eating disorder education unintended effects

[skeptifem]

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=043C2A4B43E04178CC4D160094980B01 (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=043C2A4B43E04178CC4D160094980B01)

Yale University researchers found that when they presented female high school students with videos on eating disorders, it met the intended goal of boosting their knowledge about anorexia and bulimia.

However, the team saw that the students didn't necessarily find the results of eating disorders unappealing. Teens who watched a video featuring a woman recovering from an eating disorder became more likely to view girls with eating disorders as "very pretty," and some thought it would be "nice to look like" the woman in the video.

...

Regardless of which video they saw, the girls were more likely to say afterward that "it's not that hard" to recover from an eating disorder. They were also more likely to believe girls with eating disorders have "strong" personalities.

Girls who viewed the video featuring the eating disorder patient were particularly likely to see women with anorexia or bulimia in a positive light.



This was somewhat obvious to me. The way eating disorders are portrayed is skewed, its always some woman who is recovered (but never fat), saying how she went to the hospital for a few months and everything is all better now. I think that even talking about the horror story cases of eating disorders does little to deter anyone, No one plans to go that far when they are starting out. There is an appeal to young girls that is undeniable. wether its cheating nature by eating whatever you want and not gaining weight or if its getting endless attention for being extremely thin and the envy of others over having 'self control'.

I think the only way to fight this is body positive education. I dont think it does much to say that eating disorders are bad without addressing the cause of it. thoughts?

[Miss Anthrope]

I couldn't agree more that identifying the causes and addressing those are going to be much more helpful with this problem.

As the mother of a girl, as well as someone who has had terrible body image issues throughout life, I've had to really look at this issue and decide what approach to take.

The first thing I taught my daughter was very important--that she can opt out of the mentality. She doesn't have to buy into it. Fashion magazines and celebrity rags are not the real world. They demonstrate a tiny percentage of the population that represent certain genes, and often disordered eating and drug abuse.

We don't watch broadcast TV in our house. We do get plenty of DVD's, but my kids are not bombarded with the images of perfect women in advertising. My daughter knows that fashion magazines have photoshopped covers. She knows that healthy eating and exercise are very important to her health, but that she should accept whatever "healthy" looks like on her. She's young yet, but I know that these issues are starting very early in girls these days, and I wanted her to have a strong foundation.

Luckily for her, she has a great network of healthy women to look up to in her extended family. I struggle more than the rest, and I am grateful she has women who have healthy, fit bodies sans any disorders or self hatred, and a great sense of self around that love her and influence her. I was not so fortunate--just the opposite--and it had a powerful impact I still battle today. (But much less so)

[brettDbass]

Identifying the root cause is the only solution for eating disorders and every case, every sufferer is different. Therefore, every cause is different.

I strongly dislike the way that eating disorders are portrayed as some "thing" that can be "cured", like it's a virus. It's not. An eating disorder is an individuals coping machanism in reaction to some mental upset or disturbance, which could have any of a billion causes. You cannot show a video to a group of kids and they all are permanently immune to eating disorders, human minds don't work that way.

And another thing, when will people wake up a little and remember that 10% of eating disorder sufferers are male (http://www.ywhconline.org/factsheet.html)?

Sorry to be somewhat preachy, but all this stuff really winds me up.

[Fnord]

Let's apply a little "Ad Absurdium" to your idea by changing the focus from "eating disorders" to "sexual promiscuity" and see how if it still makes sense...

"This was somewhat obvious to me. The way sexual promiscuity is portrayed is skewed, its always some woman who is recovered (but never pregnant), saying how she went to the hospital for a few months and everything is all better now. I think that even talking about the horror story cases of sexual promiscuity does little to deter anyone, No one plans to get pregnant when they are starting out. There is an appeal to young girls that is undeniable. wether its cheating nature by ****** whatever you want and not getting pregnant or if its getting endless attention for being extremely promiscuous and the envy of others over having 'self control'.

I think the only way to fight this is body positive education. I dont think it does much to say that sexual promiscuity is bad without addressing the cause of it. thoughts?"

Okay, it makes sense to me.



But what to do? What is this "Body-Positive Education" of which you speak?

[Roswell-Perseis]

I saw a lot of pictures of women who were not recovered, not at all. They looked like the people held in Nazi concentration camps. They were covered in coarse hairs because they didn't have the fat to keep them warm. I envied their self-determination.

