Abstract. The article is devoted to the problem of the formation of eating disorders, which develop under the influence of cultural aspects transmitted to society. The work reveals the psychosocial functions of food for modern man. Attention is focused on the peculiarities of the formation of eating behavior patterns depending on the implementation of a particular function of food intake. The author analyzed various works of art: literature, painting, photography and cinema through which the issues of anorexia, bulimia and compulsive overeating are raised. Possible ways for a person to perceive images of heroes and semantic load, which can lead to the formation of eating disorders, are described. Currently, the problem of eating behavior (hereinafter referred to as EB) is considered as a complex biopsychosocial phenomenon associated not only with the satisfaction of vital needs, but fulfilling a number of other social needs. by its nature, functions. The formation of PP is a complex dynamic process that begins with a person’s birth and continues throughout life [5, p. 5]. PP reflects a person’s value attitude towards food, nutritional stereotypes (frequency of food intake, attitudes, habits and emotions regarding food) in various situations, activities to form an image of one’s own body [8, p. 14]. PP disorders are increasingly being studied by psychologists (Christopher Fairbairn, Marsha Herrin, Svetlana Bronnikova, Irina Germanovna Malkina-Pykh, etc.) and are becoming not only a medical, but also a psychological problem. The frequency of publications (scientific, journalistic, artistic, as well as Internet memes) on the topic of PP disorder has been constantly increasing over the past 5-7 years [11, p. 335-336]. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, traditionally considered the focus of eating disorders, are quite common in the population, especially among the female population. Thus, according to various authors, the prevalence of anorexia nervosa ranges from 0.3 to 1%, bulimia nervosa - from 0.9 to 1.5%. It should be noted that the actual incidence of PP disorders is somewhat higher, not only due to the dissimulative status of such patients, but also due to the fact that they are often admitted to somatic hospitals with corresponding complaints, and their mental state remains unknown to the attending physician [13]. PP disorders (anorexia, bulimia, compulsive overeating, etc.) are explained by medical scientists and psychologists as both physiological and psychological factors. The purpose of this study is to analyze the cultural aspects transmitted in society and their impact on the formation of eating disorders. The need for food is one of the primary, biological needs of the body, both in humans and animals. However, unlike animals, for modern humans food will perform a number of functions, including psychosocial ones: Saturation and obtaining vital energy. This function is the most understandable for most people, since this is the main function of food that we inherited from animals. The human body consumes food to maintain homeostasis, ensuring the survival of the individual. The required quantity and quality of food consumed is necessary to generate energy, which a person uses to satisfy his needs (learning, work, as well as hobbies and hobbies). Pleasure. Most people care about what they are going to eat. Already at the stage of choosing certain products (store, restaurant), a person receives emotional, and when eating food, physical pleasure (experience of positive emotions due to the elimination of hunger as an irritant, and a feeling of satiety). Leisure. In the culture of many nations, there are traditions of celebrating holidays with family or friends at the festive table. These traditions precisely create the leisure function of eating. In some cultures, there are holidays associated with receivingspecific food. For example, Maslenitsa among the Slavs, during which they bake pancakes and eat them all week, Easter among the Slavs, which is associated with decorating boiled eggs and their subsequent eating, Navruz among the Turkic and other peoples, they prepare pilaf and national sweets. These are entire rituals in preparation for these holidays, including the creation of a specific festive table. This cultural context shapes the characteristics of eating behavior on a specific holiday for a longer period. Family rapprochement. This function is similar to the previous one in a general sense, but has its own characteristics. Here we are talking about the specific traditions of each family. For example, a mandatory dinner together, during which family members discuss the events of the past day; outdoor picnics on weekends, where meetings with loved ones take place, the obligatory attributes of which may include the preparation of certain dishes. In some families, there are traditions of preparing dishes together (making dumplings, baking pies), family members establish closer family ties, pass on family traditions (learn to cook according to a family recipe), and also enjoy joint work and the opportunity to experience positive emotions. Communicative function . A business lunch or dinner with colleagues or partners is not a rare event in the modern world. A business lunch serves as a means of resolving business issues, discussing problems related to activities, and establishing business or friendly