Development Of Eating Disorders Essay Example
Development Of Eating Disorders Essay Example

Development Of Eating Disorders Essay Example

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Deficits in mentalization cause the development of eating disorders. The study relied predominantly on pertinent journals, which were retrieved from pertinent databases that included Pub Med-NCBI (National Center of Biotechnology Information) and Google scholar.nHaving performed an in-depth analysis of the primary literature, the study established that deficits in mentalization result in the development of eating disorders.

The study concluded that deficits in mentalization cause eating disorders since they induce, emotional dysregulation, non-acceptance, loss of the self, and poor object relations, interoceptive awareness, and affect regulation capacities.

According to Fonagy, Bateman & Bateman (2011), mentalization is a process through which, individuals interpret and make sense of their own mental states and those of others, both implicitly and explicitly. Implicit mentalization is defined as people’s automatic and unconscious abilities to understand, and imagine their own mental states and those of others. On the other ha

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nd, explicit mentalization can be defined as people’s conscious and deliberate capacities to understand their own mental states and those of others. These mental states include beliefs, feelings, desires, reasons, and motives among many others. An individual’s ability to mentalize develops during early childhood. Fonagy et al. (2011) argue that deficits in mentalization trigger severe forms of mental disorders, and psychopathologies. These deficits mitigate an individual’s capacity of self-regulation, self-awareness, affective consciousness, mindfulness, and self-mirroring. Psychoanalytic research suggests that there is a significant correlation between the mentalization process and the development of eating pathologies. Eating disorders are characterized by the adoption of weight control and disturbed dietary behaviors, which ultimately interfere with an individual’s psychological, physical, and psychosocial functioning (Robinson et al., 2014). There are different types of eating disorders. They include bulimia nervosa, anorexia

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nervosa, and binge eating disorders. Psychoanalytic studies indicate that individuals with impaired mentalizing capacities are more susceptible to the aforementioned eating pathologies. In this regard, it is correct to presume that deficits in mentalization can trigger the development of eating disorders.

Gander, Sevecke, & Buchheim (2015), argue that deficits in mentalization trigger complex attachment issues, which play a central role in the development of eating disorders. There are two types of attachment patterns. They include secure and insecure attachment patterns. Secure attachment patterns are characterized by the provision of emotional availability and support. Secure attachment enables children to internalize external interactions and experiences. These attachment patterns trigger the development of internal working models, which in turn boost children’s abilities to anticipate and make sense of their caregivers’ responsiveness, availability, feelings, needs, and the like. Through secure attachment, children develop a sense of self- awareness and self-identity. As a result, they are able to view themselves as lovable and valuable individuals. Unlike secure attachment patterns, insecure attachment patterns are characterized by the lack of emotional availability and support. Insecure attachment mitigates children’s abilities to make sense of external experiences and interactions (Ward, Ramsay & Treasure, 2000). As a result, they are unable to make sense of other people’s mental states and responsiveness. Further, insecure attachment patterns also hinder the development of self-identity, self-concept, and self-awareness. This in turn impedes children from developing the capacities to understand their own feelings, sensations, beliefs, motives, and desires.

Gander et al. (2015) further argue that insecure attachment patterns impede the development of individual mindfulness, by hindering the development of self-identity, self-awareness, and self-concept. Mindfulness is perceived as the conscious ability to make

sense of present feelings or sensations, without making judgments on basis of past experiences. Lack of individual mindfulness triggers the impaired recognition of satiety and hunger. This in turn results in the adoption of maladaptive weight control and dietary habits, which trigger the gradual development of eating pathologies. Insecure attachment patterns trigger lower acceptance of the self and body image, by hindering the development of self-concept and self-awareness. Typically, body image refers to the manner in which people perceive their bodies. There is a significant correlation between body image and eating disorders. Dissatisfaction in bodily appearance creates the need for bodily augmentation, which is often achieved through restrictive dietary and physical exercise patterns. Overall, distorted body image triggers the adoption of disordered and maladaptive eating patterns, which increase an individual’s susceptibility to bulimia, anorexia, binge, or orthorexia eating disorders.

