Anorexia/Bullemia

Bottle_of_Smoke

Having difficulty understanding these illnesses.

Just read a thread on PI about a girl suffering bulemia and it just made no sense to me. I actually felt annoyed at the stupidity/irrationality of it.

Obviously I just can't understand it because it's not happening to me.

I've also never quite understood anorexia and have to admit "frowned" upon sufferers but as above, it's not happening to me, how would I understand?

I went to bodywhys.ie but have to say the descriptions were pretty limited(crap)

So, what causes theses illnesses, what train of thought do sufferers go through?

I'm male myself, I know there's a small amount of male sufferers but is that partly why I wouldn't understand? Do non-suffering females find it easier to empathise with?

Thanks.

electrofilth

its commonly said that sufferers of bulimia and anorexia are concerned by alot more than just their weight/body image and more often than not its a deep psychological reason such as they need to gain control over something in their life and weight control somehow is a response to that.

So instead of adressing the real fear and emotions inside them, they divert them thoughts towards weight control.

This is not always the case.

I had an ex girlfriend who was bulimic at 13 and she said it was because from a very young age she was bullied for being fat, when in reality she was just slightly overweight. She got over the bulimia, but then had Body Dismorphia, which is when you cant tell what your figure really looks like and are obsessed with keeping thin, not neccessarily unhealthily thin, but unusually thin.

Its sad, there is just no convincing someone who thinks like that.

The Black Oil

Did you actually spend much time on the Bodywhys website? It is just a charity...

Eating disorders are a coping mechanism for difficult thoughts and feelings. They're not really about the food or weight, imo. It's the feelings that matter, not how many calories or food that someone is/is not consuming. Different schools within psychology will have different perspectives on the causes, but that's really for the researchers/practitioners and probably of limited value to sufferers.

Bottle_of_Smoke

The Black Oil wrote: »

Did you actually spend much time on the Bodywhys website? It is just a charity...

Eating disorders are a coping mechanism for difficult thoughts and feelings. They're not really about the food or weight, imo. It's the feelings that matter, not how many calories or food that someone is/is not consuming. Different schools within psychology will have different perspectives on the causes, but that's really for the researchers/practitioners and probably of limited value to sufferers.

I don't mean the site was crap just the descriptions of the illnesses. The two replies here have been far better.

murrno

I went through periods of starving myself..January to mid February of this year I ate very little going days on end with food that had the least calories. I lost over 4 and a half stone..I was quite heavy and thought loosing the weight would give me the confidence I lacked but in fact it hasn't although I still go through short periods of starving myself..to be honest I find it hard to pin the reason on why I do it but I guess it's insecurities I have within myself that make me want to do it.

People can do it for more reasons than weight loss but for me that was the reason I intially started starving myself. Whilst I've gained some confidence I still lack a lot and seem to be obsessed with everything I put in my mouth and feel really guilty if I over indulge and end of starving myself for at least the day after..I still haven't really spoke to anyone about it as I find it hard to admit it's a problem because I think I'm in control of it..

Bottle_of_Smoke

murrno wrote: »

I went through periods of starving myself..January to mid February of this year I ate very little going days on end with food that had the least calories. I lost over 4 and a half stone..I was quite heavy and thought loosing the weight would give me the confidence I lacked but in fact it hasn't although I still go through short periods of starving myself..to be honest I find it hard to pin the reason on why I do it but I guess it's insecurities I have within myself that make me want to do it.

People can do it for more reasons than weight loss but for me that was the reason I intially started starving myself. Whilst I've gained some confidence I still lack a lot and seem to be obsessed with everything I put in my mouth and feel really guilty if I over indulge and end of starving myself for at least the day after..I still haven't really spoke to anyone about it as I find it hard to admit it's a problem because I think I'm in control of it..

See from what I know of tissues you're losing a lot of lean tissue, which means you can't burn fat properly. Would the idea of goign to a gym appeal to you at all? I'm just wondering if you went and lost fat in a healthy way and looked sexier would it help.

nboylan

Did anyone catch the discussion on anorexia on Ireland AM last week,was really intresting. they had another one on bullimia today.