relations while consuming food. Business receptions are also not complete without food, and the choice of dishes is taken quite seriously [10, p. 116]. The above functions are considered “healthy”, since they do not lead to eating disorders in their original form. As for the subsequent functions, they are connected by the presence of deficits, most often emotional. Relief of emotional stress. Release of psycho-emotional tension by eating food, which occurs in a conflict situation. A sequence of actions in the past that helped reduce the level of aggression and were recorded on a subconscious level most often lead to a pattern of such behavior. For example, at a moment of strong aggression, a person would like to hit his offender, but his parents told him that this is impossible, everything can be resolved with words. The next step: you can’t hit me, which means I can yell at my offender or at least insult him. Here again the voice of your parents sounds in your head that you shouldn’t stoop to the level of such a person, because otherwise you are no different from him. And then it turns out that the person cannot hit, nor can he respond with words, but the aggression inside is already ready to spill out. This person goes, buys himself nuts at the nearest store and begins to actively gnaw on them. Active jaw work gradually reduces the level of aggression. A person can use a similar “eating” algorithm in situations of anxiety, fear, resentment, feelings of guilt or shame. Neutralizing so-called negative emotions with food is a common mechanism that can be selected by texture (as in the example with nuts) or by taste, for example, when a person feels guilty, he buys himself something sour, eats it and then eats it. emotions calm down. Filling the “inner emptiness”. The feeling of inner emptiness includes various emotional experiences that are difficult for a person to identify and experience. A person compensates for feelings of sadness, apathy, and the lack of a currently necessary emotion with food or the lack thereof. So teenagers, having encountered unrequited love, refuse to eat (which leads to anorexia nervosa) or, on the contrary, begin to eat a certain product or a large amount of food “replacing” love. Usually, chocolate or other sweets are used for this. But after some time, sweets stop helping, and the search begins for other tastes or textures of food that could replace love. This behavior can gradually lead tocompulsive overeating. Replacing emotions with food is not a constructive solution to the problem, but rather only increases them. Since along with an eating disorder comes a whole range of concomitant diseases. The strategies described above for getting out of a state of severe prolonged stress or prolonged depression can become a risk of developing PP disorders in any of its forms. The prerequisites for PP disorders are not only recorded patterns of behavior, but also sociocultural Aspects. At all times there has been a “fashion for appearance”. During the time of the artist Peter Paul Rubens, women with curvy figures were considered beautiful, which is reflected in the paintings of the famous painter. Girls could eat food with appetite and pleasure and become more beautiful. Of course, this also did not indicate healthy eating behavior, since for the sake of beauty, women ate both when they felt hungry and when they did not. And this is the most famous era of compulsive overeating found in history. This is an interesting experience, since such women are really in the zone of greatest survival and their pregnancy and childbirth are calmer and healthier for the child [2]. Culture has always walked side by side with humanity. But if in the time of P. Rubens it was more about stating a fact and capturing modern beauty, now culture is often the legislator of modern ideas about beauty. Photography has taken the place of painting. And completely different images of beauty appear in the photographs. Thus, Frank Horvath’s famous 1958 photograph “Central Park in New York” depicts 10 model-looking girls in different poses and a man standing with his back turned. Of course, it is impossible to draw a conclusion from the photograph about the presence or absence of a violation of the PP, but, looking at their thinness, readers of Glamor magazine, in which this photograph was published, could begin to limit their diet in order to achieve the same figure. Later, in 2007, after fashion week in Milan, the notorious photographer Oliviero Toscani, to draw attention to the problem of anorexia, as well as to advertise a clothing brand, depicted a sitting naked girl with obvious signs of the disease on posters on the streets of Italy. Sunken cheeks, thin arms, ribs visible through the skin. And despite the fact that this action was recognized as incorrect, this advertising ploy was quite a success on the Internet. The fact that violations of the PP are a global problem is also evidenced by the appearance of references to this in literature and cinema. Popularization of PP disorders could help educate the population about the seriousness of this spectrum of diseases, but regularly in literature and cinema the story about the disease is shrouded in romanticism and mystery. For example, in one of the popular novels of the early 2000s by Janusz Leon Wisniewski “Loneliness on the Internet” the speech is about a girl suffering from bulimia. The novel