Recently in Eating Disorders Category

I recently read an article that discussed women's inbuilt fear of getting fat.  It discusses how women, more than men, react negatively when they see other obese women.  They do not react negatively against these other women, but instead react in a way that their brain focuses attention on their own self image.  When they see other women who are over-weight they process their own identity and self reflection, therefore solidifying their need to remain thin.  This can be the first stage of eating disorders, but this reaction is seen in many women, even those that externally would say that they were not worried about their image.  

This is an incredible article about anorexia. One of the best I've read to really get a sense of the struggle and motivation behind extremely controlled eating.

http://ehgazette.blogs.brynmawr.edu/2010/01/15/learning-to-live-with-anorexia/

After watching The Hours, and learning about autonomy and how everyone needs to have that kind of support in their lives, people have the need to be in control of their lives.  Where in the movie, all the women thought that suicide was the one thing that they could control in their lives, that was the thing that their husbands and responsibilities couldn't control.  When learning about this extreme sense to gain control, I thought of girls and boys who have eating disorders.  Where psychologically, they can feel so out of control with their lives, that they try and control what they put, or don't put, into their bodies.  Although, there are other ideas that go into Eating Disorders, I thought that autonomy was greatly related. 

I found an article that hypothesized that disturbances in the development of autonomy are a central psychological feature in anorexia nervosa. Specifically, that both restrictive and bulimic anorexics would evidence greater problems with autonomy than would controls and, further, that the three groups would show differential patterns of response on these measures.  The study proved to show that this was a true hypothesis.  The study states that autonomy isn't the single factor for certain eating disorders, but can be useful in the treatment of some eating disorders. 

http://psycnet.apa.org.proxy.lib.uni.edu/journals/abn/96/3/254.pdf

I believe that having control over one's own life is a huge motivating factor for how we choose to live our lives, and we want to be able to control certain things.  For eating disorders, their reinforce is the way that they feel about themselves when they lose the weight, but the idea that they will never be their 'perfect' size shows that persistence and need to be what their idea of perfect is.

I'm curious who has heard of these Pro Anorexia (Pro Ana) communities for anorexic and bulimics. In the past, I had heard of these types of communities and even viewed one of the Pro Ana sites. I had forgotten about such sites until looking for an article to blog about this week. I was trying to find more information on motivation in relation to anorexia and ignoring the physiological need for food as discussed in, I believe, chapter 1 or 2 of the textbook, and I came across this article. It is a run down of what a Pro Ana community is and it's purpose. They are controversial sites that actually exist to motivate people to NOT eat and "stay in control." It is bizarre and tragic to me that there are sites that directly promote and encourage eating disorders. While I was reading the article I thought about how "motivation" is a word that usually has a positive connotation (e.g. motivated to work out, succeed in school, be successful in the workplace, etc.) but in this case, people are being motivated to do something very detrimental to their health and bodies.

The wording in this article was disturbing to me. An example would be people who "strive to develop an eating disorder." It also goes on to explain that skinny anorexics have the "upper-hand" in the community because bulimics or those still "striving" to develop anorexia do not exude the same willpower to resist food and "idolize" the anorexics.

One of the most troubling things about this article is the pledge from a community, Thinnest of Them All, which I have pasted below.

"I believe in Control, the only force mighty enough to bring order to the chaos that is my world.
I believe that I am the most vile, worthless and useless person ever to have existed on this planet, and that I am totally unworthy of anyone's time and attention.
I believe that other people who tell me differently must be idiots. If they could see how I really am, then they would hate me almost as much as I do.
I believe in oughts, musts and shoulds as unbreakable laws to determine my daily behavior.
I believe in perfection and strive to attain it.
I believe in salvation through trying just a bit harder than I did yesterday.
I believe in calorie counters as the inspired word of god, and memorize them accordingly.
I believe in bathroom scales as an indicator of my daily successes and failures
I believe in hell, because I sometimes think that I'm living in it.
I believe in a wholly black and white world, the losing of weight, recrimination for sins, the abnegation of the body and a life ever fasting."

Your thoughts on this behavior or these communities? I couldn't find the Thinnest of Them All community, but feel free to share any Pro Ana communities you know of or come across.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1257083/pro_ana_community_underground_community.html?cat=5

*This blog is not in support of these communities or eating disorders. If you or a loved one has an eating disorder please seek help.