Final answer:
Environmental factors like child abuse, parental control over eating habits, a fragile sense of self-identity, social isolation, and cultural pressures to be thin likely contributed to the client's eating disorder. Biological factors, including genetics and hormonal imbalances, are also significant contributors.
Step-by-step explanation:
Based on the client's history, several environmental factors likely contributed to her eating disorder. Exposure to child abuse, including physical, psychological, or sexual abuse, can significantly increase the risk of developing an eating disorder. Pressure from parents to control eating habits, combined with a fragile sense of self-identity and social isolation, can also contribute to the disorder. Additionally, the cultural idealization of thinness, especially among white females in Western societies, plays a pivotal role in fostering eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
Moreover, biological factors such as genetics and a biochemical deregulation of neurotransmitters and hormones are also implicated in eating disorders. Imbalances in hormones like leptin and ghrelin, which regulate appetite and energy homeostasis, could underlie abnormal eating behaviors. Therefore, it is important to consider both environmental and biological factors when understanding the causes of eating disorders.