The eating disorder thread [trigger warning] (2 Viewers)

[townie]

Like brad I don't have much experience/knowledge about ED's except for something I learnt in psychology at uni that stuck with me: ED's are the only recognized mental illnesses that directly cause death

 

[kfnmpah]

so is it something you can fight with sheer will power

well you have to want to get better, i think there's also a sense of self-loathing

but you also need support it is very rare to recover fully on your own.


yeah anorexia biggest mental disease killer. suicide then heart failure (i forget in which order, i think suicide it number 1 cause of death in anorexics)

 

[Ivorytw]

I don't get the first half of your paragraph?

Obviously you're not going to do a thorough investigation into every persons personal journey through any mental disorder but questions like "is it a lack of will power or is it something outside of your control" seem so incredibly vacuous it's hard for me to fathom.

And I'm just going to point out I am not attacking him, there's nothing wrong with that and probably great for him to ask if he doesn't know otherwise, but I just find it so ridiculous that in a first world country with a dare I say good education system, 60% of people seem to get to their adult life not knowing the bare minimum (in my opinion) on what constitutes a mental illness and what are the symptoms.

I think it is a disgusting reflection on us as a society and individuals with the means and resources to investigate on our own terms.

 

[townie]

I don't get the first half of your paragraph?

Obviously you're not going to do a thorough investigation into every persons personal journey through any mental disorder but questions like "is it a lack of will power or is it something outside of your control" seem to incredibly vacuous it's hard for me to fathom.

And I'm just going to point out I am not attacking him, there's nothing wrong with that and probably great for him to ask if he doesn't know otherwise, but I just find it so ridiculous that in a first world country with a dare I say good education system that 60% of people seem to get to their adult life not knowing the bare minimum (in my opinion) on what constitutes a mental illness and what are the symptoms. I think it is a disgusting reflection on us as a society and individuals with the means and resources to investigate on our own terms.

I think people find it hard to understand things they can't easily explain. When you look at something like cancer it's very easy to observe cause and effect, mental illness is not so cut and dry. I also think that people don't take it seriously for some reason, a good example is when Pat posted those tweets from Tamara. I personally found what he did to be disgusting and I unfathomable to me, but to him it was a source of entertainment.

But I fear I am going OT with this post so will cease.

 

[Tasteless]

I'm guilty of that to it's fullest extent, it's just not something I've wondered about outside of the conversations they've been contained to, nor something I've been personally exposed to other than in occasional passing conversation. Mental disorders just arent something that really comes up in my day to day life (knowingly) (this sounds self centred probably but it's true) so I guess it's just never at the front of my mind for me to inquire further about (other than depression which I guess I have a passable understanding of).

I think people find it hard to understand things they can't easily explain. When you look at something like cancer it's very easy to observe cause and effect, mental illness is not so cut and dry. I also think that people don't take it seriously for some reason, a good example is when Pat posted those tweets from Tamara. I personally found what he did to be disgusting and I unfathomable to me, but to him it was a source of entertainment.

But I fear I am going OT with this post so will cease.

I think this is part of it too, esp things like 'voices in your head'. It's just so ridiculously far beyond my comprehension, I cant even pretend to understand something like that.

 

[LoveHateSchool]

I know plenty of people with EDs in RL...so I think it is good to have this thread that promotes healthy discussion about it.

It's a terrible illness, especially when many people in the public don't understand it isn't so much about the food, but about control and guilt etc.

 

[PaterzAttack]

when Pat posted those tweets from Tamara. I personally found what he did to be disgusting and I unfathomable to me, but to him it was a source of entertainment.

not going to argue, not trying to drag this thread off topic, but let me say no it was not 'entertainment' for me.
i had just seen the tweets and yes i realise it was wrong, i posted them as a topic of discussion amongst people who know her fairly well. it was shocking for me to read - i have only heard stories from you guys but to hear it from herself, first hand, only happening the day before is something completely different. i'm not going to pretend that i had good intentions in doing so but there were no bad ones either.

on topic, i have known several girls with eating disorders. i don't know what type exactly but it is brutal and scary seeing a friend go through it, becoming a shell of their former self.

 

[joanna4735]

my friend had to eat her lunch with her mum at school for a couple of months as well

 

[uhoohoo]

used to restrict to 5-600 cals a day but then i got all sorts of problems
now i can go up to 1000 but absolutely cannot get above that

 

[kfnmpah]

used to restrict to 5-600 cals a day but then i got all sorts of problems
now i can go up to 1000 but absolutely cannot get above that

in terms of physically not being able to eat that much or is it a mental thing?

