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Does Society Influence Eating Disordered Behavior in Women?

By: Elizabeth Anderson

Eating Disorders are extremely complex mental illnesses, even though they have what sometimes is presented as a glamorous and superficial air. Likewise, people with eating disorders suffer much more than those who are not afflicted ever realize. While they are often compared, when at very low weights, to looking like "concentration camp victims," the violent environment within their minds may not differ greatly from such a horrid place. I say this not only from personal study, but personal experience. Without discounting the horror of a concentration camp, the reality of dwelling in such horrifying "mental camps" is compounded by the fact that you are being "held hostage" in a place most literally impossible to escape. Some patients have gone so far as to have undergone partial lobotomies in an attempt to rid themselves of their "captor." The sufferer becomes the camp, the victim and the perpetrator.

To the eating disordered, particularly noting those with anorexia then bulimia, the body becomes a canvas of sorts for them to display what they are unable to verbalize to others; also at times, what they are unable to conceptualize even for themselves. In other words, the person is not only unable to speak out adaptively, but is unable to fully process what deeper messages they experience such urgency to convey. They do not intentionally conceal the meanings, but rather, do not understand them themselves, leaving them feeling helpless and plummeting further into the well of their eating disorder.

Since human nature is in large part defined by our wide array of emotional capabilities, inclusive of those such as anger, happiness, frustration and sadness, it should be easy to see that when individuals do not allow themselves to experience or overtly express their emotions, their minds necessarily find other ways. In the case of most people with anorexia or bulimia, one way they express themselves is in a loss of, or attempted loss of weight through various means. While the loss of weight may become what the individual sees as their goal, the numbers themselves are only a part of the expression. However, it would not be equitable to abandon this comment without adding the reminder that there are always exceptions and variations to symptoms, particularly in illnesses of the mind. For instance, there are eating disorder patients who do not report the highly publicized distorted body image, but experience (symptomatically) "only" an aversion to eating food. While being a slightly different presentation of symptoms, they still have an eating disorder of concern not only because of obvious physical problems, but also because of the emotional problems, consistently present at the root of these illnesses. The losing weight aspect of an eating disorder to the person him or herself, is part of a self-destructive process that they may be unable to recognize as being abnormal. However, while the anorexic is much more likely to be unsuspecting of their problem, the bulimic person is more likely to have an awareness meanwhile experiencing both a loss of ability and/or will to stop. Ritualized ways of eating; the actual activity of binging and purging for the bulimic; ritualized binging and purging, etc. is all a way to control and/or express these negative feelings. After its start, life for the anorexic or bulimic soon revolves predominantly, and usually only around their disorder, while their practices continue to numb and distract them from emotional pain. Food and/or the abstinence from food maintain their waking and sleeping. Specifically, the mind of the anorexic becomes like a calculator, constantly clicking away, figuring and refiguring their allotment and consumption of calories, even while holding conversation. It is common for anorexics to wake up terrified during the night having had a dream that they ate something they consider "taboo," such as a regular soda or slice of pizza.

While there are exceptions to symptoms, it is true that obsession with and distortion of weight is usually present in most people with eating disorders. "Distorted body images," are not concepts grounded in reality. Although it can seem very similar to delusional thought, (and can cross that line) it is really a distortion that prevents them from identifying this aspect of reality. Also, the intensity or presence of distortion can change from moment to moment. It serves a host of purposes to them, including a constant and tangible task of fixing things that aren't really "broken" while the true problems, they are unaware of how to face, perceive or handle. Distortion is a very efficient distraction to a person with an eating disorder and is not something that they can control, unless, if and when they are in recovery, they are able to lose the automatic and unconscious association that directly links stressful situations to their distorted image perspective.

