EDs and Self-Harm in Society
Eating Disorders: ‘a range of psychological disorders characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating habits.’ E.g. Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating, EDNOS, Pica, Prader-Willi, Night Eating Syndrome, SED-NOS (Sleep-Eating Disorder), BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder), Orthorexia Nervosa, Bigorexia Nervosa, and Anorexia Athletica.
Self-Harm: ‘the deliberate non-suicidal injuring of one’s body.’
E.g. cutting, burning/scalding/branding, overdoses taken with the intent to simply harm rather than kill, bone breaking, punching/kicking walls or other objects, interfering with wound healing, scratching, biting, embedding objects in the skin, self-hitting, head banging, excessive nail biting, skin picking, and hair pulling which causes injury/bleeding.
Both Eating Disorders and Self harm are done out of pity and shame of one’s self. In most cases oneself has had a triggering past on which brings on the self-harm/eating disorder. Main factors to the trigger consist of low self-esteem, guilt, deception, and depression. Although in many situations the main trigger is actually a psychological one and consists of voices in the mind and/or an obsessive or stressful thought load. Both are seen in the media and society as bad things. But not necessarily for the right reasons.
Media:
EDs: Eating Disorders are most commonly shown in the media through the lives of models and sometimes celebrities. The media is full of young, thin, tall models that are forcibly made the idolized body image. Young girls and boys and older women and men are constantly surrounded by magazines and billboards of extremely thin people, they assume that this is what they must look like and turn to eating disorders to become this way. When celebrities are honest about their struggles and talk about their past with an eating disorder there is always a certain step-by-step reaction. At first they are dissed and mocked for their choices however if the celebrity follows the inspired path and
Self-Harm: ‘the deliberate non-suicidal injuring of one’s body.’
E.g. cutting, burning/scalding/branding, overdoses taken with the intent to simply harm rather than kill, bone breaking, punching/kicking walls or other objects, interfering with wound healing, scratching, biting, embedding objects in the skin, self-hitting, head banging, excessive nail biting, skin picking, and hair pulling which causes injury/bleeding.
Both Eating Disorders and Self harm are done out of pity and shame of one’s self. In most cases oneself has had a triggering past on which brings on the self-harm/eating disorder. Main factors to the trigger consist of low self-esteem, guilt, deception, and depression. Although in many situations the main trigger is actually a psychological one and consists of voices in the mind and/or an obsessive or stressful thought load. Both are seen in the media and society as bad things. But not necessarily for the right reasons.
Media:
EDs: Eating Disorders are most commonly shown in the media through the lives of models and sometimes celebrities. The media is full of young, thin, tall models that are forcibly made the idolized body image. Young girls and boys and older women and men are constantly surrounded by magazines and billboards of extremely thin people, they assume that this is what they must look like and turn to eating disorders to become this way. When celebrities are honest about their struggles and talk about their past with an eating disorder there is always a certain step-by-step reaction. At first they are dissed and mocked for their choices however if the celebrity follows the inspired path and