Gander et al. (2015) conducted a theoretical review, in an effort to ascertain the presumption that there is a correlation between attachment and the development of eating disorders. The review evaluated thirteen studies, which incorporated self report measures and eight studies which incorporated narrative instruments. After exhaustive evaluation, the researchers concluded that a significant majority of patients with eating disorders had insecure attachment patterns. In this regard, they ascertained the presupposition that deficits in mentalization contribute imperatively in the development of eating disorders.

According to Merwin, Zucker, Lacy & Elliot (2010), poor interoceptive awareness is categorized as a resultant feature of deficits in the mentalization process. The authors further argue that poor interoceptive awareness contributes imperatively in the development of severe mental disorders, including eating disorders, personality disorders, and the like. Merwin et al. (2010), indicate that interoceptive

awareness is characterized by an individual’s capacity to accept their affective and somatic experiences, and clarity, with regard to emotional responses. Deficits in mentalization trigger the lack of interoceptive awareness, which in turn triggers the lack of emotional clarity. Individuals that lack emotional clarity are often subject to emotional dysregulation. In this case, they are not able to identify, explain, and separate their bodily sensations, from their emotions. For example, individuals that lack emotional clarity may mistake anxiety for hunger or satiety. These maladaptive interpretations in turn motivate individuals to adopt disorderly eating habits, which ultimately result in the development of eating disorders. In addition to triggering the lack of emotional clarity, the lack of interoceptive awareness also triggers non-acceptance. Merwin et al. (2010), argue that non-acceptance is characterized by the development of negative and distorted body attitudes. Non-acceptance prompts individuals to alter their dietary patterns accordingly, in an attempt to improve body image. Altered dietary patterns in turn induce the adoption of disordered eating habits that ultimately trigger the development of eating disorders.

Merwin et al. (2010), further argue that individuals that lack emotional clarity find it difficult to distinguish fantasy and internal distortion, from the accurate and realistic representation of external events, due to emotional dysregualtion. Such individuals are capable of perceiving and understanding reality. However, they often opt to reject its significance and meaning (Shore & Porter, 1990). For example underweight persons may develop a compulsive obsession with obesity. In this case, despite being underweight, such individuals believe that they are over-weight. Thus, they feel compelled to lose more calories. The inability to distinguish internal distortion from accurate external events is perceived as

a deficit of mentalization. This inability may prompt underweight individuals to adopt disorderly eating habits in an attempt to lose weight. This results in the development of eating disorders.

Merwin et al. (2010) conducted an empirical evaluation, to ascertain the presumptions regarding interoceptive awareness and the development of eating disorders. The authors incorporated experimental methods, which were used to deconstruct features of interoceptive awareness, among individuals that embraced restrictive dietary habits. Based on the results, individuals embracing restrictive eating habits were subject to emotional dysregulation. In this case, they lacked the capacity to interpret and understand their emotional responses, feelings, and bodily sensations. This in turn made it difficult for them to discern feelings of hunger from feelings of satiety thus, triggering the adoption of disorderly eating habits. Further, based on the results, individuals that maintained restrictive dietary patterns lacked interoceptive awareness, which in turn prompted them to develop negative bodily attitudes. These attitudes compelled them to maintain restrictive eating habits, in an attempt to augment their body appearance.

According Mauler, Hamm, Weike & Tuschen-Caffier (2006), mentalization is a combination of interpersonal and self-reflective components. These components enable individuals to discern eternal reality from internal reality, and interpersonal relationships from emotional processes. Typically, these components contribute imperatively in the development of the self and individual agency. Mauler et al. (2006) argue that deficits in mentalization hinder affect regulation, which is perceived as the capacity to modulate and understand one’s psycho-physiological constructs (affective states). Affect regulation enables individuals to develop defenses and resistances against emotional experiences, and other factors that might inhibit normal mental functioning. Overall, affect regulation boosts people’s capacities to regulate their emotions. With regard to

