Causes
Eating disorders are generally viewed as being psychological in origin. However, like depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar affective disorder, they are currently believed to have many causes - including genetic and functional changes in the brain. People suffering from anorexia and bulimia have preoccupations with body image, weight, and eating. They also have a distorted personal body image and a fear of fatness and weight gain.
Although cultural factors have an influence on the development of eating disorders, they appear to stem from multiple factors. There's been a lot of debate about the role of faulty parenting and dysfunctional family environments in relation to eating disorders. Genetic and hormonal factors are believed to play significant roles; people with eating disorders are believed to have a genetic predisposition to the illness. Individuals who have a family history of depression, alcohol abuse, obesity, or eating disorders are at higher risk for anorexia nervosa and bulimia. There also appears to be a neurologic relationship between eating behavior patterns (such as dieting and starvation) and the nervous and hormonal systems, since hunger, food cravings, and feelings of fullness are controlled by certain areas of the brain and involve a number of digestive hormones.