Mental Health Update

While the western world is now wary of “overly thin” celebs like Nicole Ritchie, Keira Knightley & Mischa Barton, especially in light of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, it is sad how almost everyone here is celebrating Kareena’s weight loss. When questions did arise, she went on record to say she is “far from anorexic” and all her weight loss is due to “power yoga” and a “special diet”.

… the development of overeating:

what do people do when they start on their recovery from anorexia? here is a list of ten things that those who deal with this eating disorder mention most frequently. these are activities that they themselves decide on. that’s important to keep in mind. if i were to say to one of my clients, “jo, why don’t you cook a nice meal for anne and bob? you could prepare something you like and then have some yourself!”, it would quite possibly backfire. however, i’m happy when a client comes in and tells the story of doing some of these things.

She admits to not always having a loving relationship with food. We talk about the prevalence of eating disorders among women of our ilk, (white, upper middle class, college educated, and oh yeah, female.) “My mom is a Pilates instructor, so I was always health conscious,” she says, “I was never anorexic, but at the end of high school and in early college, I had very restricted eating habits and deprived myself of a lot of good things.”

Sara Evans has accused her husband of 13 years, Craig Schelske, of having an affair with her former nanny and close friend who inspired her involvement in a national eating disorder organization. On Thursday, the country singer filed for divorce and announced that she had dropped out of the ABC reality show “Dancing With the Stars” to spend time with her family.

Here are snapshots of Katharine McPhee’s bulimia battle all over Yahoo News. She’s front page news on the New Yahoo Page, she’s headline news in the Top News section, the Entertainment section, the headline news in the subsections of Music, Television and Gossip/Celebrity News under the Entertainment section… she’s everywhere.

I don’t want to hang around with people who have active eating disorders or addictions either. I understand it, I empathize completely, but it messes with my head and I can’t be close to that. It’s too easy for me to take care of others at my own expense.

While the authors of the work point out that British youth do suffer from a number of problems, including eating disorders, teen suicide, and so on, the message is ultimately that non-religious young people in the UK do not seem to be wandering around in an alienated, amoral state; they simply seem to have found that life is meaningful and worthwhile without the Church of England or any other organized religious body. (Interesting to note that they see "family" as an important source of happiness - how traditional is that?)

The Australian body that governs cheerleading has banned midriff-baring attire because showing skin "in front of family groups" may somehow "encourage eating disorders".

I read things like the above quote and just grieve. I do not know how she is alive and walking after years of eating disorders and drug abuse. Three years ago when she lived with us the doctor said she was on the verge of heart failure, and that was before the meth. I am quite sure that the damage she has done to herself has become somewhat permanent. Though I still believe in miracles. My logical mind tries to scientifically understand how she is still alive. I imagine that her body has “reprogrammed” to run on meth now instead of real food. That is why such addictions are so horrible to break, is it not?

The teen years are some of the most difficult for both boys and girls. However, studies show that as teen boys enter puberty, their confidence is likely in increase. On the other hand, girls’ confidence and feelings of self-esteem are likely to take a downhill slide. The repercussions of this can be damaging at best and destructive at worst. Girls who do not feel good about themselves are more likely to suffer from depression and engage in self-destructive behavior that can range from eating disorders, to cutting, to risky sexual behaviors. Obviously, doing whatever you can to keep your daughter feeling good about herself is a good idea. The following tips are by no means all inclusive, but they are a starting point.

I think you have failed to balance out the argument and you are targeting MTV (a very EASY target) to express your disgust with the fact that an otherwise healthy young 24-old-female Paula suffers from a very vicious, terrible eating disorder.

A Life Coach will help you with any and all issues you may have. A Life Coach will help you take what appear to be big problems, and break them into smaller, manageable challenges, like a good math teacher would do. A Life Coach will help you take action with the smaller points by getting to your real issues and learning the reason for your core problem. Once that is determined, action is taken to address and resolve the problem. This can be anything from procrastination, clutter, starting a small business, weight issues, relationship issues (with family, friends, mates, roommates, bosses, co-workers), or more serious emotional issues such as eating disorders, compulsive gambling, sexual issues, phobias or excessive-compulsive disorders, etc.