Children particularly, who are faced with traumatic experiences not properly addressed, will find other ways to release the negative effects that have accumulated within, as a result of these traumas. While it is probably safe to say that most of these outlets are maladaptive and lead to self-destructiveness, in their own way they are grave attempts to self-preserve and may temporarily serve this purpose with strength in efficiency. In response to traumatic events, individuals (often as children, which is the time when the groundwork for an eating disorder may be laid or even may come to fruition) will become a great skeptic of the world and learn to rely only on themselves, believing they are the only one trustworthy. However, the child's resources are endlessly proven immature and are non-constructive in the long run. For example, a child may unconsciously learn that taking on the burden of being chronically ill may alleviate the stress of their parents' marital problems or difficult family issues, when the focus turns instead to the child's declining health. This might occur at the biological end of an illness: if a child has had the flu, a result might be a temporary lapse in marital discord as the parents rightly show concern over their child's health. Without conscious intent, the child's symptoms may fail to subside, leaving the biological origin behind and entering the realm of psychosomatics. (By "psychosomatics" I refer to the development of the eating disorder. Notably, research is being done on the role of genetics in anorexia and bulimia. This is a new area of research and can also be considered a possible predisposing factor in which individuals eventually receive such diagnoses. I do not intend to disqualify genetics by referencing psychosomatics.) This then begins the family affair with symptomatology, which avoids, distances and distracts everyone involved from the true, problematic source. However, while this may have postponed the family problems, it has also complicated them and even more so will have catastrophic negative effects on that child's physical and emotional well-being. Abused children, and adults who have been abused, including victims of rape and violent crime, may also fall into the hands of an eating disorder in an unconscious attempt to mask themselves from whoever or whatever their fears may include, cloaking their spirit in an "armor" of bones or additional weight. I use the word spirit in the absence of a more fitting term. Here, my intention is to differentiate between the body and the "spirit" wherever that may lie; that which is the collection of thoughts, emotions, personality traits, etc. which make us who we are. This is the part the disordered seeks to protect, by means of their flesh, which they enlist to serve as a malleable and protective barrier.

Due to many of the things I have already mentioned, I do not believe that society plays a significant role in the development of eating disorders. I can say that the images we see can and do encourage many people's lack of acceptance of their bodies, but I cannot say that the individuals who develop eating disorders, would develop their symptoms if they did not already "have one." What I mean by this, is that the eating disorder is far deeper than physical and begins long before the "symptoms" we are able to observe can appear. The eating disorder really is a disorder of the mind, which affects the body by taking it over. It is caused by a myriad of emotional problems, which finally implode into what we see as eating disorder symptoms. As was already mentioned, there is also a great deal of research being conducted to determine the role that genetics plays. Most people and even most people who diet, do not become anorexic or bulimic. However, the rate of bulimia does succeed the rate of anorexia.

I feel an urgency to avoid creating the false scenario that the purpose and aim (if assuming that there exists a conscious purpose and aim) of eating disordered individuals is to succumb to superficial vanity. If we say that society has a significant or even primary role in this, then we have misunderstood the nature and depth of the problem. Could it be that what already intrigues the general public: the "thinning of Hollywood", is influencing the assumptions they make concerning the cause of the frightening illnesses of anorexia and bulimia? Could it be that the same society that gives us the emaciated models and "unhealthy ideals" also feed us unscientific ideas about eating disorders, in part because of the ratings they draw by covering the topic and the quick answers the public wants to ease their fears? Lastly, could it be that the media presents and then takes advantage of the fascination with thinness by promoting similar looking bodies with different labels: "sleek runway model" and "sick anorexic"? In her description of the "Feminist Perspective" on eating disorders in her book, Half the Human Experience, Janet Shibley Hyde explains, "starving and vomiting reduce anxiety and there may be secondary gains when the anorexia attracts attention"(Hyde, 389). I agree almost completely. However, due to the addictive quality of an eating disorder, including specific brain changes which maintain the progressive spread of symptomatology, "attracting attention" cannot sustain the illness. It may be used by the disordered who, as a part of their obsession self-report a terror of being "fat" but who also fear losing the control and discipline they experience in their use of this vice. The unreliability of self-reports is made especially clear in the case of eating disorder patients because even when in the face of much research pointing to the contrary, their distraction with food and weight works so efficiently that a great many "spectators" including medical doctors and psychological therapists greatly associate their patients' self-reports of appearance obsession with negative media influences. To take an example from my own "personal experience" as I made reference to before, I used to anguish over this question of "why" as I deprived myself of food. The media emphasized "media influence" so much, as did my inexperienced friends and family that I wanted to know from myself if my problem had something to do with vanity, seeking attention, manipulation or any such thing. I would ask myself, "would I would stop my behavior if somehow I became stranded, all alone on a desert isle, with no one to "impress" or compare myself to?" What was my answer, every time? "Never."

