Eating Disorders and Suicide
Suicide - the Epitome of Self-loathing, Self-hatred Turned Deadly
Mar 13, 2009
In an article written by Sarah Luczaj, "Just How Strong is the Link between Anorexia and Suicide?"(March 10, 2008, Counselling Resource.com, website), women suffering from anorexia are 12 times more likely to die from anorexia than any other cause of death. This also takes into account the dynamic that these women are more likely to succeed in their death attempts.
Anorexic women apparently choose violent methods. Such methods of suicide include: swallowing bleach, drinking household cleaners and then lighting oneself on fire, or leaping into the path of an oncoming train.
Exploring the Reasons for Suicide
Anorexia sufferers hold their bodies up in severe self-contempt, encapsulating an intense fear of becoming fat. Perfectionism and control issues are other intense dynamics of anorexia. Combined with an iron will, these dynamics prove to be, perhaps, daunting, rigid parameters leading an anorexic to end one's life.
Luczaj's article, as noted previously, additionally states that the rate of suicide for anorexic women is, "57 times the expected rate of a healthy woman."
The Perception of Body Image as a Suicide Factor in Teenagers
Underweight or overweight teenagers have a propensity to engage in suicidal behavior due to how they perceive their bodies. In an article written by Dr. Greg Mulhauser, Managing Editor of Counselling Resource.com., "Perceived Body Weight an Important Risk Factor for Suicide", no date, he espouses that, " [young people] seriously considering suicide in the past 12 months of 14.2 percent for males and 23.6 percent for females, and a self-reported prevalence of attempting suicide in the past 12 months of 6.2 percent for males and 11.2 percent for females."
Referencing a report found in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Dr. Mulhauser states, “Our results suggest that...students with extreme perceptions of body size are at increased risk for suicide ideation and suicide attempts”.
Janell Smith's Suicide
Janell Smith's family is suing Magellan insurance for the untimely death of their daughter, Janell, age 26. According to the information presented within a CBS news report, the insurance company called Janell's father to inform him that his daughter's insurance coverage was cancelled. Thus, she needed to be discharged from inpatient treatment and transferred to an outpatient program.
Upon entering inpatient treatment, Janell weighed 68 pounds (2003) and the use of a feeding tube was needed to sustain her life. After three weeks of inpatient treatment, just as Janell's condition was improving, she was forced per the demands of the insurance company to leave treatment. The CBS report stated, "...guilt ridden, in the wake of an eating binge, Janell ingested a toxic combination of Tylenol, vodka and cocaine. She overdosed and died."
The insurance company contends that Janell's doctors did not request an extension in treatment, and that Janell left treatment of her own accord. Janell's family contends otherwise.
Early Lessons from Janell's Suicide
- Obviously something went wrong somewhere;
- Since insurance providers have to be contacted for payment, confidentiality has already gone out the window, to some degree, thus, a licensed treatment professional from the insurance company must be part of the treatment process from the intake, forward;
- Janell was evidently not strong enough psychologically (emotionally, perhaps socially) to withstand whatever the factors were that led her to kill herself; and,
- How could anyone weighing a mere 68 pounds at the beginning of his/her inpatient stay, needing the use of a feeding tube to live, in a mere three weeks time, be physically, mentally and emotionally fit to leave inpatient treatment?
Eating disorders are serious and should not be minimized or taken lightly, especially when linked with the possibility of suicide.
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