Is anorexia REALLY caused by the media?

In my AP Psych class, the teacher was saying that anorexia usually effects females and is caused by social media. Honestly, though, I don't think the "cause" is true. That's not true for me. I think it's different for everyone.

When I was talking to my mom about this, she was telling me that I'm wrong.

I think it's interesting how people who have not had anorexia or bulimia are trying to tell me what the cause of it is.

I agree with you. I dont think the media causes Anorexia. At least not for me. I not anorexic, I think I am Ednos, but I havent been diagnosed. But in my opinion it can put fuel on the fire. It can be triggering at times, but I don't think it is the cause of it. They are just trying to blame it on something concrete that they can see rather than what is going on in our minds.

I don't believe any anorexia is caused by social media at all. It's been around as a condition before the advent of media. While it can be a trigger or "thinsporation", I don't see it as a cause. There has to be some problems that exist beforehand.

Then again, my AP Psych teacher isn't exactly the smartest when it comes to disorders though. He was trying to say that DID is not multiple personalities and that PTSD is only caused by being in a war, it cannot be caused by your parents or being jumped on the street or anything like that (which I know is crap.)

But I agree. I don't think anorexia is caused by social media because it's been around before the.

I don't think so. I grew up without any form of media in my life and developed it anyway.

I actually find pictures of girls who are anorexic disturbing, which is weird because I have an unhealthy body image for myself. I feel really sad when I see this girl who works close to where I live who has anorexia, feel really sad for her and wish I could do/say something, but I know it would have been the same for others who knew me when I was at my lower weights. I still have people give me a hard time even now when I'm closer to what I should be in weight, and so many people say, "You need to eat more!" all the time. So yeah, I don't think the media has caused me to be anorexic in any shape or form.

Maybe it's because of media that people actually know about it these days. In the past it wasn't talked about, there were many cases, as evidenced by mental institutions having many people with anorexia, and there are some good documentaries/movies on homes for "wayward girls" from 50+ years ago where many of the girls developed anorexia whilst having no media influence.

I get so tired of hearing people say this mental health issue/disease is on the increase, when in the past many things were just not known about/taboo to talk about/crazified (so anyone with the problem wouldn't talk about it).

Also, as the population increases, so do certain conditions. It's like with homicide, although population is on the increase (albeit slowly) in western countries, the actual rate of homicides has been gradually dropping since 2002 in western countries. But media and the general populace love to say (and say it all the time) that it's on the increase and worse than ever. It's not worse than ever, it's just that there are more people now than ever before, but saying that, homicide is actually on the decrease.

Same with people claiming that violent media viewing is responsible for homicide, when in fact studies have shown that populaces who watch more media, and more violent media have less homicide in part because people are spending more time watching television and less time to get into fights.

And yes, I know weird analogies, but I studied this stuff at uni, was quite fascinating.

I don't think its caused by the media, although the currant ridiculous obsession with stick thin air brushed models certainly does not help.
It creates a totally unrealistic image of how we should look.
I think its caused by narcissistic parents, who control, invalidate, ridicule, criticize, engulf/ignore and shame.
Eating becomes one of the few things left that the person can control, the thin body representing a starving soul. The nourishment needed is unconditional love.
Just my opinion, am I wrong?

I know for me media had nothing to do with me developing anorexia. I don't understand why people think that.

Greatexpectations wrote:Eating becomes one of the few things left that the person can control, the thin body representing a starving soul. The nourishment needed is unconditional love.
Just my opinion, am I wrong?

I can relate to that alot.

A lot of people like to point to the media as a simple cause of eating disorders, but I don't find this true at all in my situation.

A combination of my perfectionism, competitiveness, beautifully skinny sister, and need for control lead to my ED. My family and their unknowingly [I hope] harmful comments also played a large part.

Media can be a trigger for anorexia. It certainly is a trigger for mine! But for me, it wasn't the cause. There has to be underlying problems.