has been translated into many languages ​​and is available to readers in different countries. The main storyline has many psychological aspects that can be discussed at length, but I would like to focus on a specific heroine named Kimberly. The main character of the novel, Jakub, talks about how his friend Jim and Kim invited him to expensive restaurants, and then the girl disappeared for some time. How is the story about bulimia structured in this novel? “...She went to the toilet, looked at what it looked like, and only after making sure that it was clean and pleasant, threw up what she had eaten. Kim could only do this in aesthetically refined toilets...” [4, p. 50] The process of inducing vomiting is described as a beautiful act in an elegant toilet. But it’s even more important to note Kim’s own attitude towards this process: “...for Kim this is a very erotic experience. When she vomited, she experienced sexual satisfaction, to which she reacted by crying - from happiness, which is why she returned to the table languid and with smeared cosmetics” [4, p. 50] we observe that an action that shortens life andcauses a large number of side diseases, costs sexual satisfaction, which is romanticized by the author. It is not difficult to imagine that a young girl who has read this novel may begin to vomit after eating in order to obtain sexual satisfaction. Helen Fielding’s book “Bridget Jones’s Diary” describes the thoughts of many modern women. That is why she became so popular. From parental thoughts voicing to girls the advantages of curvaceous figures: “... I keep repeating to you that no one needs legs as thick as a cockroach’s. And the butt should be such that you can safely put a mug of beer on it, and park a motorcycle inside” [12, p. 58] to the restrictive component of PP violations “...After all, it has been scientifically proven that happiness is brought not by love, not by wealth and not by power, but by the pursuit of achievable goals: what is a diet if not the pursuit of an achievable goal?” [12, p. 112], where it is said that you can enjoy a diet. The heroine of the novel (Bridget Jones) is precisely one of those people who replace the lack of love with food: “...In our culture, too much importance is attached to appearance, age and position. But the main thing is love” [12, p. 115] This gives rise to her internal conflict, in which, on the one hand, she wants love, which means she needs to lose weight for this, and on the other hand, she compensates for the lack of love with food and regularly blames herself for it. As soon as something goes wrong in the heroine’s life, she has a convenient way out of the situation: “...Sometimes you need to fall to the very bottom of the abuse of fatty foods, so that later, like a phoenix, rise from the hell of extra calories purified and beautiful” [12 , With. 217]. Thus, a girl often solves the problem of lack of love, and then moves on to the stage of selecting a new diet. After another breakdown, the heroine concludes: “...everything you want to stuff into your mouth can be successfully “tailored” to some kind of diet” another “...diets do not exist to choose them at random and combine them with each other, but to in order to, having chosen one, not deviate one step from the rules, which I plan to do as soon as I finish this chocolate croissant” [12, p. 228]. Such conclusions confirm that Bridget Jones has compulsive overeating, but what is even more important is that this book describes in very simple words the problems of a young woman, of whom there are millions. And everything seems so simple and funny when you watch the adventures of this interesting girl, completely not noticing that her PP is broken. Bridget Jones needs professional help, but behind her sweet statements and thoughts the reader does not notice this, and accordingly, associating himself with the heroine, he can repeat her behavior. Bridget just falls into that category of women who have been taught that being thin means being successful and beloved. “But I am a child of the Cosmopolitan era, and my psyche is broken by images of supermodels and hundreds of magazine tests. I know that I won’t be at the level either personally or physically if I don’t make an effort.” This passage makes a clear conclusion: if you make efforts, you can achieve personal and physical perfection, and if you don’t succeed, then these efforts are not enough. What’s even more interesting is that the media have been broadcasting for many years that being thin means being healthy. Most often, such a postulate about health does not raise questions among people who do not specialize in the problem of PP disorders. However, experts say that BMI (body mass index) is not suitable for assessing health and life expectancy. The curve of the dependence of mortality on BMI has a U-shape - the riskiest thing is to have a BMI of 18 and below, followed by a BMI of 40 and above, but between them the mortality rate increases slightly, and the most able to survive are overweight people (BMI 27-32) [2]. If we talk about severity, then the most serious threat to our body is underweight. Because a body mass index of 17.5 or lower entails a number of devastating consequences. Not only in the formhair loss or dry skin - symptoms that may be considered more cosmetic. First of all, hormonal and reproductive health suffers. With a low BMI, most women experience