Causes of Eating Disorders
Causes of eating disorders include a number of complex, interwoven, social, psychological and biological factors.
Eating disorders often occur as a result of deeper emotional and psychological problems, whereby controlling food intake through overeating or under eating is used as a coping mechanism for feelings such as stress, anxiety, depression, sadness, anger or other difficult emotions.
Body image distortion/negative body image and low self-esteem are strongly implicated as other causes of eating disorders.
Other causes to consider are physiological in nature. It is possible that some people have a genetic predisposition for developing eating disorders, or that eating disorders are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. It has also been suggested that dieting is a slippery slope to an eating disorder.
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