I think a lot of it actually is. Maybe the ‘changeling’ was so full of self loathing with a total lack of self worth that swapping gender is an easier and less painful (read fatal) form of suicide?
Also an interesting comparison to note the upsurge in reported gender dysphoria recently with a similar upsurge in eating disorders in the 80s. Both very strongly found within teenage girls. Social contagion?
ralph bell
3 years ago
Very helpful and insightful article into a terrible condition. As you say people who feel they have little control over their lives can at least control their eating, which in itself gives them a mental boost, but then can lead down a vicious spiral.
The article isn’t only about anorexia. Strikes me that bulimia and binge eating are characterised by a complete loss of control wrt eating.
Andrew Thompson
3 years ago
Excellent article and all (by my experience with others who suffer anorexia) nailed on the head. Serious question though what about those who pile tremendous weight on using the excuse of ‘comfort eating’. Is this the flip side of the same coin maybe?
no, its something quite different apart from the common denominator of underlying psychological issues, just very different ones.
Daisy D
3 years ago
Disordered and compulsive eating is a process (or behavioral) addiction – whether it’s binging/ purging bulimia, or anorexia or overeating to the point of obesity. And yes, I agree w/the author that no addiction can be reduced to some simple or single causality; it’s by nature a complex disease that affects mind, body and spirit.
The cultural emphasis on escape mechanisms as a good (like ‘perfected body’, glamorization of alcohol and drug abuse, elevation to a social good of winning at all costs, looking good on the outside, etc.) aren’t causations of addiction, but symptomatic social reflections of addiction.
These cultural signs and symptoms of addiction can become conflated w/addiction itself, causing serious confusion for not only the addict, but for those who inadvertently enable the addict by confusing symptoms of addiction – such as winning at all costs – as signs of good health and not of sickness.
Which is one of the reasons that people who successfully deal w/healing from addiction find spiritual transcendence – which enables the practice of values that contraindicate the deadly selfishness of addictive behavior – invaluable.
Last edited 3 years ago by Daisy D
Joseph Berger
3 years ago
“real” anorexia is not “caused” by social media, celebrity fascination, etc, it is a very individual problem, far more common in early adolescent girls, and can persist long into adult life.
in young girls, the underlying psychological issues have a lot to do with fears around growing up and the implications that has for a young girl. True anorexia usually is not just significant weight loss, but is accompanied in young girls often by periods stopping, loss of the body hair characteristic of a developing young woman.
overeating usually is related to stifling inner feelings of anger, rage, that are soothed by food, especially sweet food,
it is not genetics that is the influence – but it is family behaviour that children pick up at a very early age that is a significant factor.
even “world renowned” psychiatrists make this mistake, confusing things that are genetically inherited – with behaviours that are passed on within a family, and so poorly trained psychiatrists and mental health workers taking a “family history” and a person says “yes, my mum, dad, uncle, aunt, etc, had this problem” jump to the incorrect conclusion that it is a genetic trait – rather than a behaviour picked up in early childhood.
obese parents have obese children – not because of genes or fat cells, but because their behaviour pattern is to overeat to stifle uncomfortable emotional feelings – and don’t even know that is what they are doing.
As I say to people, the “best” or worst “experiments” proving the truth of this have been the concentration camps, there are no fat people in concentration camps, doesn’t matter how many fat cells you have, or whether your parents were obese, on a starvation diet you will lose weight,
asdf
Absolutely!
I think a lot of it actually is. Maybe the ‘changeling’ was so full of self loathing with a total lack of self worth that swapping gender is an easier and less painful (read fatal) form of suicide?
Also an interesting comparison to note the upsurge in reported gender dysphoria recently with a similar upsurge in eating disorders in the 80s. Both very strongly found within teenage girls. Social contagion?
Very helpful and insightful article into a terrible condition. As you say people who feel they have little control over their lives can at least control their eating, which in itself gives them a mental boost, but then can lead down a vicious spiral.
The article isn’t only about anorexia. Strikes me that bulimia and binge eating are characterised by a complete loss of control wrt eating.
Excellent article and all (by my experience with others who suffer anorexia) nailed on the head. Serious question though what about those who pile tremendous weight on using the excuse of ‘comfort eating’. Is this the flip side of the same coin maybe?
no, its something quite different apart from the common denominator of underlying psychological issues, just very different ones.
Disordered and compulsive eating is a process (or behavioral) addiction – whether it’s binging/ purging bulimia, or anorexia or overeating to the point of obesity. And yes, I agree w/the author that no addiction can be reduced to some simple or single causality; it’s by nature a complex disease that affects mind, body and spirit.
The cultural emphasis on escape mechanisms as a good (like ‘perfected body’, glamorization of alcohol and drug abuse, elevation to a social good of winning at all costs, looking good on the outside, etc.) aren’t causations of addiction, but symptomatic social reflections of addiction.
These cultural signs and symptoms of addiction can become conflated w/addiction itself, causing serious confusion for not only the addict, but for those who inadvertently enable the addict by confusing symptoms of addiction – such as winning at all costs – as signs of good health and not of sickness.
Which is one of the reasons that people who successfully deal w/healing from addiction find spiritual transcendence – which enables the practice of values that contraindicate the deadly selfishness of addictive behavior – invaluable.
“real” anorexia is not “caused” by social media, celebrity fascination, etc, it is a very individual problem, far more common in early adolescent girls, and can persist long into adult life.
in young girls, the underlying psychological issues have a lot to do with fears around growing up and the implications that has for a young girl. True anorexia usually is not just significant weight loss, but is accompanied in young girls often by periods stopping, loss of the body hair characteristic of a developing young woman.
overeating usually is related to stifling inner feelings of anger, rage, that are soothed by food, especially sweet food,
it is not genetics that is the influence – but it is family behaviour that children pick up at a very early age that is a significant factor.
even “world renowned” psychiatrists make this mistake, confusing things that are genetically inherited – with behaviours that are passed on within a family, and so poorly trained psychiatrists and mental health workers taking a “family history” and a person says “yes, my mum, dad, uncle, aunt, etc, had this problem” jump to the incorrect conclusion that it is a genetic trait – rather than a behaviour picked up in early childhood.
obese parents have obese children – not because of genes or fat cells, but because their behaviour pattern is to overeat to stifle uncomfortable emotional feelings – and don’t even know that is what they are doing.
As I say to people, the “best” or worst “experiments” proving the truth of this have been the concentration camps, there are no fat people in concentration camps, doesn’t matter how many fat cells you have, or whether your parents were obese, on a starvation diet you will lose weight,