If a person is deprived of support once confronted with violence or bereavement, he or she risks becoming a victim of an eating disorder.
For some people, even small changes like changing schools or apartment, sometimes, lead to the development of bulimia, according to a study at the University of Minnesota.
A group of scientists led by Jericho M. Burge interviewed people aged 17-64 who were treated for eating disorders during 20 years in average. Many respondents talked about the challenges faced when going to high school, leaving home, going to college, and missing family and friends.
For example, it was so psychologically difficult for one woman to go to college that she always felt a sense of loneliness. In the end, she simply stopped eating.
Many are accustomed to receive a daily dose of care and affection at home. Once alone with the world, not everyone is able to survive. Some are influenced by breaking up with a partner, others – by the parents’ divorce, the emergence of new people in the parents’ lives who they paid much attention to. People also do not know how to deal with the loss of a close person.
A patient’s sister died when she was five years old. No one talked to her about it. And she began to fill the gap with food. Another one lost her mother and found herself in a situation of complete freedom without emotional support. As a result, she just lost control, Burge says.