Paula is the character on the show that has an eating disorder but that’s not all. Paula is clearly a depressed person who shows signs of manic depression and a ridiculous amount of self esteem issues. She also clearly stated in her audition tape that she was “kind of bulimic”. The roommates notice that she is incredibly thin right away and the frat boy character John says that he thinks she would be pretty if she gained weight. This spirals into confrontation and ends in hyperventilation.

I think it is revolting to see Tele ads of food, and in a show with these women walking around with perfect hair and make up. Freaking insane humans are. We tempt ourselfs with fat food commercials right inbetween a show of skinny women and buff men. No wonder there are eating disorders! Where in history has there been so many eating disorders? NEVER.

It’s ironic that we can post our thoughts, our dreams, our problems online where everyone can read them, yet we all seem to stay self-conscious of our appearance. We really might as well walk around naked, but our bodies have stayed something to blush about while we talk openly about drug addictions, eating disorders, family problems, sexual preferences…. Nothing has stayed as sacred as our bodies, yet it seems like our bodies should have been sacrificed to media a long time before our minds were.

A woman who appears to do some sort of graphic design (I didn't look too closely) was recently asked to remove this picture from her work due to the potential that it could cause discomfort to those with eating disorders. I am wondering how far this will eventually spread. Will naturalists (PC for nudists) eventually be able to get billboards to feature nude models since the "clothes" they are often wearing are offensive to those who have an aversion to clothes. I'm not stating that being a naturalist is a disorder, but rather it is a sad state of affairs with the whole Politcal Correctness movement.

Youngsters are being pushed into eating only the ‘purest’ foods, creating eating disorders in children as young as nine.

When she left the hospital after a couple of weeks, her weight was up to 95 lbs, and she was eating regular meals. She'd already had a couple of sessions with an outpatient therapist, and would start a specialized day program for eating disorders the following Monday. She seemed well on her way to overcoming anorexia nervosa.

Cafeteria food is probably the number one reason students become anorexic or bulimic. For all those stupid videos and assignments we had to do in health regarding these stupid eating disorders, you’d think one of the teachers would catch on to it. The logic behind it is rock solid. If anorexics don’t eat food, and school food is food, then anorexics don’t eat school food. Thus, anorexics are obviously avoiding eating school lunch by not eating food at all. Who’s happy if they’re not eating? Besides Ghandi, nobody of importance.

At Millennial Star, a discussion has started in the comments to the General Conference prediction post about whether or not eating disorders are sins. Some good points are being made, but I worry about putting all compulsions on equal ground.

One of the themes that the author, Mr. Barrett Seaman, focus at is the emotional troubles that students might go through while attending college. It includes�depression, eating disorders and other psychological problems.

Speaking of respect..I'm not sure how I feel about a new comedy that's going to air on FX called "Starved". It's about 4 friends who suffer from various eating-related disorders. One's a recovering anorexic.. one's bulimic..another is extremely obese. The catch is that all of them truly suffer from eating disorders in life outside the show. I just can't overly imagine a show about those particular issues where the humor could be anything but crass and somewhat .. tasteless?

Anyway, I don’t really know anything about cutting. Eating disorders are my specialty. I spent seven weeks as an inpatient, and met a whole bunch of anorexics and bulimics (and was the only binge eater/non-purger of the group). I can help with eating disorders… I am at a loss as to how best to help with the cutting. I’m gonna do some online research…

I think a huge part of my problem is that I internalize everything. There I go, using psychology vocab. But really, I think I’m a lot more introverted than I would like to admit to myself. And I don’t think that I express my anger with myself in the outside world in any other way than just by becoming a bitch. I understand that that makes others just step away from me, thinking, “bitch.” and thus not taking me seriously or trying to spend time finding out what the problem is or listening to me.