the development of eating disorders, Mauler et al. (2006) argue that individuals that lack the capacity to regulate their emotions (affect regulation), are more susceptible to developing negative attitudes towards food cues, hunger and satiety sensations. For example, an individual may develop a negative attitude toward hunger sensations. In this case, the individual will be more likely to adopt unhealthy and disorderly dietary patterns, which ultimately contribute to the development of eating disorders. Likewise, an individual may develop a negative attitude towards food cues. In this case, the individual will embrace dysfunctional strategies, intended to control the overall amount of food consumed. These dysfunctional strategies in turn result in the development of eating disorders.
Mauler et al. (2006), conducted an empirical evaluation, intended to ascertain the correlation between affect regulation and the development of eating disorders. The evaluation included one hundred and fifty-six female participants. The participants were distinguished into two groups. The first group comprised of women suffering from bulimia. On the other hand, the second group was comprised of healthy and normal participants. The researchers evaluated the participants’ affective regulation capacities. After an in-depth evaluation, the researchers concluded that women suffering from bulimia depicted negative attitudes towards food cues. This attitude was regarded to as the primary causative factor of the women’s eating disorder. Women with bulimia also depicted impaired affect regulation capacities. The researchers concluded that the lack of affect regulation capacities contributed to the development of negative attitudes towards food cues. Conversely, the researchers concluded that the normal women depicted positive attitudes towards food cues. As a result, the women did not attempt to incorporate dysfunctional dietary management strategies. Thus, they were

not susceptible to bulimia. Further, the researchers also concluded that the normal women had normal affect regulation capacities. Therefore, they concluded that these capacities enabled the normal participants to develop positive attitudes towards food cues thus, hindering the development of eating disorders. Overall, individuals that lack affect regulation capacities are susceptible to eating disorders, since they lack the ability to understand, interpret, and regulate their emotional responses. In this case, they are unable to regulate and understand the negative attitudes they develop towards food cues, hunger and satiety sensations. People with impaired affect regulation capacities feel compelled to incorporate restrictive dietary patterns, in an attempt to resolve these negative attitudes. These dysfunctional dietary patterns in turn trigger the development of eating disorders.
Weinberg (2006) argues that the mentalization process is vital and imperative for the normal development of the self. Through mentalization, children acquire the capacity to internalize responses, which in turn trigger the development of self-awareness and self-identity. Typically, mentalizing enables individuals to develop a sense of self-direction and self-regulation. These factors in turn trigger the development of a sense of continuity, agency, coherence, and responsibility for individual choices and behaviors. Weinberg (2006) noted that deficits in mentalization result in the loss of the self. In this regard, individuals with impaired mentalization capacities are unable to develop a sense of self-agency, self-awareness, self-direction, self-concept, and self-identity. This in turn triggers the loss of the self. Typically, the self is perceived as the inner being, which shapes an individual’s persona and character. The loss of the self is characterized by the prioritization of the external being, and the trivialization of the inner being.

In this case, individuals

that are subjected to the loss of the self, tend to prioritize their external appearance, which is gauged on basis of weight, beauty, and the like. The loss of the self induces the development of eating disorders, by prompting individuals to shift their focus from their inner being to their external appearance. People that lose the self develop a compulsive obsession with their weight. In this case, they tend to adopt dysfunctional eating disorders accordingly, in an effort to maintain ideal weight (Weinberg, 2006). For example, over-weight individuals that lose the self may feel obliged to lose weight. Consequently, they opt to embrace unhealthy dietary strategies, which ultimately trigger the development of eating disorders.

Ruangsri (2009) argues that mentalization plays an imperative role in the establishment of human relationships. Through mentalization, individuals acquire the capacity to understand other people’s mental states thus, making it easier for them to develop human relationships. The object relations theory postulates that human beings are driven primarily by the need to establish human relationships. Ruangsri (2009) notes that deficits in mentalization trigger impaired object relation capacities. Typically, object relations refer to the internalized relationships established between significant others (objects) and the self. Object relations is characterized by the mental representation of the self in relation to the object, the object in relation to the self, and the relationship established between the self and the object. Ruangsri (2009) argues that the development of eating disorders is rooted in impaired object relations. This impairment triggers the disorganization of the self. In this case, individuals with impaired object relation capacities are less likely to self-regulate. They also lack the capacity to distinguish their desires and wants,

