Through The Looking Glass: A Look At Eating Disorders
Do you remember going to a carnival or fair when you were a kid and walking through the fun house? The fun house consisted of hundreds of mirrors that altered the way that we saw ourselves…we used to find it so funny and entertaining. Now, most women and some men have a permanent fun house existing within their head, no longer being able to see the humor or entertainment, just the sorrow, imprisonment, and destruction of their altered perception. Thin is never thin enough and beauty/perfection is an ideal that one can never quite attain. How can one ever be satisfied with their looks when media lauds anorexia and drug addiction and plastic surgery is commonplace?
Thousands of people are dying to be thin. They sometimes take up drug addiction to reduce their hunger level in order to loose weight and feel confident. Society and culture has reinforced the idea that the less space that we take up, the more attention we will receive. The paradox is that anorexia promotes invisibility, while friends, family, and the world at large take up more visibility of the anorexic. It is my experience that most people who enter into a drug/alcohol treatment facility for cocaine and/or methamphetamine addiction have an underlying eating disorder, which sometimes goes undiagnosed.
The prevalence of eating disorders is profound. What is most terrifying is that it has the highest mortality rate of any diagnosable disorder, and that it is the most promoted. Anorexia is frequently a form of self-medication for untreated anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression/bi-polar, and trauma. Starvation prevents an essential amino acid from getting to the brain; therefore, by eating less, anorexics reduce the level of serotonin in their brain creating a sense of calm.
The Devil Wears Prada (a movie) encapsulated it when a fashion executive stated that girls do not eat anything “not since 2 became the new 4 and 0 became the new 2… 6 is the new 14!” The messages regarding thinness as a form of worth, acceptance, beauty, and value are abound with our culture. These values and ideas bleed into our lives from every single medium-magazines, books, movies, music, fashion, sports, and relationships-friends, partners, and family. Influence is inevitable! How do you turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to it? I can’t! Can you? Can your friends, partner, family?
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Filed under: Conditions and Disorders
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