Assessment Report: Eating Behaviour in Mental Health (IMH402)

This report presents an in-depth analysis of an eating disorder case study, focusing on a 22-year-old female named Lauren who developed anorexia nervosa following the death of her boyfriend. The report examines the symptoms, including excessive exercise, restrictive eating habits, and social withdrawal, and explores the importance of the scenario in understanding the psychological and physical impacts of anorexia. It highlights the significance of recognizing distorted body image and the fear of weight gain. The report further discusses the patient's condition and its implications. Strategies to improve the condition are proposed, including psychosocial approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), family-based therapy (FBT), and nutritional interventions. The conclusion emphasizes the crucial impact of eating disorders on both physical and mental health, stressing the need for comprehensive treatment and support. The report aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the eating disorder and its management.

Running head: EATING BEHAVIOUR
Eating Behaviour
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1EATING BEHAVIOUR
Introduction
The term eating disorder refers to the serious and fatal illness which is associated with
the serious disturbances in the eating behaviours of the individuals. Moreover, the thoughts
and emotions of the individual is disturbed as well. In most of the cases, it is stated that,
anorexia nervosa is the most common eating disorders and this mental health problem can
occur any stage of the life as well. However, in various studies, it is depicted that there are
various type of eating disorders and they are mainly anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge
eating disorder (Meany, Conceição & Mitchell, 2014). The eating disorder, anorexia nervosa
refers to the obsessive fear of gaining weight and along with this, the individual may face an
unrealistic perception of body images during observing himself or herself in front of mirror.
On the other hand, the Bulimia Nervosa refers to the behaviour of repeated binge eating
behaviour which compensate the overeating such as excessive exercise, forced vomiting, or
extreme use of diuretics or laxatives. In this type of eating disorders, men and women may
feel unhappy and with their body size and body shape. There is another type of eating
disorder named Binge Eating Disorder and in this type of eating disorder the individual will
lose control over his or her eating practice. According to the study of Meany, Conceição and
Mitchell, (2014), it is reported that, in some cases the persons who is suffering from Eating
disorders may have the obesity and may have the chances of developing the cardiovascular
disease.
Case Scenario
The case study discusses about the problem of Lauren who is a 22 year old female and
her boyfriend suddenly died due to brain aneurism. After this incident, Lauren shed a lot of
tears and then she took oath to be strong. However, she was recommended to consult a
psychiatrist and she denied to go. After this situation, the problem of Eating disorder was

2EATING BEHAVIOUR
assumed to start and at that time of death of her boyfriend she was 50 kg and she lost 8
kilogram of her bodyweight before the 21st birthday of herself. After that mishap, Lauren
tried to maintain the usual flow of her life and started to live a healthy life style and practiced
good eating habit as well. Along with this, Lauren also started to perform physical exercises
and her family members started to appraise her for her good looking. Therefore, Lauren
believed that, those changes in her body was only due to the stress condition of her body.
However, she enjoyed this condition and wanted to get attention for her positive behaviours
and this condition had promoted her to perform exercises. As a result of this, the exercise
regimen of Lauren has enhanced greatly and after that she always looked for a good meal
comprised of healthy nutrients. Therefore, sometimes Lauren showed unusual behaviour of
beating herself if she missed her exercise in the morning time and apart from that she
enhanced her exercise regimen in the evening. In order to make herself in a good condition
sometimes she skipped her lunch as well. During the afternoon, she sometimes became
agitated for foods while chatting with her mother and therefore it can be stated that it is one
of the symptoms of the eating disorder. Every night she just took steamed vegetable as dinner
and strictly follow all the information from the food magazine that she read. Being obsessed
with the physical structure of herself, she removed cheese, milk, alcohol, breads, sweets and
other carbohydrate resources from her diet in order to lose more weight. As a one of the
primary symptoms of the eating behaviour, Lauren started to make excuses for not to meet
with her friends for having lunch or dinner. Therefore, she met with her friend only for
coffee and in such cases Lauren ensured that she would consume less amount of foods and
simultaneously enhance the exercise. By following this routine, Lauren lost again 7 kilograms
weight within 6 months. Therefore, the weight loss of Lauren encouraged the relatives to
pass negative comment on her and as a result Lauren became more self-conscious and along
with this, condition of Lauren’s physical health also started to decline. She became paranoid

