Eating disorder (ED) refers to a group of diseases characterized by abnormal eating behavior and excessive attention to food, weight and body shape. According to the different symptoms, ED can be generally divided into anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
Eating disorder is a product of western culture. As early as 1950s, the trend of taking thinness as beauty began to be popular among western aristocratic ladies. The reason is that Victorian-style European court skirts have thick waists, so slimming methods such as waist-binding and dieting came into being, and the incidence of eating disorders has also increased year by year. Eating disorder is a mental illness, which has serious harm to the healthy development of teenagers. I believe that the prevalence of eating disorders is closely related to the development of society, and the prevalence of eating disorders should be included in sociological research.
Second, the status of eating disorders in China.
Before the reform and opening up, China did not completely solve the problem of food and clothing. In addition, in the traditional culture of China, children are blessed with "fat" and loyal. Eating disorder is not a prominent problem in China, but with the development of economy and the changes of social culture, the term "eating disorder" has appeared more and more in people's field of vision in recent twenty years. 20 13 A survey of female college students in Wuhan, a city in central China, found that the incidence of eating disorders in China is comparable to that in western countries, which is considered as the most accurate assessment of the incidence of eating disorders in China.
During the period of 1988- 13 in Peking University Sixth Hospital, there were 5 patients with eating disorders1case, with an average of 3.9 cases per year. After 200 1 year, the number of inpatients with eating disorders increased rapidly, from dozens of cases per year to about 100 cases, and by 200 14 years, the number of inpatients reached 150 cases. In recent 10 years (2004-20 13 years), the number of patients with eating disorders in Shanghai Mental Health Center was 134, while in the previous 10 years (1994-2003), it was 49.
Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate among mental disorders: Steinhausen et al. (2002) reported that the average mortality rate of adult anorexia nervosa was 5%, and Treasure(2005) reported that the mortality rate of anorexia nervosa was about 5.9%. The lifetime prevalence of eating disorders is about 5%.
Third, people who are prone to eating disorders.
According to the papers published by peking university health science center in 2008, it can be divided according to age, gender, race, occupation and other dimensions. People with high incidence of eating disorders are concentrated in jobs that require strict weight, such as teenagers, women, whites and Asians, models and dancers.
Fourth, the causes of eating disorders
This part will analyze the causes of eating disorders according to the prevalence rate, influencing factors, preventive measures and some clinical cases with different characteristics.
1. Personal
(1) Genetic factors
In the genetic research of ed, the genetic factors may reach 28%~83%, and the genes affecting ED can be roughly divided into three categories, namely, emotional genes, metabolic genes and gender. In the epigenetic mechanism of ED, children's adolescent ED symptoms are related to the mother's environment, emotions and hardware conditions (mainly nutrition intake) during pregnancy and childbirth. Specifically, adverse environment, depression and lack of nutrition have negative effects on fetal epigenetics.
(2) Personality characteristics and personal experience
Through my personal experience and interviews with patients around me, I summarized the similar personality characteristics and experiences of patients with eating disorders:
First, excellent performance in life and study
Second, there are specific incentives that cause patients to be extremely dissatisfied with their body shape.
Third, they all lose weight through extreme dieting.
2. Social factors
(1) Economy: Economic development is closely related to the prevalence of eating disorders. With the prosperity of economy, more and more people's consumption types have changed from subsistence consumption to enjoyment consumption. Taking Maslow's hierarchy of needs down one by one and advancing step by step, we can find that under the influence of social culture, the hierarchy of needs with physiological needs and safety needs is related to the view that thinness is the beauty of this era. With the rise of the hierarchy of needs, the importance of body shape is gradually increasing. On the level of emotion and belonging, maintaining friendship and love does not need to be "thin". Making friends and falling in love pay more attention to the fit between personality and values, and appearance is not so important. But in terms of demand and aesthetic demand, a good appearance has advantages. There is an old saying: each other is born of the heart. Although this sentence has no scientific basis, it is undeniable that appearance conditions are very important in the cognition of ordinary people. In addition to the sense of satisfaction and superiority envied by others, the process of striving to achieve the goal will also raise people to the level of self-realization and bring people a high degree of spiritual satisfaction, which is often not brought by money.
(2) Culture: Culture can be said to be the chief culprit of the prevalence of eating disorders. The view that thinness is beauty originated in the west and mainly comes down to three factors: religion, material and politics. Let's start with religion. Religion has a high status in Europe. In Christianity, many sects advocate hard training, eating and drinking less, and starving. The Pope even listed "gluttony" as one of the seven deadly sins. Second, materials. After Europe opened a new air route, a large amount of wealth flowed into Europe, and the food and clothing needs of the poor were also met. "Fat" is no longer just the patent of the rich, and people no longer envy those who are obese. The last point is the influence of politics on aesthetics. During the French Revolution, King Louis XVI of France was the representative of obesity. The revolutionary masses associate obesity with a corrupt life, and naturally they will not regard obesity as beauty.