After filling out most of the assessment, I am beginning to understand why he wanted to focus on my weight issue. It seems it is not uncommon, at least by the questions, that sexual anorexia and eating disorders travel hand in hand down the road of dysfunction. I have only recently been introduced to the term sexual anorexia so other than the basics, such as avoiding sexual intimacy, I don't know much about it.

As a dancer/figure skater/WOMAN, I know all too well the world of eating disorders. My own personal eating habits are crazy effed up - that in itself is a long, painful story that I choose to keep private at this time - so I’m definitely not one to give advice. But somehow giving advice is easier than taking it. Unfortunately, dance.net is littered with young ladies who are literally destroying their bodies in order to get that impossible-if-only-by-genetics-or-starvation Balanchine look. It really saddens me to see these girls with such amazing potential - true athletes and artists that in many cases have opportunities to turn professional - see flaws in their bodies that aren’t really there.

My doctors have told me not to worry about losing weight. They want me to eat a healthy diet. But with the recent changes with the Food Pyramid, and years of dieting, eating disorders and allergies, I have absolutely no clue how to eat a healthy diet anymore. I never had the best examples to begin with, and so I need to learn a new healthy eating lifestyle. From all of my research, Weight Watchers seems to come the closet to teaching this.

4. Pro-ana/mia/E.D. Researching the controversial (sic) web community that purportedly celebrates eating disorders.

There were several theories floated by Michael Schiavo and others over the years, including heart attack, stroke, eating disorders and caffeine that could have caused her brain damage. However, they were all ruled out after examination of all of her medical records.

Parents who model good eating habits help their kids make better choices and avoid eating disorders, says Antine. She cites a recent study showing that mothers who eat lots of fruits and veggies are less likely to pressure their daughters to eat, and those daughters are less picky and consume more produce.

I've written repeatedly on body issues. I have also confessed my own struggle with eating disorders. I don't have an answer for this right now, other than this deep dismay that our insanely unhealthy attitudes toward bodies--especially white attitudes toward bodies--are deadly. Literally.

Anorexia subcultures are flourishing online, to the perennial surprise of the media. The current fascination with group anorexia is a significant shift from the last generation of After School Specials and eating disorder memoirs.

this morning in therapy, my therapist was like, "i read your blog and i'm concerned that you may have an eating disorder. i think you should go to an outpatient program." i'm sitting here writing this as i'm eating moon and star-shaped cheese. i was like, "ru kidding?" she was like, u have the symptoms. i know the symptoms of eating disorders. i've read like five books on eating disorders, which is a lot for someone who doesn't even read. she was like, "i know girls want to look like celebrities, but you are excessive about it." i was like, i know what i'm doing. it's motivation. i do it for motivation. and i think it's normal to put photos of kate bosworth on my blog. i don't think it's weird. if i put one of mk's back (i call britney spears britney and paris hilton paris ,etc. HA) that would be a little weird - that would be a red flag,.

"Eating disorders are increasingly prevalent among Jewish and Orthodox adolescents," according to a new booklet called Body and Soul: Addressing Eating Disorders by Dr. Caroline Peyser and a research team, published by ATID. The booklet is an informative, user-friendly guide for educators on how to help students who may exhibit signs of Anorexia and Bulimia.

Now consider this, I have never had or considered indulging in an eating disorder. But for that instant, I briefly saw how one can start. It's really subtle and the funny thing is, I know eating disorders. Not so much personally but from the media. And not once did I ever relate it to me. I've seen super skinny women on TV and never related them to me. So what was the diff between my past experiences and last week?

Nevertheless, even Yank nutritionists and counselors heartily approve of Guiliano’s central message. “The good part of what she says is emphasizing the sensuality of food and liberating eating from `morality,’ ‘’ said Deb Burgard, a psychologist in Los Altos who specializes in weight and eating disorders. “She makes it clear that we deserve a lot more pleasure from what we eat and a lot higher quality.'’