 

[uhoohoo]

in terms of physically not being able to eat that much or is it a mental thing?

used to be a mental thing but i guess i adjusted to it physically over time... lots of nausea & everything coming back out if I go over eurgh

 

[nifkeh]

I wanted to ask a question, it might sound really blunt, which I don't really intend to be

are EDs triggered by your environment, e.g. family, friends, what you see/hear? Like say if your family (or friends/strangers) kept intimidating you, always calling you fat, emphasizing the way you looked, like you looked a bit thick in the middle, or saying stuff like "when I was your age I was skinnier than you", "I could wear your size when I was pregnant" or stuff like "my waistline is ___ inches, what's yours?"

I just wanted to know if this had effect on the individual, because I'm getting all these verbal taunts from my own family (stuff I have said above), my mum dishes out like 60% of the abuse and my dad and brother happily join, calling me fat and stuff which is really annoying and sometimes depressing. Also sometimes they physically touch me, pinch my stomach to emphasize how fat I am, and then tell me that I am fat, that I should stop eating or something or tell me that I even don't need to eat. Or sometimes when I tell them I'm not hungry they will be like "oh so you're on a diet" (when I'm not).

Anyway, I was wondering, is it possible for an ED to arise from factors like these? I don't have one, but sometimes I think maybe I do need to purposely starve or something to show them and do myself a favour. These taunts happen almost everyday, like I'm always downgraded, but I was wondering if an ED can arise from negative things like this or a ED-like type of situation. Just then my mum just did it again, calling me fat and then 'slim'. I rather have people not talk about my weight at all, and the only time that happens is if I'm away from family.. I don't exactly like being at home especially if this topic always picks up. sigh

I'm not writing this for compliments/pity either, if anyone was thinking that way but these are my experiences, and I was wondering if anyone else, with this type of harassment could probably end up with an ED

 

[halapenyo]

For half of year 11 and all of year 12 my mum had to take 2 hours off work almost every day to come and eat lunch with me in the car out the front of school.

One time I was going for a run even though I was exhausted and I really didn't want to. I took my phone with me just incase I thought I was going to pass out. Eventually I called my mum, crying, but I physically couldn't stop running. She had to leave work to come get me so I would stop.
.

why were you not eating? was it to look good and not put on any weight?

 

[Blue Suede]

I wanted to ask a question, it might sound really blunt, which I don't really intend to be

are EDs triggered by your environment, e.g. family, friends, what you see/hear? Like say if your family (or friends/strangers) kept intimidating you, always calling you fat, emphasizing the way you looked, like you looked a bit thick in the middle, or saying stuff like "when I was your age I was skinnier than you", "I could wear your size when I was pregnant" or stuff like "my waistline is ___ inches, what's yours?"

I just wanted to know if this had effect on the individual, because I'm getting all these verbal taunts from my own family (stuff I have said above), my mum dishes out like 60% of the abuse and my dad and brother happily join, calling me fat and stuff which is really annoying and sometimes depressing. Also sometimes they physically touch me, pinch my stomach to emphasize how fat I am, and then tell me that I am fat, that I should stop eating or something or tell me that I even don't need to eat. Or sometimes when I tell them I'm not hungry they will be like "oh so you're on a diet" (when I'm not).

Anyway, I was wondering, is it possible for an ED to arise from factors like these? I don't have one, but sometimes I think maybe I do need to purposely starve or something to show them and do myself a favour. These taunts happen almost everyday, like I'm always downgraded, but I was wondering if an ED can arise from negative things like this or a ED-like type of situation. Just then my mum just did it again, calling me fat and then 'slim'. I rather have people not talk about my weight at all, and the only time that happens is if I'm away from family.. I don't exactly like being at home especially if this topic always picks up. sigh

I'm not writing this for compliments/pity either, if anyone was thinking that way but these are my experiences, and I was wondering if anyone else, with this type of harassment could probably end up with an ED

In the reading I've done, one of the most popular models for mapping rates of ED deal with a 3 factor model which basically states that Environment, Genetic Predisposition and Specific Life Events (especially those before the age of about 20) play equal parts in contributing towards a mental illness.