menstrual irregularities and artificially enter menopause, which is physiologically unusual for them. This means a huge risk to bone health. Osteopenia and osteoporosis appear - diseases that are characteristic of older people; in addition, calcium begins to be catastrophically washed out of the body. Very serious consequences of low BMI occur in the gastrointestinal tract. However, with anorexia nervosa, and with systematic malnutrition, and with bulimia nervosa, patients experience chronic gastritis, gastroduodenitis and all kinds of gastrointestinal disorders that require attention even after the person has recovered psychologically. Anorexia and bulimia affect literally all organs and systems. Even on your teeth. Since patients with bulimia nervosa constantly vomit, the acid from the stomach juice eats away their teeth so much that sometimes they have to replace the entire jaw completely [1]. In Katya Panika’s book “NRXA, I love you!” the reader is immediately confronted with a message from the author, which contains the following words: “The hero described in this book is NOT sick. I am NOT against anorexia. Every person has the right to choose how much to weigh.” And on the next page, the book begins with the protagonist confessing the opposite: “Hello, my name is Johnny Novak. I am anorexic” [7]. The author's position regarding anorexia is clearly visible here: it is not a disease. At the same time, the book itself was written to draw attention to the problem of mortality from anorexia and the experiences of a person suffering from it. As a result, we get an “explosive cocktail” of contradictory messages, which can be perceived by readers in completely different ways, which means that while reading the book, someone will understand what not to do and that anorexia leads to death, while others will see a call to action and a specific plan. There are a number of books similar to a teenager's diary that are created for some prevention of anorexia nervosa, for example, Ibi Kaslik "Skinny" or Kim Caspari "XXS". These books are easy to read and tell a similar story about how difficult and scary it is to live with anorexia. What are the feelings and thoughts of a person who has such a diagnosis? I would especially like to highlight Justine’s book “This Morning I Decided to Stop Eating”, due to the fact that it is some analysis of anorexia after recovery. This effect helps not only to understand the problem, but also to find its causes together with the main character. She writes: “Anorexia is not a game, not a club to join. Only when you get sick with it do you realize what misfortunes, suffering and dangers this disease brings with it” [6, p. 5]. This look back becomes a new era in the culture of describing PP disorders, where not the current state is analyzed and described, but past aspects. A book built as psychotherapeutic help, consisting of support and awareness not only that you are not alone with such a problem, but also that you can come out of it alive. In addition, in this book, anorexia is viewed as self-harming behavior (self-harm), and not the desire for a beautiful figure and success, as often broadcast in other works: “I hear talk about girls who want to lose weight in order to be beautiful, like fashion models. It's not about me. I want to destroy myself. I realized it too late” [6, p. 87]. A symptom of anorexia nervosa is delusional thoughts about one’s body and the possibilities of gaining weight. “I wash myself many times a day. I don't like the sticky feeling on my skin throughout the day. It seems to me that the fat will seep into the body and I will gain weight” [6, p. 109]. Fat can't seep through the skin and turn into excess weight, but for a person with anorexia, sweat is a reason to wash more often to avoid gaining weight. "I have turned into an incorporealcreature, it was time to stop... Yes, but if I stop, I'll get fat again. And the fear of getting fat again was stronger than the fear of dying from exhaustion” [6, p. 153]. For a person with this form of anorexia disorder, the fear of getting fat becomes higher than the fear of death, therefore, under certain circumstances, a psychiatric ambulance has the right to take a patient with anorexia to the hospital even without his consent. In addition, this book shows the mechanism of transformation of one disorder of the anorexia into another , which happens very often in life: “Having experienced real bulimia, it is impossible to return to anorexia” [6, p. 204]. This is the first book that brings information to the masses that anorexia and bulimia are sides of the same coin. When treating anorexia, patients often progress to bulimia and vice versa. That is why the treatment of eating disorders is a long and complex process. The problem of eating disorders became most visible in the 70s of the last century. Thinness has become fashionable. Even the original negative lexical meaning of the word “thin” was corrected by a beautiful visual picture. Once again, the need for love and a better future comes down to “lose weight and everything else will follow.” At first, the popularity of thinness became noticeable in books and advertising photographs, but with the popularization of television, the propaganda of anorexia came to every home. Parents could not control what their children watched, and even at that moment the idea of ​​losing weight and becoming healthy