These behavioural and social theories are again useful for explaining why eating disorders are a particularly female, Western problem but at the same time do not explain why particularly women will develop these conditions while others will not. They have additionally been criticised for focussing more on the maintenance of these disorders than on their origin. For these reasons, later theories have added a cognitive element. The cognitive behavioural model then explains eating disorders as a combination as the conditioning described above but also adds the role of ‘dysfunctional’ cognitions, those being damaging beliefs or self-talk such as ‘the only way I’ll be happy is if I’m thinner’. While this improves on the behavioural model by adding an individual element, it still does not explain how these cognitions (and so the disorders) arise in the first place (and therefore why only some women develop such cognitions).

These are just some of the many theories of eating disorders all of which offer a different perspective on the conditions and how they might arise. Together, using an integrative approach, they describe eating disorders fairly comprehensively and offer a good explanation as to why it affects those it does (white Western women). It is also possible to offer explanations for this other than those provided by the aforementioned theories however; it may be that the prevalence in Western cultures is down to more basic reasons. For example, it might be that we are simply better at diagnosing eating disorders in our own culture. Alternatively differences across cultures might simply be down to differences in diet; for example a typical Chinese diet is far lower in fat and far higher in fibre than a typical Western diet and Chinese women are typically naturally lighter. For these reasons there may simply be less ‘need’ for Chinese women to lose weight in the first place. It is also possible that different cases of eating disorders are explained by different explanations; it is possible that while some patients suffer from brain damage, others might have difficulties stemming from their families and others still might be trying to imitate their role models. Perhaps attempting to explain all cases with just a single theory is overly ambitious. Again this supports an integrative approach.

To conclude then, the discussed psychological theories of eating disorders are helpful in explaining why eating disorders continue to be a problem among Western women today and are best taken as a whole so as to consider biological, psychological, social and cognitive aspects but would benefit from further research.

Hopefully, armed with this information you can approach eating disorders with a complex understanding of their origins and of their disease and a respect for the reality. If you or the patient goes for counselling you should also be able to better understand where the health professional is coming from.