20% of people with eating disorders die. So why is an illness only concerning food so hard to treat?
Simple. Eating disorders have nothing to do with food. Food is the gun but a poor mental state is the hand that pulls the trigger. Eating disorders are so difficult to treat because they never occur due to a single event or even a period of time; they are a build up a life long struggle of factors concerning body image AND not concerning body image that cause the individual to finally succumb to the pressure. Eating disorders are deeply rooted in physcological factors that give a false allure of a way to control an aspect of life out of the many others an individual feels like they can't : weight. It may begin as an extreme form of dieting, but eventually the eating disorder becomes a "beacon of hope", or a "comfort" to the sufferer. Over time, the eating disorder will be a way to numb the individual to the other stresses of the world, such as the pressures of school, a dysfunctional family, or feelings of failure, while still believing that if they "lose weight", all those problems will go away. The complication is that sufferers equate their worth to how much weight they lose. They equate their beauty to how little calories they can eat in a day. They equate their control in life to how many pounds they can lose in a week. They truly believe they are in control over their eating disorder, but really they are more further from control than anyone. It's important to realize that eating disorders are never voluntary or a choice. Over time they become compulsory- something as normal as a daily routine. Treatment is hard because many don't want to "lose" their eating disorders, and some mentally just don't understand how to let go of an addiction that has desensitized them for so long. The process is draining, and many experience severe depression and hopelessness from the withdrawal. The sad fact is that eating disorders can never be completely cured. They can be healed or numbed or blocked out but never fully cured- cured as in the thought will always be there, one just must become strong enough to resist the allure. Eating disorders such as Bulimia may remerge during times of extreme stress, so therapy is often a life long commitment for some. Bulimics feel comforted by the feeling of emptiness. Anorexics feel full by the feeling of an empty stomach. Binge Eaters feel safe by the thoughts of an over stuffed stomach. Confused? Still don't understand how someone can force themselves to throw up? Or why someone would starve themselves to 60 pounds? That's understandable. It's very hard to understand the illness unless one has it themselves.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
Our Blog's PurposeInforming you on the harmful effects of society's constricting image of beauty as well as the courageous people who combat it. Archives
December 2016
Want to be featured on our blog?Contact us. We'd love to hear and promote your story.
|