Most people want a hairstyle that looks "acceptable", clothes that are "right" and to look some certain way or another. It is true that society emphasizes slim physiques in men and women (slimness particularly women), but it is something that is not inherently unhealthy to strive for and many people do. It is only the ones who have the "eating disorder mindset" (which is the true ‘disorder' itself) that develop one. But Hyde also explains in her "feminist" approach to eating disorders that "the anorexic shows an extreme reaction to the socialization messages that all women in American society hear while growing up" (Hyde, 388). However, in my experiences with countless eating disorder patients, myself, discussion with top eating disorder experts and careful observation, I have seen that the fear that trumps up the self-abasing self-reports of the anorexic, the extreme emaciation which can occur and the similarities between these symptoms and media messages can be very confusing. However, the confusion creates a facade of relation as well as "reaction", while virtually none exists. While there have been reports of eating disorder cases ‘increasing upon importation of American television' on an unfamiliar isle, there is also told a situation that sheds a very different light. According to a personal communication with an adult male who grew up in a kibbutz school in Israel, eating disorder rates are reportedly 200-300% higher than the U.S. and there is virtually no media influence. The regimented routine of the school children there includes even a specific time allotment (4pm-8pm) each day that children and parents can spend together. This individual was neither formally nor informally educated about eating disorders, but rather explained his experiences in the kibbutz to me with a curiosity about the illness of anorexia, which stole the lives and youths from many of his friends.

Do I think the media influenced the development of my anorexia? Absolutely not. Anorexics, as well as bulimics are obsessively competitive; particularly with each other. Within the illness they may search incessantly for "tips," "motivation" and "encouragement" to prolong the safety of their eating disordered behavior. The person may look in magazines, but only to feed their illness, which is their pre-requisite, not to truly measure themselves up to the images they see there or on the television/movie screens. Inpatient treatment for eating disorders, especially for an inexperienced young anorexic, is a breeding ground for competition. Initially, eating disordered individuals often believe and speak about their desire to "not be fat" and can be observed obsessing over the "waifs" and unhealthy ideals that have become so controversial. However, in opposition to Hyde's statement that implies eating disorders involve a personal bend to conform to "a culturally defined standard of beauty" (Hyde 388), the disordered do not truly seek beauty in cultural or any other terms, and are similarly not trying to achieve what the average person sees with disdain in the bony bodies of runway models and superstars. While on a deeper level they are unaware of what they truly "seek", their appearance begs to appear "sick", as if constantly striving to match their body's image to the lurking horrors, fears, secrets and frightening emotions that lie beneath the surface. It should be no wonder that they find this a never-ending task. Through the course of my personal, on-going treatment for anorexia I have made what I find to be, many interesting observations in regard to myself, and others with these illnesses. Included is the prevalent theme of feeling misunderstood or incapable of expressing the severity and depth of one's pain. On some level they might also feel that the great intensity with which their emotions rage (even though emotions are not always recognized as such until further into treatment) is incomprehensible. Thus, they end up seeming to be in competition to be the thinnest, when what they are really competing for is to say "I hurt the most" or "watch how horrible I feel" as if they could visually illustrate their pain. Since such things as ‘infinity' and ‘bottomless pits' are visually indescribable, being that they have no end, so are the attempts of the eating disordered to show the world their feelings. Both are screams, one silent, one verbal. With each breath of competition and each new morsel deprived, the disordered hopes their efforts will make their silent scream a little louder than before.

