MacLeod (1981) states people with anorexia are notoriously difficult persons who are determined to hang on to their symptoms at all costs. This is a common view throughout the medical profession and related fields, possibly due to the ego-syntonic nature of eating disorders – the person is comfortable with the disorder and views it as consistent with their goals and wishes. »
One of the most important advancements in the understanding of eating disorders is the recognition that many of the symptoms once thought to be primary features of anorexia nervosa are actually symptoms of starvation. An experimental study, conducted and published 50 years ago by Ancel Keys and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota (Keys, Brozek, Henschel, Mickelsen & Taylor, 1950) is the best example of the wide-ranging physical, cognitive, social and behavioural effects of starvation, initially thought to be the symptoms of anorexia nervosa. The subjects of the study were 36 healthy young men who volunteered as an alternative to military service. »
Lemberg (1992) also proposes a model of development whereby a person moves from voluntary dieting through a number of stages to reach a fully entrenched eating disorder. »
There are many environmental, cultural, psychological and biological factors which combine in different ways in the development of an eating disorder. These factors can be divided into three factors, as seen below in Figure 1. »
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