Unfortunately a couple years ago my cousin was hospitalized because of a very serious eating disorder. My mom was the first to notice It I think because I remember her coming home from a wedding shower and talking with me about how my cousin was eating the skin off of her grapes and nothing else, even though there was a beautiful spread of food. A month or two later I found out that she had been taken to the hospital after fainting in one of her classes. She had lost a significant amount of weight; anorexia nervosa had taken over her life. Fortunately today she is doing great and is completely healthy again she got help and no longer is affected by this serious disease. Eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia, are caused by a combination of factors, including genetic, psychological, cultural and environmental. There are numerous misunderstanding about what exactly is the source of eating disorders. Rarely are eating disorders only about food and the need to be skinny. The victims of these disorders use food and harmful behaviors like starving, bingeing and purging in order to help them handle devastating feelings and traumatic conditions that occur in the lives of these sufferers. In the short term these actions help release stress and unease. The long term however shows that these behaviors increase anxiety and stress as well as create other harmful affects. Some individuals actually believe that eating disorders are a choice, this is absolutely untrue, and an eating disorder is an illness that the person has no control over. An individual can not chose to have an eating disorder, it is simply not possible. Many also think that you can tell if someone has an eating disorder simply by their appearance, which is not the case. People with eating disorders can look very different they can be normal weight, underweight, and even overweight. It is not possible to diagnose an eating disorder just by looking at and evaluating the individual’s physical form. While no one thing produces an eating disorder, here are specific influences that could possibly contribute to the problem at hand: Genetics has a substantial role in eating disorder, and may predispose individuals to these unfortunate illnesses. Scientists have discovered that many eating disorders to in fact run in families. Eating disorders has a higher risk of occurring in identical twins, than fraternal twins, or other siblings. Furthermore, particular chromosomes have been connected to both bulimia as well as anorexia. Innumerable psychological aspects can contribute to and cause eating disorders. In reality, eating disorders are common in people who suffer from clinical depression, and anxiety disorders.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/eating-disorders

http://www.healthyplace.com/eating-disorders/eating-disorders-overview/the-many-causes-of-eating-disorders/