In contemporary society, eating disorders present an increasing problem, which is not given enough attention. People often say it is just a current trend which means nothing serious. The society we live in strongly emphasizes thinness and a beautiful body, and people are appreciated according to their looks. Children receive such messages from the day they are born. Eating disorders are a very serious problem, the one that can jeopardize a life of an adolescent. In their case, having a bad diet is just a consequence resulting from a lot bigger problem, hidden inside their personality. Causes for the emergence of eating disorders can be found within a family environment, namely primary family, as well as social environment. Causes can also be biological or genetic.
People suffering from an eating disorder are facing severe emotional distress, which they reflect in a wrong way. The internet offers a variety of information, however, eating disorders still remain a taboo subject. There is a presence of stigma whenever we talk about eating disorders. Beside well known disorders there is an emergence of an increased number of eating disorders, which also present a big issue. In people facing an eating disorder, we often observe associative disorders, which additionally complicate their original problem. This can make a medical treatment longer and more difficult. Based on these facts, eating disorders interfere with many aspects of life, affecting the whole family, friends and peers, school, workplace, and all the environment surrounding an adolescent. More importantly, they have a strong influence on adolescents themselves. They face many physical as well as social consequences. Commonly, this is accompanied by medical issues, which makes their situation even worse.
Concluding the former facts, I have decided to present eating disorders in detail within my master’s thesis. The theoretical part consists of theoretical information, a definition of eating disorders and their forms, causes and consequences of eating disorders, an identification of accompanying disorders together with possible forms of therapy. Within the empirical part I conducted a research on Faculty of social work, where I wanted to find out to what level students are informed about eating disorders, how many students are facing the problem or have ever faced it in their past. I used a method of a questionnaire, which was distributed to 120 students of Faculty of Social Work.
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