3EATING BEHAVIOUR
and all of the time, she thought about all the negative comment passed to her by their
relatives and she became more destructive due to this condition. The drastic fall in the body
weight of Lauren made her family members worried and while speaking with the doctors, it
is reported that she was aware of her condition and she did not want to gain weight as well.
The body language of Lauren became very negative and she was specifically agitated towards
her aunt who was telling her to eat continuously. As a part of the social withdrawal
behaviour, except her best friend, all of the friends left Lauren. During the assessment of
Lauren, one of the gastroenterologist reported that, Lauren had anorexia.
Importance of the Scenario
The scenario depicts a condition of anorexia, which is a psychological and life
threatening eating disorder and people with this disease suffers from a low body weight
relative to their body type and height. People with this disease are needed to be provided with
treatment by assessing the appropriateness of the body weight according their physical
features and by observing their exercise schedule and eating patterns. People who are
struggling with anorexia fears to gain weight and have a distorted and inappropriate body
image. They believe to appear heavier than they are in real. According to the study of Kelly,
Carter and Borairi (2014), it is reported that the issue of consciousness related to weight
management and involvement in too much physical exercise to maintain an attractive body
weight are the symptoms of the disease. Although, she receives a lot of good compliments
from her friends and others but, her condition seemed to be deteriorating progressively with
time and later diagnosed with a condition, anoxia, with a deteriorating physical and mental
health. Another study by Braun, Park and Gorin (2016), reported that social isolation which
was initiated by the patient only to avoid the consumption of unhealthy food that the patient
did not want to take is another symptoms of the disease. Therefore, she excluded herself from
her friends as well to prevent herself from consuming those foods that will be unhealthy for

4EATING BEHAVIOUR
her and which will affect her health and weight. She controlled her craving for foods which
indicated that she was strictly maintaining her weight and conscious about her action
regarding her appearance. She was flattered and enjoyed the compliments received from her
close ones regarding her health that motivated her to involve in exercise and even tortured
herself whenever she could not follow up with the exercise routine or failed to accomplish
her plans regarding physical exercise. A study by Keel, Pamela and Forney (2013), identified
that personal factors like perfectionism and negative emotionality contributes to the condition
of eating disorders by increasing its susceptibility by selecting the peer environment. In
adolescents and adults who are in the age group of Lauren are more susceptible to represent
themselves in front of their peers that influences risk (Keel, Pamela & Forney, 2013).Lauren
was obsessed with calories and fat intake from food which is a symptom of the eating
disorder.
A common misconception held regarding this disorder is that it is a lifestyle choice.
Eating disorder is a severe and fatal illness characterised by serious distances in the eating
behaviours, related behaviour, mind-set and thoughts of the individuals. Some of the risk
factors triggering this this disorder are preoccupation with food, overweight and shape
(Nimh.nih.gov, 2019). Studies have shown that psychological and social disturbances are
linked with eating disorders. Sociocultural influence has also been reported to have
implicated in the eating disorder and associated with the disordered behaviour (Campbell &
Peebles, 2014). It has been found that people in this age group like Lauren have dieting
concerns and shows prevalence of eating disorders.
As weight loss progresses with time, thinness becomes a goal and the person gives
attention to the body, size and appearance. Evidences have also shown that with the course of
this disorder, weight loss is socially reinforced and the person suffering from this disorder
continues on losing weight till they are diagnosed with severe complications.

5EATING BEHAVIOUR
People of all age groups can be affected by this disorder irrespective of the racial or
ethnic backgrounds, gender, body weights. However, rates are higher among woman when
compared to the men. Studies have suggested that eating disorders are caused by the
contribution of a complex mechanism of biological, genetic, social and psychological factors
(Nimh.nih.gov, 2019).
Strategies to Improve the Condition
From the case scenario, it is stated that, the patient Lauren had the issue of anger and
social withdrawal behaviour. Along with this, she also stopped to eating and suddenly faced
poor health condition as well. She started to show negative behaviour and became more self-
conscious due to this condition. For improving the condition of social withdrawal of Lauren,
a psychosocial approach treatment can be recommended. According to the study of Larsen et
al. (2015), it is depicted that, eating disorder is highly correlated with the family and
sociocultural factors. From the analysis of this research, it is reported that for the
improvement of the conditions like body image, psychiatric comorbidity, cognitive distortion,
psychosocial functioning associated with eating disorders can be improved by using the
cognitive behavioural approach. Along with this, it is also reported in the study of
Tregarthen, Lock and Darcy (2015), that while providing care to the eating disorder patients,
the nurses must use patient centred care. Apart from the cognitive behavioural approach,
another intervention that may be effective for the improvement of the eating disorder is
family based therapy (FBT) and self-help manuals. According to the study of Leonidas and
dos Santos (2014), it is stated that, the use of FBT is very effective in the improvement of the
eating disorder condition of the adolescent patients. In this systematic review study it is
observed that, the improvement of family support in case of a particular patients will help in
the improvement of the health condition of the eating disorder patients. This study also
reported that, apart from the family support to the patient, social support to the patients is also