was already included in many homes. In 1981, Sam O'Steen's film "The Best Girl in the World" was released, which tells the story of a girl - teenager Casey, who tries to do everything not to cause problems for her parents: she studies well, behaves well and looks like a healthy and beautiful girl of her age. Parents are in constant quarrels and desire to raise their eldest daughter, who does not fall under their understanding of correct behavior. In parallel with the family scenes, Casey can be seen looking at herself in the mirror, after which she begins to exercise. Then the scene in ballet class where the teacher tells Casey to lose weight. Casey also regularly looks at glossy magazines, the models in which seem to her more beautiful and thinner than herself. And the girl gradually begins to lose weight. It’s not worth talking about the reasons here, since this is a complex of symptoms that led the heroine to anorexia nervosa. Minimal food consumption, constant physical activity, even while lying in bed, inducing vomiting, regular weighings all this tells us that Casey really has a PP disorder. It is noteworthy that Casey’s illness is noticed by her sister, and not her parents. Mom takes her youngest daughter to the doctor, they learn about the diagnosis and the need for psychotherapy. All this is demonstrated in great detail in the film. But there is an absolutely unforgettable scene where Casey is force-fed by her father, who constantly repeats that she is not hungry. This scene can evoke different emotions, but its importance is in reflecting the current understanding of the characteristics of anorexia at that time. Parents sincerely do not understand that a person, much less their good daughter, may not eat. This film shows exactly the reason why PP disorders have been hidden from the public eye for so long: people do not understand what is so difficult about just eating. The next significant film is The Karen Carpenter Story (1989). It opens a whole series of films about celebrities suffering from anorexia. One of the most striking scenes in the film shows Karen reading a newspaper where they write about her and her brother's band. Instantly, Karen's joyful face changes when she comes to the phrase: "and his chubby sister." We do not know all the reasons for the formation of PP disorder in a girl, but this trigger very clearly shows how little is needed to begin the formation of a fatal disease. From that moment on, Karen begins to torment herself with diets and physical activity, after which, at the age of 32, she dies of heart failure caused by anorexia. Famous people whoCountless people have PP violations: Taylor Swift, Mary-Kate Olsen, Demi Lovato, Demi Moore, Angelina Jolie, Princess Diana and many others. It is believed that publicity carries with it a huge burden of responsibility for one’s appearance. With fame comes diets, extreme workouts, diet pills, and even drugs. All in order to fit into generally accepted standards of beauty. In these cases, fans and loved ones do not notice the symptoms of a fatal disease, because “that’s the way it is.” And professional help is provided to famous people when it becomes simply impossible to hide their PP disorder. Athletes, actors, models are always at risk of developing PP disorder. Screen stars try to maintain beauty through diets, surgeries, fasting, and drugs. All this led to the desire among children and teenagers who found their idols among musicians or actors to be like them. First of all, lose weight to their size. The most obvious example of such an idol is Gwyneth Paltrow. An interesting woman and successful actress is now actively popularizing anorexia. She eats while on intermittent fasting and “maintaining a detox” - for breakfast she drinks only coffee, for lunch - bone broth, and for dinner she eats according to the principles of the paleo diet - only vegetables! Modern teenagers who grew up on the films of the Marvel universe, where Gwyneth plays Iron Man's love interest. Beautiful, successful - a dream for girls to follow. And children often draw an equal sign between the character and the actor. What we end up with is a whole generation of kids who see their idol popularize an eating disorder. This means that for success and beauty you just need to use the diet that Gwyneth Paltrow lives on. And then everything in your life will improve... With the exception of health [3]. We observe that the more information about the dangers of anorexia developed, the more films appeared that showed the causes, symptoms and consequences in different formats. But often the reasons did not correspond to reality, but were only part of the picture. For example, only parental restrictions and attitudes cannot cause the development of PP disorders, but this is shown in the film “Hunger” (2003). Only the desire of a loved one to make a person with an ideal body out of their partner also cannot cause anorexia, but this is shown in film "First Love" (2003). The mechanism of formation of PP disorders is complex. There is a whole range of circumstances that leads to this result. And the main thing that I would like to note is that a violation of the PP can be hidden from other people for a very long time. And this is the most dangerous moment in working with this group of diseases. The film “To the Bone” (2017) tells the story of Ellen, who has anorexia. This film differs from all