A weight-loss program common in many Singaporean schools that singles out apparently fat children may be contributing to eating disorders among girls, a study published in the Straits Times said.

Everyone aspires to someone else, everyone wants to change atleast one thing about their looks or their personalities that they see as a fault or a defect. No one is ever truly happy with who they are. You can open a magazine or a newspaper, switch on your TV and you are guaranteed to see some gorgeous vision of an actress or singer swathed in an expensive designer gown looking emaculate, but just ask yourself how many of these supposedly perfect human specimens suffer from eating disorders or have even stooped so low to having plastic surgery...

What I realized writing my book was that I had been empty since adolescence. Whenever I try to figure out how to describe it, it always manifests for me in terms of emptiness. I feel like when I was an adolescent, and felt so unworthy of love and so empty, I moved outside of myself. Myself emptied out of myself. And what was left was a more perfect me that maybe people could love, and I wasn't going to show them the other part. And when you do that, you fill in the emptiness�well, it fills up with anxiety real fast, and to numb the anxiety you do...

The Sunday Times yesterday reported on an epidemic of eating disorders in Ireland caused in part by constant media references to obesity. Some kids are so scared of obesity they’re becoming bulimic or anorexic.

The same seems to be true for eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Several recent studies have found that even after treatment, where weight was restored in malnourished and underweight women with anorexia, their perfectionistic beliefs persisted and likely contributed to relapse. Perfectionism also seems to be one of the strongest risk factors for developing an eating disorder.......

"Research shows that half the men who abuse their wives or girlfriends abuse the children too, and there is no evidence to show that such abuse declines post separation. Children who grow up with abuse are more prone to behavior problems, depression, eating disorders, suicide, school failure and increased drop out rates, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, adult criminality, and are more prone to becoming involved in abusive relationships as adults," says Mo Therese Hannah, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology at Siena College, whose professional focus is on couples therapy and dynamics of abuse. Hannah is the organizer of the annual National Battered Mother's Custody Conference.

But here’s the interesting thing - the boy didn’t get suspended. What is worse I wonder? Seriously. Teasing young girls about their weight can do irrepairable damage, leading to low self esteem and eating disorders. The boy just got a sore nose out of the incident. What is worse - physical violence or psychological violence?

Already, some TV psychologists were laying that groundwork, speculating about everything from eating disorders to the pressures and stress that all brides feel before a wedding, much less an obscenely large affair with 600 guests, 14 bridesmaids and 14 groomsmen. Even Fox television mad dog Bill O'Reilly got all soft, suggesting that Wilbanks might need a mental evaluation.

Being a man and all, eating disorders are not something I am terribly familiar with, unless you are talking about gluttony. But, I recently came across a couple of blog entries from young ladies dealing with eating disorders, one from my church and one from my blogroll. Miss O'Hara shares he struggle with anorexia in this post and it is quite eye-opening for an ignorant person like me. Then, my good friend at Writings of an Exceptional Being shared a bit about her own struggle and a poem she wrote while recovering from this (hey,...

...the downside of this strategy with respect to the consumer is the fact that when that consumer goes to a different store and tries on a different brand of jeans that uses a true sizing scheme, the consumer may start to feel insecure about their size knowing that last week they bought a pair of jeans that was a size 5 and this week they had to buy a pair that was a size 9. In short, the manufacturers that are using the vanity sizing system are perpetuating society's unrealistic standards for thinness which is compounding the problems with eating...

I'm sure some of you (guys, probably) are thinking, "Thanks a lot, Title IX," but steroids are being viewed not only as a solution to quickly improve athletic performance; some girls are using them "to get the toned, sculpted look of models and movie stars." What happened to a simple eating disorder, you ask? Apparently, in many cases, the steriod-abusing females "are the same girls who have eating disorders." This makes some sense, in an unstable sort of way, as on the surface taking shots or pills appears less self-abusive than inducing vomiting...