from those of other people. Further, they also develop the fear of breakdown. As a result, they opt to attune themselves to the wishes and wants of other individuals, in an attempt to establish relationships. Impaired object relation capacities trigger the development of eating disorders in two ways. First, individuals with poor object relation capacities lack the ability to understand and interpret their feelings, since they focus primarily on the desires and wants of other people (Heesacker & Neimeyer, 1990). As a result, they develop other means of regulating basic affects. More often than not, such individuals use their bodies as a means of regulating their basic affects. They often incorporate disorderly eating habits, in order to perfect their bodily appearances. Disorderly eating tendencies gradually result in the development of eating disorders.

Second, impaired object relations also trigger the development of eating disorders by hindering symbolization. Individuals with impaired object relations often lack the capacity to symbolize. Ruangsri (2009) argues that a child’s mother acts as the primary object. Children that fail to internalize motherly relationships often lack the capacity to symbolize or find a substitute to the primary object (the mother). With regard to eating disorders, individuals with impaired object relation capacities, tend to perceive food as the primary object, as opposed to a substitute. For example, individuals may use starvation as a way of separating themselves from the primary object. Generally, food is equated to the failed mother-child relationship. Therefore, individuals opt to starve themselves, with the intent to control the failed mother-child relations. These tendencies gradually result into the development of eating disorders.

According to Hilde Bruch, Anorexia nervosa is an expression of deficits

in the development of the psychological self. It is an eating disorder characterized by individual starving himself and excessive weight loss. There are two types of anorexia namely restricting type of anorexia whereby weight loss is achieved by avoiding all types of calories ranging from fasting, dieting, and vigorous exercises. However, in the purging type of anorexia, weight loss is acquired through vomiting or by using laxatives and diuretics. According to statistics, approximately 90-95% of individuals who suffer from this eating disorder are girls and women in early to mid-adolescence. Anorexia nervosa has proved to be the most common psychiatric diagnoses in women with the highest death rates of mental health condition. For example, in America, women between 0.5 – 1% suffer from anorexia nervosa. This disorder is contributed by various issues that affect a human body. Some of these symptoms consists of obsession with weight, fear of weight gain and persistent measures to prevent weight gain, inadequate food intake leading to loss of weight, low self-esteem leading to stress and depression which in turn results to weight loss, and inability of individuals to accept and appreciate the situation at hand. For instance, life involves various issues whereby a person can be going through hard times in life leading to the inability to cope with the situation. This, in turn, brings about loss of appetite leading to less intake of food.

According to eating disorders experts, intensive treatment improves a chance of a patient recovery. Therefore, to foster treatment, it is important to understand warning signs of anorexia nervosa. Some of the warning signs consists of, increased weight loss, denial of hunger, consistent excuses to avoid

situations concerning food, withdrawal syndrome which consist avoiding friends and usual activities, anxiety of gaining weight, refusal of eating certain types of foods, preoccupation with some types of food, dieting, and weight, Using diet pills, laxatives, or diuretics to lose weight, and involvement in compulsive exercising aimed at burning calories.

Generally, certain behaviors and attitudes regarding weight loss, dieting, and food control has become primary concern of an individual suffering from anorexia nervosa. On the other hand, since Anorexia nervosa involves self-starvation, the body is therefore denied the essential nutrients required to function properly resulting to slowing down of body processes to conserve energy. Eventually,slowing down of body processes results to serious medical consequences. Some of these consequences consists of, dehydration which can result to kidney failure, overall weakness that can lead to fatigue and even fainting, hair loss, low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, troubled family relationships, experiencing difficulties in expressing feelings, weakened muscles, reduced body density which results to brittle bones, low potassium,magnesium,and sodium, constipation and bloating, low blood pressure and abnormal slow heart rates which increases the risk of heart failure and growth of layer of hair called lanugo all over the body in an attempt to keep the body warm.

