Have you ever wondered what causes bulimia? How can a normal, friendly young man or woman go from healthy and seemingly happy to bulimic? Why does it happen? Whose fault is it, really? Well, unfortunately, the fault can't really be attributed to any one place in most cases, but simply the overarching message that you aren't good enough no matter what you look like. Even the most attractive people on the planet are worried that someone will pass them up in looks, or that they won't be able to stay looking good forever.
Bulimia is really a product of multiple problems. On the one hand, a person who is emotionally distraught or lacking in self-confidence might resort to bulimia. In addition, it could simply be considered the proper solution for not being as thin as they would like. Eventually, even the most attractive person might seriously consider developing an eating disorder, because the simple truth is, next to no one can attain the kind of appearance that is idolized in modern society without starving. People aren't meant to look that thin.
The need to be thin, coupled with emotional trauma, is a breeding ground for bulimia. One frequent partner paired with bulimia is compulsive overeating. Someone who is desperate for an escape might start resorting to overeating to feel better, but then feel guilty about it and go purge their bodies by throwing up, using laxatives, exercising excessively, etc. The underlying reason behind what causes bulimia is the desperate fear of gaining weight, or the intense desire to be thinner, or both.
However, when considering what causes bulimia, you should look closer than these generalizations. Genetics have been shown to play a part in how likely someone is to develop an eating disorder, and the two reasons behind this are that the person has a genetic preponderance for it, or because of the social pressure by close family members. The fact that most people purge in secret and never admit it to anyone makes it seem likely that some people are genetically predisposed to resort to eating disorders, just like some people can have one alcoholic beverage and immediately be addicted.
History has also shown that what causes bulimia is likely related to the social pressures of the time. In Victorian England, noble women were often somewhat overweight, and being plump was actually considered a desirable trait. Looking at them now from a modern lens, we might find their overindulgence to be a turn off, but in a time when most people didn't have access to a lot of food and it was a sign of wealth, success, and status, people were conditioned to find more weight attractive.
What that means for modern people is that they are conditioned to look at beauty as skinny and tall. The Twiggy lookalikes that march down the catwalk are not normal. Those women are a size zero and about six feet tall, while most women have a slightly larger waist and are generally quite a bit shorter than six feet. This doesn't make them bad inherently, but if you compare them to an idealized version of women, you can see why they would feel the pressure to resort to bulimia.
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