Battling an Eating Disorder: When Bulimia Becomes a True American Idol Sized Problem
by Abigail Natenshon
In a People Magazine article, American Idol contestant, Katherine McPhee
disclosed that she has secretly suffered from bulimia for the past five
years. It was her success in television’s American Idol competition
that inspired her to come forward and get help to recover from her life-threatening
eating disorder. Katherine, a vocalist who at her worst point was self-inducing
vomiting up to seven times a day, claimed that she realized her bulimic
behaviors were “equivalent to taking a sledgehammer to her throat” and
brought herself to treatment.
Glamorizing Eating Disorder Illnesses? Or Becoming an Invaluable Role
Model?
Some may think when celebrities like Katherine come forward with such
problems it only “glamorizes” the illness and encourages
dysfunction in impressionable young people. In reality, some impressionable
youngsters may respond by engaging in self-destructive experimentation,
but for the most part, the responses of people like Katherine McPhee
provide invaluable role modeling for fans.
Though statistics show that 1 percent of young females in this country
suffer with bulimia, the numbers most likely do not reflect the enormity
of the problem, as bulimia is among the most frequently missed diagnoses,
and only a minority of people with eating disorders, especially with
bulimia nervosa, are treated in mental healthcare. A problem cannot be
solved until it is defined. In coming forward as she has, McPhee has
displayed the courage and intention to achieve her dreams, to become
proactive in making her life as healthy, gratified and fulfilled as it
can be. Despite the widely held misconception that “once eating
disordered, always eating disordered,” eating disorders are fully
curable in 80 percent of cases where recognized early and treated effectively.
In her forthright and courageous stand, this American Idol contestant
has become a true American idol.
Uncovering the Secrets of Bulimia Nervosa and Anorexia Nervosa: The Most
Lethal Mental Health Disorders
The most lethal of all the metal health disorders, bulimia nervosa and
anorexia nervosa are extremely hard to recognize. Highly secretive diseases,
they rarely show up in doctors’ offices during physical or functional
assessments; even laboratory tests do not show evidence of eating disorders
until they are in their most advanced stages. By their nature counterintuitive,
eating disorders typically give victims a pseudo-sense of power and control,
creating the illusion of feeling and becoming “better than ever.” In
actual fact, certain stages of recovery feel more precarious and painful
than does the disease itself. Making matters even more confusing, many
of the symptoms of these lethal disorders lay somewhere along the continuum
of normal human behaviors. Who doesn’t overeat, under-eat or engage
in emotional or social eating at times?
Eating disorders, which essentially represent an abuse of food in an
effort to resolve emotional problems, transcend a dysfunctional relationship
with food to represent the tip of a physical, emotional, cognitive, behavioral
and social iceberg, with early signs of clinical eating disorders typically
evident in diverse life spheres.
8 signs that parents and families may see at home, around the dinner
table, in the family bathroom, or the child’s bedroom:
• Erratic eating, eating too much or too little, too frequently
or too seldom.
• Dieting and other restrictive eating behaviors (in some instances
vegetarianism or skipping meals) that can result in extreme hunger and
gorging, irregular menstrual periods.
• Fear of putting on weight, with an all-encompassing preoccupation
with food and eating that can account for as much as 80 percent of an
individual’s thoughts
• Hiding food, and feeling shame and guilt after eating it. The
refusal to eat in the company of others.
• Depressive moods
• Various forms of purging, including self-induced vomiting, excessive
exercising, laxative, diuretic, or Ipecac abuse
• Disappearances into the bathroom during or following meals
• Impulsive, immoderate and out of control behaviors beyond the
realm of eating, that might include shop lifting, promiscuity, cutting,
engaging in chaotic relationships, abuse of substances such as drugs,
alcohol, nicotine, diet pills, etc.
There is nothing passive about eating disorders. Always on the move,
they are either getting better or you can be certain they are getting
worse. Eating disorder recovery can be a long-term process, requiring
input from a diverse team of professionals including physicians, psychotherapists,
family therapists, nutritionists, psycho pharmacologists and school counselors.
The course of recovery will be as variable, must be as comprehensive,
and in many ways will feel as convoluted as the course of disease, typically
combining outpatient and inpatient treatment milieus and diverse treatment
modes. Victims of eating disorders, as young as age 5 or as old as 60,
male or female, individuals alone or living within the context of a supportive
or not so supportive family system need help to recognize, accept and
conquer these diseases…to become capable of reclaiming their lives,
proactively, with steadfast commitment… to fight the good fight
for life and life quality.
Specializing in the treatment of eating disorders for the past 36 years, Abigail Natenshon, psychotherapist, author of When Your Child Has An Eating Disorder, and director of Eating Disorder Specialists of Illinois is on the cutting edge using techniques that enhances your body-and self-image healing. For free resources or to have Abigail speak at your next parental or professional group go to http://www.empoweredparents.com
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