i feel that saying that anorexia is a mental illness is such a cop out. i feel like its saying alcoholism, gambling or drug addiction are legit mental illness. its so bull!...
n why y must there always be some deeper issues?...like control( always control!!!), lack of attention, fear blah blah blah...y cant it be shallow reasons?...like wanting to look grt?...
sometimes, i get the impression that some ppl use these deeper issues as excuses to cover up their vanity.
if u r fat and try to eat healthy, no one says a thing. or maybe people praise like good for u!
if u r thin and try to eat healthy, its a different story. why r u not eating? (healthy food=not eating???)
at doctors': fat person says "i learn to control my food portions"=thumbs up fr doc.
not fat person says" i learn to control my food portions"=why? control issues?...etc etc...
psychologist: "u r not an anorexic, u suffer from anorexia"-that just sound so fluff, its like saying u r not an alcoholic, u just like alcohol a litttle way too much.
done.
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I completely disagree with this post. Anorexia being a mental illness is not a cop out; it is a legitimate statement with ample research to support it. Those battling anorexia nervosa suffer mentally-no question about it. It is a disorder. Are you trying to say it's a choice that people inflict on themselves? I think drug addiction and alcoholism are mental illnesses too. Alcoholics and addicts mental processes are different from others who aren't alcoholics or addicts. They are dysfunctional and cause distress to the person, and diverge from everyday normal life which classifies a disorder.
ReplyDeleteReplying to the part of your post about deeper issues. There are generally always deeper issues because shallow ones would not cause a person to act on symptoms to the extent eating disordered people do. However, the eating disorder may trick the person to think they are doing this to look good, but that is because looking good is easier to accept and face than the trauma they faced a year prior. Deeper issues aren't always control, as it seems to be the one on which you're stuck. Deeper issues can include a myriad of things like physical or emotional abuse, distant parenting, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety, sexual abuse, etc. Shallow issues don't carry the same significance and intensity that eating disordered patients feel. There is nothing vain about anorexia. I have yet to see anything beautiful about the disorder. I have seen beautiful people beneath the disorder, but nothing in it. Coming from a recovering eating disordered patient, the myths like these perpetuate the shame and "selfishness" the person who is sick already feels.
I think the "psychologist" part that you end your post with, wherever you heard it can make sense without sounding fluff. I view it as the psychologist trying to separate the person from the disorder. The person who suffers from anorexia is not merely an anorectic. So often I find friends getting caught up in the identity of their disorders, that it is important to find things beyond the diagnosis.
Claire
ppl suffer fr anorexia for a variety of reasons. i agree that for some, it is not to be skinny( i should have stated this in post-sorry!), there are REAL deeper issues.
ReplyDeletebut what if someone wants to lose weight, does it the wrong way and gets too too skinny?.consequently, this person gets forced to see a doctor, and the doctor makes u see a psychologist to uncover the real underlying issues. i mean, in such a case, its not really a deeper issue thing, its really a case of vanity.
the ending paragraph of the post, well,it was said to me by my psychologist. i suppose my psychologist may be trying to say u r not yr eating disorder, but honestly, such statements always feel so superficial to me. they dont help, just make me feel stupid.
i really had no intention of hurting how u feel! these are just how i really feel abt eds sometimes...