Conference paper
CAN VIOLENCE CAUSE EATING DISORDERS?
Maria Rosaria Juli
; Family Counseling Service of Foggia, Foggia, Italy
Abstract
The origin and course of eating disorders and nutrition have a multifactorial etiology and should therefore take into
consideration: psychological factors, evolutionary, biological and socio-cultural (Juli 2012). Among the psychological factors we
will focus on violence (in any form) and in particular on the consequences that they have on women, which vary in severity. Recent
studies show that women get sick more than men, both from depression and eating disorders, with a ratio of 2:1; this difference
begins in adolescence and continues throughout the course of life (Niolu 2010). The cause of this difference remains unclear. Many
studies agree that during adolescence girls have negative feelings more frequently and for a longer duration caused by stressful life
events and difficult circumstances, such as abuse or violence. This results in an increased likelihood of developing a symptom that
will be connected to eating disorders and/or depression. As far as the role of food is concerned in eating disorders, it has a symbolic
significance and offers emotional comfort. Eating means to incorporate and assimilate, and even in an ideal sense, the
characteristics of the foods become part of the individual. Feelings that lead to binges with food are normally a result of feelings
related to abuse or violence and lead to abnormal behavior which leads to binging and the final result being that the person is left
feeling guilty and ashamed. Research confirms that 30% of patients who have been diagnosed with eating disorders, especially
bulimia, have a history of sexual abuse during childhood. Ignoring the significance of this factor can result in the unleashing of this
disease as the patient uses the disorder as his expressive theater (Mencarelli 2008).
Factors that contribute to the possibility of developing an eating disorder are both the age of the patient at the time of the abuse
and the duration of the abuse. The psychological effects that follow may include dissociative symptoms and symptoms of an Eating
Disorder.
Keywords
eating disorder and violence; violence against women; consequences of violence
Hrčak ID:
264561
URI
Publication date:
8.9.2015.
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