Yes, teaching girls about eating disorders is more of a how-to than anything else.

By the way a body image disorder is not the same as an eating disorder. An eating disorder is a coping mechanism that comes from a lack of healthy coping mechanisms. The same is true for many, many other self-destructive behaviors, if not them all. While sad, body image disorders do not lead to eating disorders any more than having a drink of wine will lead to alcoholism.

I don't want to take this personally, but as someone who did alot of horrible things to myself, I wish people would look at the abuse or unhealthy life events that lead boys and girls down such a horrible path. It is not the media, or the models, or body image disorder. It is an abusive parent or inability to cope with the death of a loved one.

[slingblade]

Let's apply a little "Ad Absurdium" to your idea by changing the focus from "eating disorders" to "sexual promiscuity" and see how if it still makes sense...

Why? I might be reading this poorly, because I find it smacks of sarcasm. Unless you meant it to....did you mean it to? I mean, you said, "see....if it still makes sense." If it made sense to begin with, why apply Ad Absurdum, and is that what you really did do? I don't see how your alterations brought it into the absurd....

I don't get it. I'd like to get it, I think. :)

"This was somewhat obvious to me. The way sexual promiscuity is portrayed is skewed, its always some woman who is recovered (but never pregnant), saying how she went to the hospital for a few months and everything is all better now. I think that even talking about the horror story cases of sexual promiscuity does little to deter anyone, No one plans to get pregnant when they are starting out. There is an appeal to young girls that is undeniable. wether its cheating nature by ****** whatever you want and not getting pregnant or if its getting endless attention for being extremely promiscuous and the envy of others over having 'self control'.

I think the only way to fight this is body positive education. I dont think it does much to say that sexual promiscuity is bad without addressing the cause of it. thoughts?"

Okay, it makes sense to me.



It seems that you have, by changing the focus, discovered that you can agree with the op. Why did you need to do that? What was wrong with the op that you had to shift the focus before concurring? What if you had used a different substitution, and that led you to think it didn't make sense?

I apologize, but I don't think I've seen this done before, and it really stuck out, struck me as odd and slightly hostile. But that could be me. Apologies if I'm so far off base, I'm not even in the same park as you, anymore. :)

But what to do? What is this "Body-Positive Education" of which you speak?

See, I understand and agree with calls for evidence; someone makes a claim, and you say "show me." Well and good.

But why are you asking the op to educate you, and explain a self-explanatory term for you? I can tell what body-positive education must be, at least superficially. If I need to know specifics, I'm not sure I'm going to ask the presenter of the OP, because I know I have a good chance of getting a biased answer. I'll explain:

There may be more than one of this type of program out there. Some may be good, and some may be full of woo-cookies and fallacy-fluff. If I do not take the time to independently research this myself, all I'm going to know about it is what the op tells me, and she may be an adherent of the wishful-thinking variety.

So if she tells me about only that program, and I discern that it is indeed a heap o'nonsense....I might decide they all are. I think that's less than conducive to discussion, much less to providing any advice.

Moving on.

I am aware (no cites handy, however) of studies which purport to show that many girls begin to show a marked decline in self-esteem, self-confidence, and positive body image at around 9 to 11 years. Perhaps, and I'm extrapolating, if that is so, it's because kids at that age are moving away from home and into peer-groups, where social awareness is much higher. Awareness of images in media would be growing more sharply in this period, too, would one not think?

Body images are just about everywhere; it's hard to get away from them. Even if you try to stay away from ads and tv and movies, etc., some girl is always shoving a fashion magazine under your nose, and everyone's always talking about it, obsessing about it. So many things today tell you constantly that what you look like matters very much. We can't tell kids, boys and girls, that isn't true, because it is. I suppose we should be telling them that it ought not be true, and that conformity in this regard may be dangerous.

I was recently in college (I'm 48), and I told a friend one day that it seemed to me that kids have always tried so hard to be different, they don't realize they are still conforming...to a creed of difference. Like...in all their difference, they've all become the same. I've seen so many piercings and tattoos and odd-colored hair in the last 25 years that I don't even notice it anymore.

