I just finished watching the latest episode of Intervention about twins who had a problem with anorexia. I have just about nothing going on in my own life to blog about so I'll share my thoughts about this episode.. because there were many.
It got me thinking about being a parent. It's so scary. The parents on the show were immigrants from Poland. They came here with 2 suitcases and didn't speak a lick of English. They worked there asses off (mom at McDonald's, dad at a wood working shop) and after just 2 years bought a house and started a family. Their three kids had a great life growing up. Seems like they were a tight knit family and the girls got to do any activity they wanted to (karate, sports, etc.). At one point in the show, Mom and Dad were sitting at a table, looking at pictures, and the dad was just a sobbing mess remembering all the good times. He made the comment that he thought he had done everything perfectly which brings me to my point. You raise your children with the best of intentions and the highest of hopes. And you very well may do everything "perfectly". But that doesn't necessarily mean you can control the outcome. What if you have to stand by at some point and watch your child/children screw up their lives seriously and there was nothing you could do about it. It must have been so painful for them to sit back and watch their twin daughters slowly kill themselves.
Secondly, I was trying to understand the actual disease. I don't know anyone personally who has gone through this. How does it start? Just a normal person that wants to lose a little weight and it gets out of control? Or is there something a little off mentally to begin with? I understand that once a person hasn't had any food for a certain amount of time, your brain is making you think you can literally not eat, but how does it even get to that point. What in that persons head makes them look in the mirror and think they are fat when they are 86 lbs? Did that person every have a love affair with food like I do? I think not. I could never give it up.
There's a show that comes on after Intervention called Obsession. I think it's mostly about people with OCD and the like. I've yet to allow myself to watch it. I don't have an ounce of OCD in my body (aside from my night time rituals) but I do have a little problem with hypochondria. I'm scared I'll make myself believe I have a problem if I watch that show.
5 comments:
That is so true, parents can give their kids the world and bad stuff still happens, it's sad.
I watched a show on OCD a few years ago and I started thinking I had a mild case of it for a while. lol
I did a few papers in highschool on anorexia. Not that I am an authority or anything, but I think that a lot of stuff can trigger it. I know someone who had it and when she started losing weight everyone told her how great she looked and so she just wanted to lose more weight so people would think that and it got out of control.
The show on OCD is weird. It got on my nerves and you really aren't missing anything!
Sometimes it will start as a means of control. If someone is leading a stressful life that seems out of their control, the one thing they feel they can control is their weight. I don't know that I've ever known someone with anorexia, though I have wondered about a handful of people. I have had a friend with bulimia and it shares the same characteristic of using the eating disorder as a means of control or a coping mechanism. I took a few psych classes, but am by no means an expert on the topic. Just thought I'd share the 2 cents I remember learning about!
I watched this show too. To me it doesn't make sense, there is more to being happy on then inside than what you look like on the outside.
I couldn't watch that show! It was just too much for me. Those girls were WAYYYYYY too skinny! It made me feel sick just watching them.
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