What is an Eating Disorder?

Eating disorders affect an alarming number of individuals worldwide. These disorders are continuing to become more prevalent in our society and are claiming the lives of many young adults each year. Whether it be anorexia nervosa, bulimia, or binge eating, each disorder presents a wide variety of potentially fatal risks.  These highly dangerous disorders affect individuals of all races, nationalities, ages and genders and claim .

An eating disorder may be defined as:

"Any of several psychological disorders characterized by serious disturbances of eating behavior."
 
It occurs when "a person eats or refuses to eat in an attempt to satisfy a psychological need rather than a physical need."

This is a sociological issue because many women are striving to have a "perfect body" in which society tells women they should have. The perfect body that people are striving for, is causing women to engage in life threatening behavior. The media tells us that in order to be desired, we must be thin. This is definitely a social problem because women are pushed into developing eating disorders in order to live up to society's expectations.

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