I've been thinking (and also drinking, alone, again), and the criteria for eating disorders are such a cruel and ridiculous notion.
Eating disorders are purely psychological. The side affects are physical yes, but the issue lies in the thought process. It is a mental illness, and to be told that for treatment you must reach a certain level of physical illness is ridiculous. Would a doctor tell a schizophrenic that they had to have a certain number of hallucinations per day to get treatment? No. Of course not. The general rule for treating mental illness (or so I believe) is that the earlier it's caught the better the chance of recovery. So why must someone with an eating disorder get worse in order to get better?
If someone with an eating disorder wants treatment they have to push themselves further into their illness until the fit the requirements. There are actual requirements you must reach in order to be classed with the illness. It's maddening.
I, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, have pushed myself harder in order to fit the 'official criteria' for an eating disorder. From day one I knew that making myself sick was wrong, and when after a month I realised I couldn't stop I looked up help online, and every single website told me I wasn't sick enough to need treatment. That I needed to continue for a few more months before I could even consider thinking about treatment. And that's what I've done. I've pushed myself to the point where I'm not even sure I want help. Even now, with my official criteria, I don't feel sick enough to get help.
The BMI requirement for anorexia is dangerous. I've seen so many people on these sites saying that they feel just as ill, or possibly even worse, at a higher weight and BMI than they did when they were physically anoretic. Saying somebody has to be dangerously underweight to receive treatment is really irresponsible.
I seriously think that the entire classification system for eating disorders needs to be rethought.
I'm so sorry that this is such an angry, badly written post. I really hope I haven't upset or offended anybody with anything I've written.
I hope everybody is happy and healthy. Stay strong, stay beautiful and be yourselves; because you're all amazing.
Hey this wasnt badly written at all! It was an absolute pleasure to read and flowed like a dream!
ReplyDeleteYou are totally right, I went to get help about hallucinations and other symptoms of psychosis, and I was treated straight away, referred to a psychiatrist straight away, given support immediately, literally harassed and harassed by the doctors and psychiatrists to allow help from an early intervention team service - a person who would visit me wherever and whenever I wanted, sort of like a on the go counselor. Yet the sheer lack of regard there are for eating disorder sufferers is just ridiculous. I think with alot of things however, the NHS assess and are willing to treat people depending on degrees of risk, and they see people with psychosis, at more risk than someone suffering from depression. They see someone with an anorexic BMI as more at risk than someone with a comparatively healthy BMI who also suffers a disorder, whether recovering or just diagnosed. It is the way the health service works I guess, it isnt ideal and it definitely is not fair, and it really makes things worse. It allows acute disorders to fester and develop further, I had depression but I am pretty sure that maybe if I had been offered more care or given better psychiatric diagnosis then I would have received help which would have prevented many of the further serious "episodes" of psychotic depression from occurring. Its dreadful, but what can we do..
i hope you feel better huni love you x
Hey, I agree it needs to be rethought. It's likely that non-eating disordered people set the criteria for eating disorders and perhaps don't realise the impact that these illnesses can have on all asprects of people's lives while still maintaining a normal weight. An individual's attitudes towards food and eating, the constant guilt and self hatred and severe body image issues affect people adversely and they should be able to get help if they choose rather than being turned away.
ReplyDeleteAlice xx
I absolutely agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI think it is dreadful to refuse helping someone 'not sick enough'.
How can they possibly know 'how sick' we actually are ? BMI doesn't mean anything.
It's as stupid as telling a student who got an average mark 'I won't help you with your homework because you didn't get a bad mark enough'.
STUPID.
BTW, I love the way you changed your blog xX
I agree with you too, i hate the fact that we have to fit into a certain criteria to get help! No one knows what is really going on inside our heads except us. BMI means nothing when inside you are dying. I love this post, it tells he truth! Stay beautiful xx
ReplyDeleteNo, you are absolutely right. I hate the way people assume anorexia means "bone thin". It's not a body form. It's mental disease. The only reason people put anorexia with having to be deathly thin is because that's the only way people notice we have a problem, when our bodies show it. But normally by then it's far too late.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what I am or where I stand but I know one thing: my habits are not healthy and my goals are not healthy and I'm okay with that. So... label it as you will but until I'm 90 something pounds my family and friends will go on thinking I'm fine :/
-Emma
I COMPLETELY FUCKING AGREE WITH YOU. Personally, I've never sought out treatment for myself (I've still had to go) but it's such a paradoxical concept.
ReplyDeleteStarving ourselves is simply a symptom of the real problem, which lies in our minds; which is why most people don't understand, lack the capability to understand, or are unwilling to understand that "eating a fucking hamburger" won't resolve anything. You'll treat the symptom (momentarily) but the disease will continue to rot your mind.
Sheesh, that was long, but something about what you said, the way you said it, just struck something in me.
Thanks for your words on my last post by the way.
--Cammie
I'm with you and every other lovely lady on this subject. My own M.D asked me only once when I was at 109lbs if I was anorexic. I said know fully knowing he should be telling me or testing me for it, not asking.
ReplyDeleteThought at my worst, I was 118lbs, eating 1apple a day and getting heart pains and the man said I was perfectly healthy, only a few lbs shoryt of an ideal bmi. Like wtf!
That is why I fully support the program Dove has been doing with young girls. I say, prevention is better then cure. Especially since they seem to think you need to look like a cancer patient before you are "Anorexic enough" for serious help.
I agree with you 100%. I say that all the time. People who want to get should be able to. They shouldn't have to want them to get even sicker. I still remember when I tried to get help and they didn't take me seriously since I was classified as obese. Pisses me off every time I think about it.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree. The DSM for anorexia should've been changed years ago. Obese people suffer from anorexia too! Losing 100 pounds in 5 months isn't anorexia if your bmi is over 17.5. That's absurd, heart failure is a risk at any weight. I've considered treatment so many times, but feel I don't "deserve" it without an adequate bmi. THAT'S INSANE. You're right, treatment often pushes people further down before lifting them back up. If their insurance companies let them get treatment in the first place... but thats another topic. I'm going through your blog posts now. Don't be scared of the views haha <3
ReplyDeletei find that there is no help for people who are starting out with this illness, and that is what makes me the maddest.
ReplyDeletei told my friend about my bulimia, and she took that as a trigger to start her own hellish battle (let me tell you it is one of my biggest regrets) i urged her to get help before it gripped her too deeply. she obliged and spoke to her doctor- who proceeded to weigh her (wouldn't let her take her shoes or jumper off), questioned her about how "real" her problem was, made her cry and then basically told her there was nothing wrong with her. this girl vomited every morsel of food up, and told this 'doctor' so.
when she rang me in tears, telling me the story, i told her to go to a new doctor and to forget the questions and ask them to refer her straight on to the psych i used to see (one of the many 'recovery' attempts) - thankfully they did and it has stopped her in her tracks.
there should be no.... scale, no judgement, no issue with giving ANY one who asks for help the help they deserve.
how health professionals cannot see this is beyond me.