Therefore, to find the preferred Therapist Characteristics in Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa, four factors namely, acceptance, vitality, challenge, and expertise are associated with patients’ satisfaction. Therefore, Patients’ suggestion for treatment of Anorexia nervosa requires a therapist to use complex set of behaviors when interacting with their patients.
Discussion

Given an in-depth evaluation of relevant literature, it is evident that there is a significant correlation between deficits in mentalization and the development of eating disorders. Based on the

reviewed literature, deficits in mentalization trigger the development of eating disorders in various ways. Firstly, deficits in mentalization trigger eating disorders by hindering the normal development of the self. As highlighted earlier, the mentalization process enables individuals to understand their own mental states and those of others. This understanding aids the development of self-identity, self-concept, and self-awareness. These factors in turn trigger the normal development of the self. Deficits in mentalization trigger the lack of self-identity, concept and awareness thus, hindering the development of the self. Individuals that are subjected to the impaired development of the self, tend to focus primarily on their external appearances, since they trivialize their inner being (the self). In this case, they feel obliged to augment their external appearances. This motivates them to adopt unhealthy and disorderly eating patterns, in an effort to acquire ideal bodily appearances. These eating patterns gradually trigger the development of eating disorders. Secondly, deficits in mentalization induce eating disorders by hindering the development of normal affect regulation capacities. Based on the analysis of literature, affect regulation refers to an individual’s ability to regulate emotions, and other factors that impede normal mental functioning. More often than not, individuals with impaired affect regulation capacities, develop negative attitudes toward food cues, satiety, and hunger. These attitudes motivate such individuals to adopt dysfunctional eating management strategies, which result in the development of eating disorders particularly bulimia.

Thirdly, deficits in mentalization also trigger the development of eating disorders by hindering the normal development of object relations capacities. Ruangsri (2009) notes that object relations refer to people’s capacities to foster human relationships. Deficits in mentalization hinder people from understanding their own mental

states and those of others. This in turn makes it difficult for them to foster human relationships. Individuals with impaired object relations capacities are more likely to prioritize the needs and wants of other individuals, in an effort to foster human relations. As a result, they end up neglecting their wants and desires. People that lack object relations capacities may feel obliged to lose or gain weight, in order to fit in with other people and feel accepted. The obligation to lose or gain weight motivates them to adopt dysfunctional and disorderly eating habits that ultimately trigger the development of eating disorders.
Further, impaired object relations capacities also trigger eating disorders by impeding normal symbolization abilities. Object relations capacities develop during early childhood stages. The mother acts as the primary object. Individuals that are subjected to poor mother-child relationships often lack the ability to symbolize. They also develop negative attitudes toward the primary object (the mother). Such individuals tend to equate food to the primary object. In this case, they develop negative attitudes towards food, since they equate it to the primary object. The development of these negative attitudes is linked to the lack of proper symbolization capacities. As opposed to viewing food as a substitute to the primary object, individuals view it as the primary object. These attitudes motivate them to adopt dysfunctional eating habits, which induce eating pathologies.

Fourthly, deficits in mentalization also trigger the development of eating pathologies by impeding the normal development of interoceptive awareness capacities. These capacities make it easier for individuals to understand and interpret their emotional responses, feelings, desires, and wants accurately. Poor interoceptive awareness triggers emotional dysregulation, which is

characterized by the lack of emotional clarity. People that lack emotional clarity are more susceptible to developing eating disorders. They are often unable to discern hunger and satiety, from other emotions such as anxiety or fear. In this case, they may mistake satiety for fear. Thus, they may feel obliged to alter their dietary patterns accordingly. These alterations result in the incorporation of disordered dietary patterns, which in turn induce the development of eating disorders. Fifthly, deficits in mentalization also trigger the development of eating disorders by hindering the development of individual mindfulness. Typically, mindfulness is perceived as the ability to interpret and understand one’s feelings accurately, without making judgments on basis of previous encounters. Individuals that lack mindfulness are more susceptible to developing eating disorders, since they find it difficult to understand hunger and satiety sensations. These maladaptive interpretations of emotional feelings and bodily sensations trigger the adoption of disorderly eating habits, which in turn induce the development of eating disorders.

