Eating disorders are common, life-threatening conditions in Western countries, but until relatively recently they were regarded as uncommon in non-Western cultures. However, the prevalence of eating disorders in many of the more affluent non-Western countries is rising rapidly as community members, particularly young women, internalize the 'thin ideal' that has been widely promoted by the international media. This review discusses the factors involved in the development of eating disorders in non-Western settings with a particular emphasis on the influences of urbanization, modernization, Westernization, and the resulting changes in women's roles. The cognitive dissonance programs developed in Western countries that have proven successful in countering the negative effects of the thin idea are described and their potential application to East Asia and other non-Western countries are discussed.
进食障碍，这种威胁人身安全的疾病在西方国家很常见。直到现在，人们还认为在非西方文化区域内进食障碍是罕见的。然而，进食障碍的患病率在很多相对富裕的非西方国家中迅速增长，因为这些地区的民众，尤其是年轻女性，在国际媒体的影响下，接受了 “以瘦为美” 这个已经被广泛传播的概念。这篇综述回顾性地讨论了进食障碍发生的影响因素，特别强调了城市化、现代化、西方化和女性角色转变的影响。本文描述了起源于西方国家的认知失调方法，已经证明该方法可以成功去除 “以瘦为美” 的负面影响；本文同时讨论了这种方法在东亚和其它非西方国家中的应用价值。