Boys are worried about their body images, too, partly in the same ways girls are, and partly in different ways. The lines blur sometimes--I recently heard someone say that the fastest growing users of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs are high-school girls, not boys. I haven't confirmed it, but if true, it doesn't surprise me a lot.

I suppose body-positive education attempts to counteract the media message. I like the way it was said earlier, that "healthy" looks different on each of us, and I would do better to understand what it looks like on me, and strive for that. I should not heed what advertising tells me I should look like, but on having the best body I've got. Yeah.

I think it's worthwhile, but it's an uphill battle, and lifelong. A while back I was watching tv with my hubby and saw yet another commercial for something that would remove wrinkles and make me look "almost twenty again." I turned to him and said, "But I'm tired of being twenty. I want to be almost fifty. It's so much work to be twenty at fifty! Is it okay with you if I have a few wrinkles and some grey hair? Because it's okay with me. I just want to relax!" (He assured me it was fine with him. :D)

I like what Dove brand is doing with its Real Women, Real Beauty campaign. Again, I was watching the tube, and saw a Dove commercial with half a dozen giggling women in their undies...and found myself actually shocked because they weren't rail-thin....a couple of them were almost...dumpy! Like me! They looked real. It was so refreshing.

We ought to educate the kids, yes. But we also need to strongly encourage more ads like those. Both are needed.

[Solus]

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=043C2A4B43E04178CC4D160094980B01 (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=043C2A4B43E04178CC4D160094980B01)




This was somewhat obvious to me. The way eating disorders are portrayed is skewed, its always some woman who is recovered (but never fat), saying how she went to the hospital for a few months and everything is all better now. I think that even talking about the horror story cases of eating disorders does little to deter anyone, No one plans to go that far when they are starting out. There is an appeal to young girls that is undeniable. wether its cheating nature by eating whatever you want and not gaining weight or if its getting endless attention for being extremely thin and the envy of others over having 'self control'.

I think the only way to fight this is body positive education. I dont think it does much to say that eating disorders are bad without addressing the cause of it. thoughts?

It's not just young girls it's the entire culture of the country. My mother has always been on a diet for years, no matter what she thinks she is fat. I think she is too thin, her cheeks are too hollow and I do wish she would eat more.

I don't know how to change it but to go directly to the source; which is of course the media. The media needs to change how woman are portrayed. I've seen some positive steps but more action needs to be taken. I'm not up for passing laws very often but some good could come of placing standards on boardcast television at least.

So in a nutshell, the above article is likely a good start but not nearly enough.

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

One thing I find bizarre is the media coverage of these issues. On the same page of the paper was one story about how women were starving themselves to fit in and another story about how women were at such a high risk of health problems because they were too fat. Of course I understand both situations are real concerns in society, but the juxtapostion of the articles was somewhat unusual.


I'm upset when I hear of nine year old girls dieting. Unless it's a medically necessary diet, I cannot think this is healthy, physically or mentally. It makes me wonder about the parental influences these children have.

It's an old cliche, but a life of moderation is best. It seems most people can't see there is an alternative between eating an entire box of donuts and never eating a donut ever. You can have a donut every once in a while.

[blutoski]

As part of my role as personal fitness trainer, I have a responsibility to provide objective feedback about a client's weight management. I have never seen a person with an eating disorder who did not have a pretty good grip on his/her actual body fat situation. This is not the issue.

"Eating disorders" includes bulemia, which is a binge/purge cycle, and is common in women who know they are medically obese. These women should be on a properly-designed, monitored, diet. But they are trying to DIY weight loss in an amateur manner, often with unrealistic timeframes. They simply don't lose the weight, and are stalled in a negative mental state.

Contrastinly, most of the clients I - and my wife who is a psychiatrist - have handled who have dangerously low body weight are managing a mental problem where eating habits are a symptom, not a focus. The hypothesis that patients with, say anorexia nervosa, are attempting to emulate models or actresses in the media is a complete myth.

These women are trying to turn themselves into deathcamp survivors to punish their parents for being too controlling... or one of many other rationalizations - this is just the most common one. A girl feels that parents control her whole life, so the only thing she can control is her body. It's like a tattoo, I guess. Only everyone can see, and the parents are suitably embarassed.

There is also some histrionic personality component (part of the reason we believe this is its F:M ratio is identical to histrionic personality disorder), and the further complication of subculture immersion, where a girl's status among her peers is based on this deformation. Again, like tattoos or piercings.