6EATING BEHAVIOUR
very crucial for improving the condition of eating disorders. Along with this psychotherapies,
the health care professionals must consider the nutritional interventions for the patients as
well. As a part of this, the health care professional must develop a meal time routine for the
patient and it is strictly followed by the patients (Larsen et al., 2015). In case of Lauren, this
intervention must be followed as from the case study, it is observed that, Lauren had reduced
her weight in a drastic manner and so it is very crucial to improve the health condition of
Lauren. Along with this, Lauren also must be encouraged to take adequate foods at proper
time without skipping the lunch or dinner. Moreover, the health care professional must
consider the exercise practice of the patients and the new exercise plan must be followed by
Lauren.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that, the issue of eating disorder is one of the crucial
problem for adults and adolescents. Therefore, it can be said that this problem is affecting the
physical health condition along with the mental health condition of the patients. In the case of
Lauren, the scenario of eating disorder has made the physical health condition of the patient
very difficult. Along with this, her social life is also distorted due to her withdrawal
behaviour. As a part of this, she started to refuse her friends to meet with them. In order to
improve her condition, various interventions such as cognitive behavioural therapy, family
based therapy, social support intervention can be recommended. As, Lauren had faced
difficulties in having support from her family so the family support therapy will be very
effective for Lauren.

7EATING BEHAVIOUR
References
Braun, T. D., Park, C. L., & Gorin, A. (2016). Self-compassion, body image, and disordered
eating: A review of the literature. Body image, 17, 117-131.
Brownley, K. A., Berkman, N. D., Peat, C. M., Lohr, K. N., Cullen, K. E., Bann, C. M., &
Bulik, C. M. (2016). Binge-eating disorder in adults: a systematic review and meta-
analysis. Annals of Internal Medicine, 165(6), 409-420.
Campbell, K., & Peebles, R. (2014). Eating disorders in children and adolescents: state of the
art review. Pediatrics, 134(3), 582-592.
Costa, M. B., & Melnik, T. (2016). Effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in eating
disorders: an overview of Cochrane systematic reviews. Einstein (Sao Paulo), 14(2), 235-
277.
Keel, P. K., & Forney, K. J. (2013). Psychosocial risk factors for eating disorders.
International Journal of Eating Disorders, 46(5), 433-439.
Kelly, A. C., Carter, J. C., & Borairi, S. (2014). Are improvements in shame and self‐
compassion early in eating disorders treatment associated with better patient
outcomes?. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 47(1), 54-64.
Larsen, J. K., Hermans, R. C., Sleddens, E. F., Engels, R. C., Fisher, J. O., & Kremers, S. P.
(2015). How parental dietary behavior and food parenting practices affect children's
dietary behavior. Interacting sources of influence?. Appetite, 89, 246-257.
Leonidas, C., & dos Santos, M. A. (2014). Social support networks and eating disorders: An
integrative review of the literature. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 10, 915.

8EATING BEHAVIOUR
Meany, G., Conceição, E., & Mitchell, J. E. (2014). Binge eating, binge eating disorder and
loss of control eating: effects on weight outcomes after bariatric surgery. European
Eating Disorders Review, 22(2), 87-91.
Nimh.nih.gov. (2019). NIMH » Eating Disorders. Retrieved 31 August 2019, from
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/eating-disorders/index.shtml
Pisetsky, E. M., Utzinger, L. M., & Peterson, C. B. (2016). Incorporating social support in the
treatment of anorexia nervosa: Special considerations for older adolescents and young
adults. Cognitive and behavioral practice, 23(3), 316-328.
Tregarthen, J. P., Lock, J., & Darcy, A. M. (2015). Development of a smartphone application
for eating disorder self‐monitoring. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 48(7),
972-982.