others on this topic in that it conveys in detail the characteristics of a person with anorexia. It also very clearly shows constructive and destructive ways of supporting loved ones. Also, a separate role in this film is given to psychotherapy, including group therapy. While watching the film, the most striking scenes seem to be those where first Ellen talks about the meaninglessness of her life and her unwillingness to do anything about her illness, and then the scene in the rain, where the answer to the question comes from Luke’s lips: “Why do you think we here? - Because we are alive!” This scene, on the one hand, turns the viewer’s consciousness and reminds that no one has anything more important than life, and on the other hand, it creates that very romantic atmosphere in the film, which leads some people to the feeling that losing weight or even getting sick can bring happiness. But this film is a good option for educational activities about anorexia nervosa. The Russian film “I’m Losing Weight” (2018) hits the screens at the peak of people’s desire to become healthy and beautiful, and beauty means thinness. In the first scene of the film, Anya, a young girl with luxurious shapes - a thin waist, high breasts, curvy hips - looks at herself in the mirror andsays: “Oh, what a horror... It seems like I haven’t eaten anything. When the hell did all this appear?” The girl is going to a wedding party. All the dresses she tries on are not only a size smaller, but also tailored to fit a teenage figure. The girl chooses a dress that is not her size and fits her boyfriend. You can see disappointment and some disgust on his face at the sight of his girlfriend. As a result, the main character stays at home, and her boyfriend goes to the party alone. From the first minutes, the film demonstrates the position that you cannot love fat people. And the girl doesn’t fit into the dress, and the young man leaves her, and the mother doesn’t provide support. Only the best friend sincerely wants to help, although she does it from her picture of the world, that is, she offers help in losing weight. And losing weight means diet and exercise. But Anya has a goal, she wants to lose weight in order to get her boyfriend back and become desirable to him. And then the main character’s attempts to lose weight are built in the best traditions of domestic comedies: a girl weighing 76 kg is so fat that she breaks everything in the gym and does not fit in the aisles. The episode where Anya at work tries a little cake cream on her finger becomes very revealing. after which he begins to squat. And in the evening he eats a whole cake. These are clear symptoms of bulimia nervosa. After this, he decides to go to a meeting of the Overeaters Anonymous club. In this club she meets Kolya, her future friend and weight loss assistant, who came to this club with his own problem, the same as Anya’s, but at the same time he does not forget to comment on the nutrition of the girl he just met: “You Do you know how much sugar there is? Do you know that sugar is the most powerful drug in the world?” The film, which was shot as a comedy, created triggers for PP disorders, hiding them behind the mask of a light film genre. Only jokes about other people that are not funny to everyone are violence, and this film is simply a concentrate of fat shaming (translated from English literally - “condemnation of fat”, discrimination against a person or group of people who are overweight) [9]. In the same way In 2018, a film opposite the Russian “I’m Losing Weight” was released, called “Beauty all over.” The film begins with scenes of fat shaming and Rene’s complexes about his appearance, typical of modern society. But everything changes after she suffers a head injury in the gym. Sudden self-confidence enormously changes her life for the better. She gains the courage to interview for her dream job, finds love and recognizes herself as the best. At the same time, she becomes so obsessed with herself that she practically loses her friends because she stops thinking about their feelings and regularly hurts them. But after a new head injury, Rene loses all her charm and comes to her friends. There's an important conversation in this scene about how she was always cool and interesting, and then she changed and wasn't herself anymore. As a result, due to self-doubt, Rene breaks up with her boyfriend. She wants to regain her super-confidence, for this she is ready to once again suffer a traumatic brain injury in the gym. The key moment of this film is the scene in the gym locker room, where Renee discovers the other side of the life of beautiful and thin people. It turned out that behind beauty and an ideal figure, people also have problems with their personal lives, low self-esteem, and searching for their dream job. For Rene this becomes a very important discovery. And only after this scene does it become possible for the main character to have a healthy view of herself, to realize that she achieved everything “magical” herself. Renee is making changes in her life and getting rid of compulsive overeating through accepting herself, her body and recognizing her capabilities. In our opinion, this is the most correct film about violation of the PP. The analysis of cultural aspects, such as traditions, literature, painting, photography, cinema shows the relationship between a certain semantic 03.04.2023).