The next cluster is the girls who are regressing. Severe malnutrition like this does give the appearance of sexual regression: the breasts shrink, and menstruation often stops.

Males have a similar problem that is considered a 'mirror' of this disorder. They bodybuild to the point where they have health risk, including damage to the reproductive system. Again: this is fuelled by a subculture, not by mass-media. The chicks are hot for Leonardo deCaprio. The male with body dysmorphic disorders is turning himself into Mount Trapezius.

A comment about who is, or is not, overweight: you can't really tell by looking at somebody. People wear fat differently, and there are correct ways to do assessments. Part of my job is doing these types of assessments, and I'm no longer surprised to discover that a little 120lb Chinese woman whose upper arm I can close my hand around, is 33% fat. As "skinny" as she is, she's prediabetic and her cholesterol's a mess. She needs to lose 20lbs.


Regarding the original post... without seeing the videos in question, I'm not sure how credible the findings are. The 'results' of bulemia are overweight women with tongue ulcers and tooth erosion, who need to quit their jobs because they had an embarassing bowel movement at their workstation. Surely, the highschool students aren't finding this appealing?

[brettDbass]

<snip>
Males have a similar problem that is considered a 'mirror' of this disorder. They bodybuild to the point where they have health risk, including damage to the reproductive system. Again: this is fuelled by a subculture, not by mass-media. The chicks are hot for Leonardo deCaprio. The male with body dysmorphic disorders is turning himself into Mount Trapezius.
</snip>

This was an excellent post in the main and I applaud a lot of what you've said. However, care should be taken not to generalise.
eg. not all males with eating disorders body build, it's just the most commonly expressed symptom amongst male sufferers.

[baron]

As part of my role as personal fitness trainer, I have a responsibility to provide objective feedback about a client's weight management...

Males have a similar problem that is considered a 'mirror' of this disorder. They bodybuild to the point where they have health risk, including damage to the reproductive system.

As a personal fitness trainer you must know that bodybuilding does not and cannot cause a "health risk" or "damage to the reproductive system". I presume you're talking about the use of steriods or GH or other growth / recovery promoting chemicals; something you need to make clear.

[brettDbass]

As a personal fitness trainer you must know that bodybuilding does not and cannot cause a "health risk" or "damage to the reproductive system". I presume you're talking about the use of steriods or GH or other growth / recovery promoting chemicals; something you need to make clear.

It is usually understood that anorexics with this symptom will eat quite normally, so as not to arouse suspiscion, but will then exercise to gross excess, using as much of the calorific intake as possible and burning as much body fat as they can. After an extended period of such a regime, the body will surely suffer from a form of malnutrition.
Additionally, I found this interesting http://www.anred.com/ath_obex.html

Also, bear in mind that this is most common amongst teenagers who will suffer growth deformities if they train to excess.
http://www.anred.com/stats.html

[Loss Leader]

I think it would have been a much easier and cheaper study (and much easier to read) if it had just said, "Teenagers are nuts."

[brettDbass]

I think it would have been a much easier and cheaper study (and much easier to read) if it had just said, "Teenagers are nuts."

Has nobody ever done that study?

*applies for research grant*

[blutoski]

As a personal fitness trainer you must know that bodybuilding does not and cannot cause a "health risk" or "damage to the reproductive system". I presume you're talking about the use of steriods or GH or other growth / recovery promoting chemicals; something you need to make clear.

Both, actually. Since we're mostly dealing with adolescents, over development of frontal-rotating muscles has a mix of health risks.

Secondly, yes, there is increased risk with using enhancement drugs.

Thirdly, as mentioned, those who have gone with the exercise-to-calorie-deficit method will find that the body is not good at selecting which tissues will be cannibalized, and there are males who cannot get past that 5% visceral fat threshold - their body metabolizes cardiac and reproductive tissue instead.

Women have the same problem. Their version is the metabolizing of the uterus.


brettDbass pointed out that:
not all males with eating disorders body build, it's just the most commonly expressed symptom amongst male sufferers.

It's true that about 15% of anorexics are male. A personal observation that may merit further research: most of the male anorexics in my hospital are homosexual. This may be a reflection of the hospital's neighbourhood, however.