Anorexia is more likely to threaten excellent students

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

The pursuit of excellence is embedded in almost every woman at the gene level. But is it really that good? In some cases, we tend to go to extremes. And as a rule, this applies to exemplary girls. So, according to Swedish researchers, it is girls who are excellent pupils who are most often susceptible to such mental disorders as anorexia and bulimia.

A study of more than 13,000 women born in Sweden between 1952 and 1989 found that as the education of parents and grandmothers increased, the risk of girls with anorexia and bulimia being hospitalized increased. Moreover, the higher a girl's academic performance, the more chances she has of being in a special risk group.

"Often girls lose weight in order to become a" worthy "daughter"

"The pressure from the family leads not only to a desire to study well, but also to an obsession with external beauty," write the staff of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Perfectionism can manifest itself in a normal desire to control their own weight, and can lead, on the contrary, to low self-esteem, anorexia and bulimia. Scientists presented their findings in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

“Anorexia nervosa is a disease of adolescent girls between the ages of 13 and 25. They have a special temperament - a pronounced emotionality, dependence on high standards and standards, a striving for perfection. They are perfectionists, excellent girls and models,”says psychotherapist Andrei Babin. - It is very important not to let the disease develop and consult a doctor in time. Self-medication is not possible here. After all, anorexia is a mental illness. By the way, fathers should be especially attentive to their daughters. Often girls drive themselves to anorexia nervosa by trying to match their dad. They lose weight in order to become a "worthy" daughter, sometimes even under the influence of their father's criticism."