Upbringing and eating disorders

Research in Italy indicates that early personal relationships play a key role in the development of a negative body image in women with eating disorders. The results, published in Psychosomatic Medicine, suggests that the prevention and treatment of eating disorders might be improved by a greater concentration on early separation anxiety and insecure attachment to caregivers. Dr Alfonso Troisi and colleagues say the theory of attachment, posits that early experiences shape adult personality, and that infants who are emotionally cared for “develop a model of the self as loved and valued and a model of the other as loving.” Body dissatisfaction develops in the “insecurely attached” possibly in relation to the decreased sense of self-worth and a heightened need to be accepted by others.

CNN