Despite my rebellion against the PC concept of the fashion industry ‘creating' or even playing a large role in the development of eating disorders, I will say that yes, even I obsessed with thin bodies as much as the next anorexic. But the person I actually envied, was Karen Carpenter. Yet, it wasn't because I deemed her beautiful and not because I wanted to "fit in," nor emulate her as an unreachable starlet, whose thighs I could only dream to possess. My jealousy was fueled by my thought that she had won the "ultimate" prize of an anorexic's life, by dying from her eating disorder. Wasn't that what it was all about? How much "sicker" could an anorexic be, than the one who starved herself to death? Because her illness resulted in death, it was as if she had instantly entered the "Anorexic Hall of Fame." Much like a noble soldier who unexpectedly takes a bullet and dies with honor on the front lines, following years of service. What frightened me was that at some point I realized that death was the nearest to being satisfied I could ever be; but if in my death I was able to reflect, I knew I still would not have achieved the satisfaction, or peace, that I longed for. I counted backwards in my head asking, "Which number is low enough?" I hated knowing that even if I stepped on the scale and the number read "0" I would hate myself and feel the urgency to lose more. This begs the question, "lose what? Or is that really not the point?"

I believe that eating disorders need to stop being considered a "woman's disease," nor a "teenager's problem." It is true that they do affect women more so than men, but they affect both. There is such a thing as infantile anorexia, and it is greatly common to find members of the geriatric community suffering from eating disorders, such as anorexia. Eating disorders affect homosexual and heterosexual males, as well as homosexual and heterosexual females. They affect young boys and young girls. While some forms of feminist psychology greatly attribute eating disorders to societal ideals and unrealistic expectations of women, I, once again, disagree with this theory. It is analogous to me of a gardener who keeps finding weeds in his garden. Some are brown and some are green. But instead of pulling them out by the roots, he keeps changing their surroundings, thinking they will go away. He shades the burnt brown weeds and they become green, reversing his care, the green turn brown. Ultimately, the gardener realizes that he did not pull his weed problem out by the roots, but just changed their appearances by altering the elements that gave them expression. In the end, they were still weeds and they were still unwanted, no matter what color they appeared when they sprouted from the earth.

In brief explanation, from my perspective, the feminist approach gets lost in the symptomatological realm of eating disorders. It digs for answers, but is misdirected. But assuming, hypothetically that we choose to act on this theory: that the most efficient method of eliminating eating disorders is to change society's standards for women, the problem will remain unresolved. Although eating disorders, drug addiction, self-mutilation, suicidal ideation/behavior, etc. are afflictions often treated separately from each other (and for good reason) their common bond, easily summarized as "maladaptive coping mechanisms," keeps them tightly woven. If we assume further, in this hypothetical world, that eating disorders drastically decline because society now has created a realistic standard of beauty, the problems that were the true "disorder" (root problems) will still be in need of expression and tools will still need to be given to the same individuals who remain incapable of determining proper emotional outlets, nor having proper insight into what they need to "let out." Taking away the "sunshine" that makes these problems sprout up, as "eating disorders" will not rid us of them. Rather, we may begin to see increased incidence of severe self-mutilation, drug addiction, sex addiction, forms of psychosis, OCD, suicide, etc. If the true problems, behind the differently colored curtains of such illnesses are addressed, such as family problems, sexual abuse, rape, domestic violence, child abuse, etc. and perhaps even underlying biological contributors, then just maybe we will get somewhere in our search for deliverance from these incapacitating and often fatal psychiatric-medical illnesses.

©2001 Elizabeth Anderson. Reprinted with Permission.

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