Monday, March 17, 2014--4 pm

Greetings,

Sections 1 and 4 were able to quickly read through the sample rough draft essay #2 in class today.

Sections 7 and 11 did not have a chance to even look it over.

I am posting it below.

Students in all four sections: Please copy and paste to a Word document (or whatever program you have) and print out a copy to bring to class on Wednesday. I really want you to have a hard copy and not just access the draft from the blog while we are discussing it. Thanks! :)

What’s Eating You?   (ROUGH DRAFT)

            According to the National Eating Disorder Association, eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. People suffering from these diseases die before the age of twenty-four due to complications including heart attacks and suicide. Eating disorders can be extremely traumatic both physically and emotionally, to both the sufferer and the family. Caring for someone with an eating disorder is often difficult and overwhelming at times. Once someone is diagnosed with an eating disorder, the family must watch their loved one struggle with a major medical and emotional problem that could end in death if not cared for properly. When someone is suffering from an eating disorder, they experience a tremendous amount of pain; however, this disease impacts family members more.

Eating disorders include extreme thoughts and behaviors surrounding food, weight, and body image. The disorders cause extreme emotional and physical stress that can lead to life threatening consequences if not treated. The most common diagnosed eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa is characterized by self-starvation and extreme weight loss. Most people who suffer from anorexia nervosa have an intense and often irrational fear of weight gain (National Eating Disorder Association). People who suffer from anorexia nervosa have psychological complications as well. These complications include anxiety as a child, low self-esteem and body image, severe depression, and an obsession with rules and perfection (Nordqvist). Because anorexia involves self-starvation, the body is denied of essential nutrients it needs to function and begins to slow down its processes in order to preserve energy. This “slow down” process can have serious medical consequences. The heart rate begins to slow down which can result in heart attack or heart failure. A person may also develop severe dehydration which can cause the kidneys to fail. With the combination of medical and psychological complications, about five to twenty percent of people suffering with anorexia will die (Nordqvist). This statistic is higher depending on how long a person is suffering with this illness.

Bulimia nervosa is characterized by binge eating followed by purging. A person suffering from bulimia often engages in compulsive binges on high-calorie foods and purges after feeling a loss of control (“What is Bulimia Nervosa?”). During an episode of binging, a person may consume up to 3,000 calories. The binge is then followed by feelings of guilt or shame, which lead to compensatory actions such as self-induced vomiting, over-exercising, self-starvation, or abuse of diuretics or laxatives (Nordqvist). Bulimia is particularly dangerous because sufferers do not display the same rapid weight loss as found in anorexia. In fact, someone’s weight may stay the same, making it easier to overlook and possibly misdiagnose (“What is Bulimia Nervosa?”).This disorder can result from many of the same psychological complications as found in people suffering from anorexia nervosa.

For many years, eating disorder diagnoses had two main entries: anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. However, modern research reveals that these two categories of eating disorders fall short. The American Psychiatric Association introduced a new category of eating disorders: EDNOS, eating disorders not otherwise specified (“New Eating Disorders”). EDNOS contains sub-diagnoses for patients that do not meet exact criteria for anorexia or bulimia. This new diagnoses include “orthorexia”, a fixation with healthy or organic eating, “pregorexia”, extreme dieting and exercising while pregnant to avoid the twenty-five to thirty pound weight gain, “binge eating”, compulsive overeating, and “anorexia athletica”, which is an addiction to working out. Eating disorders develop from negative relationships and obsessions with food. These disorders can range from diagnosable illnesses to dangerous fixations.

Beginning stages of disordered eating can often be confused with “normal” adolescence behavior and early symptoms can be overlooked. Often, parents are not able to recognize signs of an eating disorder in their child. This makes the parent feel guilty and partially responsible for the diagnosis. Peggy Claude-Pierre describes, “After the diagnosis, I started reading everything I could about anorexia. I wanted to discover how I had failed my child.” This is a very common response. Many parents take full responsibility for their child’s eating disorder. Marie Caro, the mother of the French model Isabella Caro, committed suicide one year after her daughter lost her battle with anorexia (Burton). The question of blame and where it lies within anorexia and other eating disorders is very complex. Although there is no one cause for eating disorders, much has been written about the roles of family members and parenting as causes of eating disorders (National Eating Disorder Association). This information frequently contributes to the guilt parents feel after discovering their child’s eating disorder. “Everything I read told me that bad parenting, parental pressure, and family stress, among other ‘issues’ were the cause”, Claude-Pierre explains.

