The Social Construction and Monitoring of the Body: Implications for Eating and related Disorders and the Behaviour–Belief–Impairment Framework

Eating disorders are traditionally conceptualised as disorders of eating behaviour, body image and weight regulation. While these frameworks remain essential, they may not fully account for broader societal transformations that have reshaped contemporary relationships with food, weight and the body. This perspective article proposes that contemporary eating psychopathology can be understood within the context of three interrelated historical transitions. First, the body has evolved from a vehicle primarily concerned with survival to one increasingly focused on longevity, with a new focus on technological monitoring and so – called optimisation and performance. Second, the body has shifted from a biological entity to a social symbol through which identity, discipline, attractiveness and self-worth are communicated. Third, technological developments, particularly social media and wearable technologies, have transformed self-evaluation from a private and intermittent process into one of continuous and often shared digital surveillance, one which has become “performative” when communicated using technology and other monitoring methods. Simultaneously, food environments have changed dramatically, characterised by unprecedented availability of highly palatable, commercially engineered foods that interact with biological systems originally designed to protect against starvation rather than obesity. The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have accelerated rather than created many of these trends. In this context, eating disorders may represent extreme manifestations of broader cultural processes in which health, appearance, identity and self-worth become increasingly intertwined. The Behaviour–Belief–Impairment (BBI) framework may offer a useful conceptual approach for understanding how culturally valued behaviours, such as dieting, exercise and health optimisation, when driven by increasingly rigid beliefs and behaviours can led to clinically significant impairment in vulnerable individuals.