial cause, and potential...