The following factors can play a role in the development and/or continuance of eating disordered behaviors: [for a list of symptoms of not-so-common eating disorders and related illnesses/behaviors, please click here.]

1.  Genetics & biology: Play a large role in "setting one up" for the development of an eating disorder. For eating disorders, it is often said that, "Genetics loads the gun, environment pulls the trigger."

2.  Temperament: Perfectionists and dichotomous thinkers (no gray areas: good/bad; fat/thin; safe/dangerous), those who display a tendency towards depression and anxiety, as well as those with obsessive-compulsive disorder tend to be more vulnerable.

3.  Extreme sensitivity and vulnerability: Those at risk often care for others before taking care of themselves. They can take an offhand, benign comment that most others would ignore or be unaffected by and allow it to warp their sense of self.

4.  Familial: Parents do NOT cause eating disorders, but we do need to be willing to take a look at our own feelings and issues around food and weight so that we can provide an environment that is conducive to our child's healing. It can be helpful to explore the following queries with our loved ones and/or a skilled ED professional:

• In what ways have we bought into our cultural ideal of "thinness?"
• Do we own a bathroom scale?
  
• Do we diet and/or exercise in order to lose weight and/or to sculpt or attempt to change our bodies?
• In what ways can we improve our eating habits in order to move toward a more intuitive way of eating? (for helpful guidance click here)
  
• Do we negatively judge our own body or the bodies of others?
  
• Do we refer to fat and/or fat people with pjorative terms? (For helpful info click here)
  
• In what ways can we improve our communication styles in order to promote better understanding with others and move toward more authentic, helpful and non-judgmental interractions?

(To contact Andrea's Voice Foundation, please click here).