A significant majority of the primary literature indicate that affect regulation, loss of the self, insecure attachment, non-acceptance, emotional dysregulation, and lack of interoceptive awareness, object relations, and symbolization capacities, are among the primary causes of eating disorders. However, factors such as genetic makeup have also been classified among primary triggers of eating disorders. Skårderud (2013) argues that eating disorders are also rooted in people’s genetic make-up. People born with certain genotypes such as the FTO genes are more susceptible to developing eating disorders. The FTO gene encodes the alpha-ketoglutarate protein also known as the obesity and fat mass protein. Individuals that have the FTO gene have the GG and GA genotypes (Helder &

Collier, 2010). These genotypes increase their susceptibility to eating disorders.

According to evidence, the way in which treatment is administered is critical to therapeutic change. Conversely, the understanding of the four factors will promote overall treatment of patients suffering from Anorexia nervosa by guiding clinicians and doctors on how to develop a strong therapeutic alliance with individuals suffering from this eating disorder. On the other hand, having knowledge of the above factors will promote increased knowledge of this disorder, the challenges and difficulties that this population faces the causes and effects of this eating disorder, measures that can be mitigated to curb this problem, and how treatment can be administered and achieved.

Anorexia nervosa is a mental condition mostly associated with a high risk of premature deaths in many young men and women (Smith,1999). This disorder is difficult to treat since many AN-patients tend to posses great positive value to the signs and symptoms they are experiencing with the assumption that their bodies are functioning normally and that they are not sick. However, some of patients with this disorder are said to be biological whereby they inherited them from their family members thus proving hard to treat them. Therefore, to help AN-patients recover from this disorder, a therapeutic environment matching patient’s preferences must be developed to provide a platform for clinicians to administer treatment effectively without difficulties. This will be achieved only when the clinicians and doctors acquire knowledge of how their treatment satisfies or dissatisfy their AN-patients since satisfaction with treatment is closely associated with how treatment was administered.

According to many studies related to treatment of eating disorders, patients emphasize on good relationship with the therapist so

as to create a friendly environment that will promote the patient to express their feelings and talk about their way of life in terms of food. Mostly, AN-patients associate positive treatment with a therapist who is understanding, supportive, trustworthy, respectful, caring, and affectionate. This, in turn, will promote easy treatment since a patient will be able to talk of what they want and their expectations. On the other hand, patients associate negative experiences with a therapist who lacks validation, not caring, and neglect patient feelings. Therefore, to meet the preferred therapist characteristics in treatment of Anorexia nervosa, a therapist ought to incorporate positive AN-patient treatment so as to curb the increased number of individuals suffering from this eating disorder. Conversely, eating disorders are closely related with personality disorders whereby many AN-patients finds it difficult to get treatment for anorexia since it is not an easy choice to make and they find it hard to accept that anorexia is part of their identity.

However, it is possible to fight and recover from anorexia by employing various factors that will promote AN-patients satisfaction. For example, in case of acceptance as a factor of AN-patients satisfaction, a patient ought to admit that his/her pursuit of thinness is out of his/her control and should acknowledge the physical and emotional damage that he/she has suffered in an attempt to lose weight. A patient admitting that he has a problem of losing weight will help him/her forego all the activities and situations that have been contributing to eating disorders. Eventually, the patient will end up accepting his current situation and work hard towards recovering from this ailment.

On the other hand, patients ought

to understand vitality as a factor that promotes satisfaction resulting to good health. When AN- patient embrace vitality in his/her life, there is a chance to live well, grow and develop physically thus a chance to cope with eating disorders that contribute to mental problems.Eventually,a patient will work hard to see to it that he adapts good eating habits that will promote good health.However,in case of challenge as a factor affecting patient satisfaction, a patient ought to challenge the damaging mindsets by identifying the destructive thoughts such as emotional reasoning whereby believing that feeling a certain way is true, labeling oneself based on past mistakes, holding oneself to rigid set of rules of either eating a certain amount of food or not eating at all. When a patient identifies the negative thoughts it is easier for them to develop a balanced perspective that will help them recover from eating disorders.

