In the recent years such illnesses as anorexia or bulimia have become so widespread that every teenager can give more or less accurate definition of these diseases. After the death of several fashion models, the organs of public opinion have received a new subject to cover. The article by Eric Stice “Risk and Maintenance Factors for Eating Pathology”, which is a meta-analytic review of experimental and forthcoming studies, discloses that some risk eating pathology factors have received no empirical support while others have contradictory support. The author approaches the discussion subject from different perspectives. He gives to readers understanding that the eating disorders comprise not only anorexia and bulimia, which are often mentioned by the mass media and prewritten papers. The disorders are more various and the reasons of their emergence may be yet unclear.

Western society equating the thinness has always been associated with health and beauty in the Western society; as a result, from the early childhood little girls dream about thin Barbie-like waist, Teenagers watch their favorite stars on TV and follow their styles. Thinness has become a global obsession. The only countries which do not accept this are countries where indigenous tribes still comprise a great part of the population.

The most common diagnoses are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The term multidimensional risk refers to a situation where an individual is involved in many risk factors. The leading factors are psychological problems (ego, cognitive and mood disturbances), biological factors and, of course, social and cultural conditions such as societal, family, and multicultural pressures. Eating disorder can be compared with the effect of substance abuse: this is a behavioral pattern characterized by chronic and excessive drug use, which hinders one’s capacity for work, destroys their relationships, and/or puts them and others in danger. It is also referred to as addiction. Sexual abuse can become a reason of eating disorder too, therefore thorough studies of sexual abuse problems can help to understand eating disorders better.

The fact that theoretical limitations of the literature play their part in the above-discussed issue was really interesting for me. To address the problems of eating disorders appropriately, more attention in literature should be given to identification of new risk factors as well as potentiating and mitigating factors. The impact of biological factor was also of great interest to me. It should receive even more attention as it is connected with many other psychiatric disorders.

Also, it was intriguing for me to read about future research directions. Etiologic and maintenance processes should develop further. Methods of data collection must be multiple, and analytic methods have to be more sensitive. It is important to better explore the factors that contribute to eating pathology because there are only several studies on this subject. All factors such as biological, psychological and genetic have to be put together in order to receive the full picture of eating disorder problem.

In conclusion, several most common aspects of eating disorders can be identified. A number of famous myths and widely-known factors, such as sexual abuse or stress situations, were not accepted by scientists. There are conflicting points of view as regards dieting. It is necessary to carry out more studies and experiments in order to be sure that all received information is reliable. And what is the most important, the studies of discussed issue are limited so it is highly significant to widen the areas of research and develop more multivariate models for addressing methodological limitations.