The study itself looks pretty solid to me. It's the secondary spin that's insidious. Third parties are trying to give the public a false sense of security about the obesity crisis. Being overweight is good for you, the flacks insist. Well, not exactly... (Being overweight is probably healthier than yo-yo dieting, eating disorders, or extreme bariatric surgery, but this study doesn't bear on those important issues.)

The physical and emotional strains of the whole process are can contribute to depression, eating disorders, and general ill health.

Usually I come online and look up random issues, and today I decided to look up eating disorders. I’ve thought ‘there has got to be more out there than just anorexia and bulimia … something strange and I’m going to find it.” So that is what I did. Now before you people go yelling at me, no, I’m not making fun of those with eating disorders. Here is what I found :

PICA: Pica is an eating disorder typically defined as the persistent eating of non-nutritive substances for a period of at least one month. Individuals with pica have been reported to ingest a wide variety of non-food substances, such as: clay, dirt, sand, stones, pebbles, hair, feces, lead, laundry starch, vinyl gloves, plastic, pencil erasers, ice, fingernails, paper, paint chips, coal, chalk, wood, plaster, light bulbs, needles, string, and burnt matches.

Studies show links between supressed anger and alcoholism, eating disorders and depression (the last two of which are suffered by women at much higher rates). I find that when I'm not depressed, I'm pissed off more often. I also find that being pissed off kinda feels good. So if I am frequently threatening to punch people in the face, don't worry. It's when I stop doing that that you should be concerned.

A lot of eating disorders seemingly start with the implementation of a ritual into the eating pattern of a sufferer. They may start eating things in a certain order, or having only a certain number of items on a plate. This is, of course, simply an example of control over what they are eating. Many sufferers state that their ED started through attempting to exert some degree of control.

Still, 7 percent of athletes in general, and 25 percent of those from lean sports were identified as being at risk for eating disorders, based on their responses to questions about dieting, fear of weight gain and preoccupation with weight. The same was true of nearly 13 percent of nonathletes.

Remuda Ranch suggests approaching a loved one with an eating disorder in a gentle, non-judgmental way. Asking basic questions can open the door to dialogue. Don't assume your loved one will lie about their condition -- their behavior could be a cry for help. On the other hand, many people with eating disorders will deny that there's a problem. Don't get discouraged if they reject your offer to help: leave the door open and keep coming back until they are willing to accept help.

I had a great time at the 7th London International Conference on Eating Disorders last week. As usual, a wonderfully diverse and stimulating programme, very well organised by Rachel Bryant Waugh, Bryan Lask and their hardworking team of volunteers.

There was quite a bit of media coverage of the conference, particularly about Bryan Lask and colleagues' neuroimaging work. Bryan was on 'All in the Mind' on Radio 4 last week talking about this and other issues in eating disorders. The work was also mentioned in the Independent Newspaper.

Not all overweight people exposed to images of skinny models and the such develop eating disorders. Of course, it is a serious issue that merits attention, but the way it's addressed today eclipses the obesity problem. That is just as serious, if not more so due to the scope of the problem. (After all, America is the land of the obese. Reader's Digest showed food and drink portions in the US as far bigger than elsewhere around the world. "American food" brings to mind all that is sugary, greasy, fried, and fatty- burgers, barbeques, fries, pizzas, chips, pies, sodas, shakes. What about the increasing number of obese children too?) People need to examine and acknowledge the various factors behind eating disorders and stop automatically blaming models and celebrities.

Under recovery at www.amazon.com are the following topics: general (which includes the works of Janet Woititz, the founder of ACOA, Pia Mellody, Alcoholic Anonymous--Big Book 4th Edition, Charles Whitfield, Patrick Carnes, John and Linda Friel, etc.), Adult Children of Alcoholics, alcoholism, drug dependency, eating disorders, sexual, smoking, substance abuse, and twelve-step progams. Ths listmanias contributed by various readers are quite good as recources for starting or continuing a study...