On the other hand, in case of expertise as a factor that affect patient satisfaction, a patient ought to seek advice from a health professional on how to deal with the situation and the nutritionist can help in developing a healthy meal plan including enough calories that can help get to a normal weight. Conversely, a patient can recover from anorexia by getting back in touch with their internal bodies so that they can eat based on their physiological needs. Additionally, they should allow themselves to eat all types of foods instead of putting certain food off limits and they should pay attention of how they feel physically after eating different foods what one eats should leave them feeling satisfied and energized.

Additionally, patients talking to people

who have lived with this disorder before can help deal with the situation by being honest with their feelings and fears. Eventually, they will be at a position to work hard and embrace change since they have evidence that there were some people before who had the same problem but they recovered. Conversely, talking to family members can be of great help since they understand the patient better and can assist him/her to deal with his condition.

Personality disorders have proved to be present in a large number of individuals with eating disorders (Cloninger, 1999).Personality disorders are prevalent in individuals with anorexia nervosa, restricting type; anorexia nervosa, binge-eating purging type; and bulimia nervosa (Berman, 2009).According to research, the most common personality disorder in anorexia, restricting type, was obsessive compulsive personality disorder with prevalence rate of 22 percent. For binge-eating purging type, common personality disorder was borderline personality disorder with a prevalence rate of 25 percent.Lastly, most common personality disorder in bulimia nervosa was borderline personality disorder with prevalence rate of 28 percent (Swain, 2006). Overall, these rates are considered to be higher than overall rate of personality disorders in general population which is about 5 to 10 percent. On the other hand, the relationship between personality disorders and eating disorders is the fact that these disorders are said to be recognized during adolescence or early adult life. In development, inherited characteristics are believed to be the raw antecedents of subsequent personality disorders. Temperamental characteristics are influenced and shaped by various factors such as caretaking style and life stressors.Therefore, the root of personality disorders is said to consist of genetic influences and early life experiences. Meaning that personality

disorders precede the development of eating disorders.

Based on the evaluation, it is apparent that deficits in mentalization cause eating disorders. Mentalization aids the development of the self. It also makes it easier for individuals to understand their mental states and those of others. Deficits in mentalization hinder the development of the self. They also hinder the accurate understanding and interpretation of mental states. In this case, these deficits induce the lack of object relations capacities, interoceptive awareness abilities, emotional clarity, affect regulation, mindfulness, self-identity, concept, and direction. Individuals that lack the aforementioned factors are more susceptible to developing eating disorders, since they are unable to discern sensations of hunger and satiety, from other emotions. They are also susceptible to eating disorders since they trivialize the self and prioritize external appearance. Further, they also lack the capacity to symbolize and regulate their emotions. This also makes them susceptible to eating disorders. Further research should be conducted to evaluate the correlation between mentalization and the development of eating disorders. The research will not only provide an extensive understanding of the relationship between mentalization and eating disorders, it will also inform treatment strategies for eating disorders.

Collectively, based on Preferred Therapist Characteristics in Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa, a AN-patient is the only solution to recover from this disorder since treating a AN-patients have proved difficult and challenging since not many patients are willing to openly express their feelings by talking of how they feel or want. A remedy to recover from Anorexia nervosa is for the patient to accept his situation and work hard towards bettering his life by developing a healthier relationship with food by eating more food,

changing how they think about themselves and food, and striving hard to get back to a healthy weight.Additionally, AN-patient can seek advice from nutritionist and other professional experts on how to deal with their situations and get back to a normal life. On the other hand, AN-patients can open up to their friends and families on how they are feeling and want since they are the closest people that can help them deal with their situation.Alternatively, AN-patients can fight eating disorders by accepting who they are without considering how people are saying about them in terms of health and physical appearance. Overall, to curb this menace, every individual ought to adapt the right lifestyle by eating the right amount of food at the right time to avoid weight loss. In addition, people ought to make an attempt to visit nutritionist and other health professions to gain an insight on food practices and consumption to avoid problems that are brought up self-starvation or excess intake of food.

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