Eating disorders are conditions that affect psychological health for a large number of men and young
women. When designing programs for high-risk people, it has been reasoned that it is significant to
recognise precise risk and protective factors for the development of disturbed eating. traits like
perfectionism, drive for thinness, ineffectiveness and interpersonal distrust have been proposed as
inclining factors for the development of eating disorders. (gustafsson et al 2010).
- The definition of perfectionism is the need to be or appear to be perfect, or even to believe
that it’s possible to achieve perfection. Perfectionism can be present in every aspect of life,
someone may be a perfectionist in just one part of their life, for example work.
- Adaptive perfectionism is setting personally demanding goals and trying to achieve can be
positive for the individual. Maladaptive perfectionism is someone’s pursuit of their very high
standards despite negative consequences.
Hewitt and Flett’s Multidimensional Model (1991)
three dimensions- self-oriented perfectionism: a tendency to set demanding standards for oneself
and to stringently evaluate and criticize one’s own behaviour
oriented perfectionism: the tendency to set demanding standards for others and to stringently
evaluate and criticize the behaviour of others
socially prescribed perfectionism: the belief that significant others have unrealistic expectations, and
that it is important to meet the high standards of others
Distal Risk Factors - Environmental Context: temperamental (fear/distress), parental, and
environmental factors. This leads to Proximal Risk Factors such as Perfectionism which then leads to
eating disorders.
perfectionism can lead to an eating disorder because of wanting to go to extreme levels of feeling
and looking perfect if you are a perfectionist. For example, a study I found had 100 university
voluntary students were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions, that is, a high
Personal Standards condition, a condition combining Personal Standards perfectionism and
Evaluative Concerns perfectionism, and a non-perfectionist condition. the results suggest that
perfectionism can be induced in people irrespective of their levels of trait perfectionism and that
perfectionism represents a causal risk factor for ED pathology. (Boone at all 2012)
studies show that CBT and mindfulness can help people recover from eating disorders because it is
the kind of therapy that tries to change habits and behaviour which is essentially what an eating
disorder is. “Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the leading evidence-based treatment for bulimia
nervosa.” (Murphy et al 2010)
Two considerations support this claim. First, the core psychopathology of eating disorders, the
overvaluation of shape and weight, is cognitive in nature. Second, it is widely accepted that CBT is
the treatment of choice for bulimia nervosa1 and there is evidence that it is as effective with cases of
“eating disorder not otherwise specified”
Limitations to these studies could be that they need many more people involved in them to make
sure they are valid and accurate
women. When designing programs for high-risk people, it has been reasoned that it is significant to
recognise precise risk and protective factors for the development of disturbed eating. traits like
perfectionism, drive for thinness, ineffectiveness and interpersonal distrust have been proposed as
inclining factors for the development of eating disorders. (gustafsson et al 2010).
- The definition of perfectionism is the need to be or appear to be perfect, or even to believe
that it’s possible to achieve perfection. Perfectionism can be present in every aspect of life,
someone may be a perfectionist in just one part of their life, for example work.
- Adaptive perfectionism is setting personally demanding goals and trying to achieve can be
positive for the individual. Maladaptive perfectionism is someone’s pursuit of their very high
standards despite negative consequences.
Hewitt and Flett’s Multidimensional Model (1991)
three dimensions- self-oriented perfectionism: a tendency to set demanding standards for oneself
and to stringently evaluate and criticize one’s own behaviour
oriented perfectionism: the tendency to set demanding standards for others and to stringently
evaluate and criticize the behaviour of others
socially prescribed perfectionism: the belief that significant others have unrealistic expectations, and
that it is important to meet the high standards of others
Distal Risk Factors - Environmental Context: temperamental (fear/distress), parental, and
environmental factors. This leads to Proximal Risk Factors such as Perfectionism which then leads to
eating disorders.
perfectionism can lead to an eating disorder because of wanting to go to extreme levels of feeling
and looking perfect if you are a perfectionist. For example, a study I found had 100 university
voluntary students were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions, that is, a high
Personal Standards condition, a condition combining Personal Standards perfectionism and
Evaluative Concerns perfectionism, and a non-perfectionist condition. the results suggest that
perfectionism can be induced in people irrespective of their levels of trait perfectionism and that
perfectionism represents a causal risk factor for ED pathology. (Boone at all 2012)
studies show that CBT and mindfulness can help people recover from eating disorders because it is
the kind of therapy that tries to change habits and behaviour which is essentially what an eating
disorder is. “Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the leading evidence-based treatment for bulimia
nervosa.” (Murphy et al 2010)
Two considerations support this claim. First, the core psychopathology of eating disorders, the
overvaluation of shape and weight, is cognitive in nature. Second, it is widely accepted that CBT is
the treatment of choice for bulimia nervosa1 and there is evidence that it is as effective with cases of
“eating disorder not otherwise specified”
Limitations to these studies could be that they need many more people involved in them to make
sure they are valid and accurate
