Eating disturbance as a manifestation of the stress process: a review of the literature

This article reviews the current literature on ‘disturbed eating patterns’, particularly anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) and the relationship between these two eating disorders and life stress, coping styles, social support and personality factors. The article sets out to describe how these psychosocial factors interact and the possible role they play in eating disturbance. Three possible models of the stress process and its relationship to disordered eating behaviour are proposed.