A few pounds have been lost. People notice. Flattering comments begin to flourish. The sufferer of a growing eating disorder hears the compliments and feels good - great! Fantastic! Here's a reward especially enticing for teenagers who are grappling with emerging identities. The individual messages are reinforced by cultures idolizing thinness and sexuality as valuable and desirable.
The Cycle Begins
The eating disordered teenager and/or adult (female and male), reinforces the cycle by further restricting their diets, gathering more praise. As time elapses a vicious cycle has been set in motion.
A new edge develops, instead of compliments, concerns about too much weight loss arises. The message the eating disorder sufferer hears is envy, "Jealous of the way I look? You just want me to be fat!" Hooked again!
Examples of Internal Messages
- Feeling special;
- Feeling lofty and without blemish;
- Sense of control;
- Immediate gratification leading to an immediate sense of joy and fulfillment;
- No external rewards unless there is no eating;
- A means to hide from other problems (family and/or school issues);
- Escaping from maturation;
- Escaping from a monthly menses (for a female); and,
- Weak sense of identity without the eating disorder.
Power Messages
A sense of power and control over life gradually manifests, coupled with an increasing sense of being special. The family may react positively at first to the new look and the new eating patterns. As the family reacts, however, this increases the sense of power and control - doesn't matter if the reaction is positive or negative. The reactionary family arena offers, perhaps, more satisfaction than in the arenas outside of the home.
Coping Mechanisms and the Insidiousness of an Eating Disorder
Because teenagers especially lack a toolbox of solid coping mechanisms, over time, the eating disorder becomes the crumbling rock the teenager, and perhaps an eating disordered adult will lean upon. The teen (or adult) will not see or will ignore the inadequacies of this coping device; herein lies the insidiousness of the disorder. The sufferer doesn't see the damage the eating disorder is having upon the psyche or the body.
Depending upon how much weight the teenager or adult had in the beginning, as weight loss continues, the body begins to suffer damages that may not be readily noticeable. This holds true for bulimics and binge eaters as well. Can't see any damage? Nothing is wrong!
Additionally, the eating disorder will develop an internal voice of its own. This "voice" may vary with each sufferer, but it comprises those messages which keep the sufferer hooked. Therapeutic journaling and collage making can help to identify the messages of this voice.
Starvation Study
During World War II a starvation study was conducted by the University of Minnesota by Ancel Keys upon 36 physically and psychologically determined healthy men. The findings of the study were similar to the consequences anorexics experience physically, mentally and emotionally.
Results of the Key's study included:
- Fixation with food that becomes translated into behaviors;
- Marked changes in eating patterns;
- Increase in negative emotions to an extent where medical treatment was necessary;
- Decreased libido and increased isolation; and
- Thinking was impaired.
An additional result was that overeating was an immediate consequence of starvation. Current studies have demonstrated that, "...30% of people with anorexia nervosa will go on to develop binge and purge symptoms or bulimia nervosa." [1].
These hooks make eating disorders a multi-level treatment issue needing professional help.
Source
[1]. Deborah K. Katzman, M.D.,FRCP(C), Leora Pinhas, M.D., FRCP(C),Help fpr Eating Disorders A Parents' Guide to Symptoms, Causes and Treatments, Robert Rose, Inc., 120 Eglinton Ave. E., Suite 800, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4P 1E2., no date of publication. pgs. 94 - 100.
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