Special Education

In the broadest sense, the term “eating disorder” can refer to any destructive or self-defeating pattern of eating behaviour. Typically, students with eating disorders are preoccupied with food, weight and their personal body image. It is important, however, to distinguish eating disorders from other eating-related problems.

Eating disorders are complex and their causes are not well understood. A number of factors contribute to the onset of eating disorders: genetics, family relationships, trauma and individual cognitive styles. Since eating disorders most often arise during adolescence, there may be some developmental triggers as well. In general, students with eating disorders experience depression or low self-esteem and relate these problems to their body image. Disordered eating may be seen as an attempt to create, or regain, a feeling of control when the rest of life seems out of control. Often for these individuals eating, or not eating, is how they attempt to communicate their needs and to cope with high stress levels. This behaviour is supported and maintained by the individual’s skewed system of logic. For many, it becomes a vicious circle, as the physical consequences of malnutrition or overeating undermine their already fragile self-concept.

One of the most life-threatening eating disorders, anorexia nervosa, can be illustrated as shown below.

The potential for escalation into a cycle of self-abuse is common to all eating disorders due to the effect on perception, thinking, mood and behaviour. Eating behaviours may move along a continuum of severity, from normal eating to the actual onset of bulimia or anorexia. Recent research indicates that as the disturbance in normal eating patterns becomes more extreme, so does the individual’s sense of body dissatisfaction, interpersonal distrust, fear of maturing and inability to regulate impulsive behaviour. The person with an eating disorder develops patterns of self-control or self-denial that are extreme. It is also important, however, to know that an individual does not have to progress through all or any eating styles prior to developing an eating disorder. The continuum of eating behaviours is further illustrated in Appendix A.

From “Eating disorders: a continuum,” by J. Marchuk, notes from a presentation to the Alberta Teachers’ Association Guidance Specialist Council, Annual Conference, Banff, Alberta, November 6–8, 1997.

Typically, students with eating disorders are preoccupied with food, weight and their personal body image.