Other parents feel an immense amount of shame. Eating disorders can be shameful because a parent may not want to admit that their child has one. “In the four years my daughter was anorexic, I never told a single person. I did not even tell my father. I was ashamed that she had that kind of disease. I was ashamed of myself for feeling ashamed” (Godbey). The feeling of shame is associated with the idea that a parent is the main cause for the eating disorder. When someone develops this kind of life-threatening illness, it is hard for loved ones to come to terms with why it happened. Many parents also feel hopeless in treating a disease when it is hard to find the underlying cause. Judy Avrin explains, “I spent a great time in denial about Melissa’s eating disorder. Her father didn’t understand the diagnosis. We felt hopeless”. Parents are at a constant battle. They are battling for their child’s life, parenting while they combat their own feelings of denial and guilt, and they are battling with the many misconceptions about eating disorders. This becomes increasingly stressful on the parents. Many times parents begin to ignore their own personal life in order to care for a child with an eating disorder. This often affects other relationships that the parent has, including the relationships with their other children.

Caring for a child with an eating disorder causes changes for a family. Often times, the family has to re-organize themselves around the illness. This re-organization has very significant effects on all members of the family, including the siblings. Siblings of a child suffering from anorexia, bulimia, or EDNOS face many difficult challenges while growing up with this unwanted guest in their home. Because the child with an eating disorder needs a great amount of attention, the parents’ find it difficult to divide that attention to the other children. Meal times can be excruciatingly difficult. “My sister decided that she couldn’t eat with me at the table. I was a little overweight and her illness decided that my fat was contagious. My parents had me eat in the living room with Grandma at meal times” (“My Sister and Me: Anorexia Nervosa).  Karin Jasper, Ph.D, has spent a great deal of time studying eating disorders and the effects on the siblings. She explains that naturally siblings feel resentful towards the illness. The stress often drives a wedge between the ill child and the siblings. Karin Jasper says, “One of my patient’s sisters found the illness difficult to deal with. She moved away from home. She never went back to living at home. She said she felt the house would have exploded because she didn’t understand why her sister was being so selfish”.

According to the National Eating Disorder Association, during the treatment period eating disorders can cause a child to react and behave irrationally. The ill child resorts to lying and has extreme mood swings that involve hitting, screaming and biting. The child will lash out at whoever is around due to frustration. These extreme emotions can affect the siblings as well. Addy recalls, “I remember my sisters screaming sessions. She would just scream at dinner time. To be honest, it just made me annoyed and I would normally lose my appetite. I just stopped eating with my family.” Sarah K. Ravin, Ph.D. explains that family meals with an ill child can sometimes become explosive. The ill child may feel overwhelmed with the parents’ attempts to get them to eat. Out of frustration, the child may say or do things that are very harsh to both the parents and anyone in their path, including the siblings. Siblings often say that they dread meals because they know they will either be very tense or explosive. An anonymous blogger recalls, “My sister used to say really mean things to me. I know it wasn’t her, but she would just tell me to fuck off and die. She also threw things at me. All of this would normally happen a few hours before dinner, during dinner, or a few hours after” (“My Sister and Me: Anorexia Nervosa”).

Sarah K. Ravin also explains that children feel a like they lose a sense of a social life. Because the parents spend much time planning, preparing, and supervising meals, the siblings feel that they cannot spend time with their parents socially. Parents also spend a great deal of time driving to and from appointments for their ill child. “I remember I had to ask different friends to take me to soccer practice. My parents would also miss games because Liz was having a meltdown the morning of my games”, an anonymous blogger illustrates (“My Sister and Me: Anorexia Nervosa”). Ms. Ravin further explains that siblings may feel a great deal of embarrassment and do not invite their friends over. They also have difficulties deciding if they should even explain their family situation to friends. Brothers and sisters will experience a variety of emotions while their sibling is ill. They can range from worry about their sibling’s health to resentment about the illness. “This can affect how the child copes with their own feelings and emotions. They may not know how or who to talk to. They also have to deal with the stigma of a mental illness at a very young age”, Sarah K Ravin says.