In addition to beauty, health is also a reason why thinness has become the mainstream. It is true that overweight and obesity are unhealthy manifestations, but the "thinness" required for health is not really "thinness", but a medium weight with a body mass index of 18.5 to 24. Under the dual effects of personal perfectionism and "fear of rebound" as well as social media and marketing hype, some dieters have gone to extremes and evolved into "eating disorders"
With the popularity of the concept of "being thin is beautiful", the weight management industry came into being: diet pills, mint health app, keep…… ........................................................................................................................................ However, according to the age distribution of eating disorders, we can see that the high incidence of eating disorders ranges from 14 to 19. This age group is generally adolescent middle school students. Their three views are not fixed, their emotions are unstable and they are greatly influenced by the outside world. However, due to the relatively little understanding of eating disorders in China, there is no relative usage guide and age limit for such apps. Some children may break through the red line of minimum weight and fall into the abyss of eating disorders.
Compared with middle school students, college students are more likely to get sick. According to the present situation of university life in China, firstly, college students have relatively light academic burden and more free time, and spend more time on Tik Tok, auto Faster and various variety shows, which will subtly cultivate a concept that "thinness is beauty" in the videos of online celebrities and various idol groups. Second, whether through part-time jobs or family support, most college students can achieve financial freedom, which provides a basis for neurotic overeating, that is, eating a lot, and then preventing obesity through laxatives and vomiting. Thirdly, except for a few day students, college students basically adopt the mode of living on campus, and parental control is difficult to touch the daily life of college students, which provides opportunities for ED.
Media plays an important role in the spread of eating disorders. The first is media content. According to past experience, boys' body shape management is not as harsh as girls'. However, in recent years, the proportion of boys suffering from eating disorders has been increasing. Considering that men tend to hide this problem, the ratio of women to men with eating disorders may be higher than 2: 1, which is related to the "feminization" of men caused by the invasion of Korean culture in recent years.
Although the proportion of men suffering from eating disorders is increasing, the overall prevalence rate of women is still higher than that of men.
Secondly, media means. Today's media means are more and more abundant, and the role of newspapers and radio is gradually weakening. Television, internet and mobile phones are extremely hot at present. The richness of media means broadens people's access to all kinds of information, and the public is subtly influenced by the concept of "thinness is beauty, and goodness is Excellence" under the propaganda of the media. However, because "losing weight" is only a way for girls to pursue beauty in the social field of vision, being healthy and thin is beneficial to people, and Mint app and keep have caused some irreparable losses within the legal scope. In addition to the development of the weight-loss industry, online celebrities in the field of small videos also attract traffic by showing off their bodies-A4 waist, backhand touching navel and putting coins on collarbone ... These "hot spots" are just gimmicks of online celebrities for grandstanding. At first, people just imitate for fun and follow the trend, but over time, people will be brainwashed and distorted, thinking that this is "good" and "excellent" and showing off.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) preventive measures
As the incidence rate is increasing year by year, eating disorders have gradually entered the public's field of vision in recent years, and the state has also taken corresponding measures, such as CCTV issuing a document to rectify the phenomenon of eating disorders broadcast, and radio and television launching a "sweeping mother" activity, which is estimated that the incidence rate of eating disorders will slow down slightly. In addition, the author puts forward the following suggestions for the prevention of eating disorders:
1. Resolutely implement the existing relevant national policies and measures and intensify the crackdown on unhealthy trends.
2. Standardize the industry standard of body management and set the lower weight limit. For app, companies are required to issue scientific guidelines and limit the applicable age.
Take Mint app as an example. Many users report that some dietitians and coaches are also eating disorders. It is necessary to strictly limit the standards of employees and prevent harmful winds from spreading.
3. Strengthen the monitoring of adolescents' mental health, and incorporate mental health including food intake into the health status of primary and secondary school students and college students. Once the bad signs are found, professionals should conduct psychological counseling in time, teachers should communicate with parents in time and take compulsory measures when necessary.
4. The state publicizes the hazards of eating disorders, and introduces policies for schools and companies to organize learning about eating disorders, so that more people can understand its hazards and serious consequences.
Conclusion of intransitive verbs
Eating disorder is one of the mental diseases with the highest mortality. However, due to the lack of attention in China, the prevalence rate is increasing year by year, and many patients who don't realize that abnormal eating behavior is a disease will eventually starve to death. But now many experts have realized the seriousness of this problem, and the country has begun to take corresponding measures. I believe that through the help of the state to change people's body shape and diet cognition, and the blessing of relevant policies, the death caused by eating disorders will be effectively controlled, and the tragedy caused by eating disorders will not repeat itself one day.