Well the first thing to point out is that it’s not all about trying to be as skinny as the models in Vogue. Oh no, there’s a whole heap more to it than that. Those skinny models don’t help and they give sufferers some might slim standards to aspire to but there are a whole host of reasons why people suffer from eating disorders – the best way to help you to understand is to share the words of sufferers themselves.
Control
“Everything was going wrong. My family was falling apart, I was getting in trouble at school, my life felt like a great big mess and it felt like food was the only thing I could control. So I did.”
Punishment
“I hated myself so much and constantly felt a need to be punished for not being perfect at school, for being a bad daughter, for not being popular enough. I used to love food so depriving myself of it felt like a good punishment.”
To appear ugly
“I was raped and it scared me so much. I didn’t ever tell anyone but I made the decision that I didn’t want a man to ever want me like that again. Now I’m ugly and thin, no one will want me and I won’t get hurt.”
To feel pure or clean
“I like to feel empty, it makes me feel clean and pure inside. The best kind of empty is when you haven’t eaten or drunk anything but I always find that too hard, so I make myself sick after I’ve eaten and keep on throwing up until I feel empty again. Then I feel better.”
Scared of food
“I didn’t really want to get so thin. That wasn’t the plan. I just got to a point where I couldn’t have food anywhere near me without having a panic attack. It was horrible. How can you eat when food makes you pass out with fear?”
I hope that by sharing these sufferers’ views, it will help you to understand that there are a lot of different reasons why people are affected by eating disorders, and that it’s a lot more complicated than it may first appear. Eating disorders aren’t slimming diseases or diets go wrong, they’re complicated, all-consuming mental health disorders that require the best support and treatment that is available.
By N September 28, 2024 - 12:47 am
Control, it was all about it, if I was thin I was in control of the situation, of I could control what to eat or how to or when to, it was perfect, I was in control, I thought, but really I was controlled by my ED,..