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Causes of eating disorders
There are many causes of eating disorders, including biological, social, and psychological. There is considerable debate over how much each of the known causes of eating disorders contributes to the development of the eating disorder. In my book, Poisoned Love, I speculate there are many causes of eating disorders.
Physiologic causes of eating disorders: Studies suggest that genetic factors contribute to the causes of eating disorders and that anorexia shares a genetic risk with clinical depression. One study suggested that variations in the norepinephrine transporter gene promoter were associated with restrictive anorexia, but not binge-purge anorexia.
Neurobiological causes of eating disorders: A review of the scientific literature has suggested that anorexia is linked to a disturbed seretonin system, particularly to high levels at areas in the brain that are also linked to anxiety, mood and impulse control. There is evidence that both personality traits such as anxiety and perfectionism and disturbances to the seretonin system are still apparent after patients recover from anorexia, suggesting these disturbances are causal risk factors.
Nutritional causes of eating disorders: Deficiency of nutrients such as zinc, tyrosine and tryptophan (precursors to norepinephrine and seretonin), as well as vitamin B1 could contribute to the phenomenon of malnutrition-induced malnutrition.
Psychological causes of eating disorders: Although there has been a lot of research into psychological factors, there are relatively few hypotheses which attempt to explain the condition as a whole. One of the most well known findings is that people with anorexia tend to overestimate the size or fatness of their own bodies. A recent review of research in this area suggests this is not a perceptual problem, but one of how the perceptual information is evaluated by the affected person.
People with anorexia tend to have certain personality traits that are thought to predispose them to develop eating disorders. High levels of obsession, restraint, (being able o fight temptation), and clinical levels of perfectionism (the pathological pursuit of personal high standards and the need for control) are commonly reported as factors or causes of eating disorders. In my book, Poisoned Love, I speculate the causes of eating disorders were my need to control my weight because I could not control anything else in my life.
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