Some people have a genetic predisposition towards obsessive compulsive behaviour, but this might not be a particularly destructive thing, yet if combined with environmental factors (such as friends at school always calling them fat, family members being discouraging etc) and a specific life event (say someone close to them dies and they have a supreme sense of a lack of control), you may end up with an eating disorder that starts as a way to gain control, and then becomes obsessive.

At the same time, there are other people who might have the environmental/situational factors, and not the genetic predisposition, and so they may escape developing a mental illness. It's important to remember that while scientific models may be useful for understanding mental illness/EDs, each person has an individual experience/factors combining that have got them to where they are.

I'd also like to point out there is a HUGE difference between experiencing something that's depressing, and having depression.

Anyway, I was wondering, is it possible for an ED to arise from factors like these? I don't have one, but sometimes I think maybe I do need to purposely starve or something to show them and do myself a favour.

NO. You do NOT need to purposely starve yourself to do yourself a favour. People with EDs have a whole heap of medical problems. They often develop arthritis early in life due to low bone density and are more prone to getting injured. Then there's things like it's simply harder for your body to function if you don't have the right nutritional input. And if you're a girl, you risk screwing up your mentral cycle enough that you can never have children. And constant rates of low blood pressure can put extra stress on the heart and lead to heart failure (most common cause of death in people with anorexia, apart from suicide).

 

[Ivorytw]

why were you not eating? was it to look good and not put on any weight?

Like I don't understand whether this is to A, be funny, which it isn't. Or B, you really are that fucking moronic.

Like this is a thread about eating disorders. Not a thread called "What I do to look good".

Your answers in the title you gimp.

 

[Blue Suede]

In terms of motivation, during periods in my life where I didn't eat (keep in mind, I've never been officially diagnosed with an ED but some of my doctors think I've come close), it was sometimes for attention (because there's a perverse beauty in self-destructing in a subtle way and wondering if anyone can tell), sometimes because I just ceebs and it was so much easier to not eat than to eat and then it just turned into a habit and your brain starts to forget what 'full' feels like and it's normal to experience hunger pains but it's ok because in your head it's normal.

In the reading I've done, there's very few cases where sheer will wins out because behaviours like purging or restricting are so ingrained in your thinking and way of life. You have to actively be challenging your thoughts every second of the day and that's so exhausting it's easier to give up and skip a meal here or there.

 

[halapenyo]

Like I don't understand whether this is to be funny or not but A it's not funny, B you really are that fucking moronic.

Like this is a thread about eating disorders. Not a thread called "What I do to look good".

Your answers in the title you moron.

i wasnt trying to be funny at all. i actually honestly wanted to know. the question is perfectly in line with the topic of the thread.

 

[Ivorytw]

Well let me answer your question.

It was because she had an eating disorder.

 

[kfnmpah]

Eating disorders have nothing to do with trying to look hot.
have you ever noticed girls (/people) who crash diet tend to last for a little while then binge and give up? an eating disorder isn't just about food and it would never let you give up without severely punishing yourself through whatever is in your head. like self harming or excessive exercise or whatever. I used to have to have freezing cold showers and sleep without blankets because that's what it made me do to punish myself for eating i guess i dunno it's pretty fucked up.


I agree with blue suede about the attention thing, but it's not like an attention whore thing i guess it stems from deep feelings of neglect or something. I am still a bit like that, i like having bruises on my knees and stuff. I don't like when people see them but I like knowing that they're there (???)

ED's stem from an enormous amount of factors/reasons. it's hard to pin point. Sometimes the most "normal" looking people with seemingly perfect lives can develop ED's.

edit: i think mine came about because i was abused and my mum was worried about my health because i was chubby and she didn't know how to handle it, so an incredible amount of emphasis was placed on it and she used to force me to exercise or I wouldn't be allowed to eat. This has really tarnished my relationship with my mum and I still harbor a lot of resentment towards her for it. It's also ruined my sisters life because a) she had to watch her older sister go through it, the screaming, the food fights, the non stop crying and b) now my parents are crazy watchful of her and her eating. I would give anything for it to not have happened just because of how it affected my sister. she was like 11 at the time i think.

 

[Blue Suede]

Yeah, it's not like OH HEY GUYS LOOK AT ME I'M SKINNEH. It's a deeply personal thing that I'm not sure how to explain better than I have.

Though there's about a 20% comorbidity rate of people with eating disorders and histrionic personality disorders (over sexualisation of the self believed to have a link to drawing attention to sexualised features in an attempt to fill some other hole in their life).