Attachment Theory and Eating Disorders

According to Judy Scheel, a doctor and writer of "When Food is Family", attachment has a strong influence on an adolescent's likeliness to develop an eating disorder. When someone does not feel that they have a strong, personal bond with another individual, they may replace this need of a relationship or connection with an obsession over a certain thin celebrity or body image of their own. She also mentions that it is easier to feel bad about oneself and ones own body rather than to be angry or upset at another individual.

In another article, she discusses how attachment with parents and family members allows for the free expression of emotion, so the best way for a parent to help their child through an eating disorder is to empathize with them on their suffering.

It makes sense that if a child does not develop a strong bond with another individual, they would seek other ways of fulfilling this need of connection.  However I also believe that the media has a strong influence on the development and prominence of eating disorders.  Eating disorders are not the only way that adolescents cope with a lack of attachment.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/when-food-is-family/201111/linking-early-attachments-eating-disorders-later

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/when-food-is-family/201204/issues-in-attachment-may-contribute-eating-disorders