Answer to Question 1
From the very start, researchers and clinicians have placed considerable importance on the role of the family, and parental psychopathology in particular, in considering causes of eating disorders. They have argued that alliances, conflicts, or interactional patterns within a family may play a causal role in the development of eating disorders among some individuals (Minuchin, Rosman, & Baker, 1978). Accordingly, a teen's eating disorder may be functional in that it directs attention away from basic conflicts in the family to the teen's more obvious (symptomatic) problem. Evidence has confirmed that families with members who have eating disorders report worse family functioning than control families, although a typical pattern of family dysfunction is not evident (Holtom-Viesel & Allan, 2014).
Answer to Question 2
There is reasonable agreement that neurobiological factors play only a minor role in precipitating anorexia and bulimia. However, these factors may contribute to the maintenance of the disorder because of their effects on appetite, mood, perception, and energy regulation (Lock & Le Grange, 2006).
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People with binge eating disorder often eat in secret
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