eating disorders : page 2*......... .Talent Development Resources..home page**

I get different reactions to my songs depending on the setting. I have a funny song about body image, "All of Me," that contains many things I was told about my body like "Girls with fat asses shouldn't wear blue jeans" then ends with a verse saying how much I like my body now.  At one show, a guy cheered at the line about blue jeans only to be saying "Oh" at the end of the song. Sometimes in academic settings, I get looks of disapproval from some in the audience until they see the direction the song is headed. It's a risk with satire. Jamie Anderson- "singer-songwriter-parking lot attendant" - message posted in WMST-L Women's Studies List photo from jamieanderson.com

*related page:.......social reactions / interactions

  ~ ~ ~ ~

 

The Skinny on Nurse Adams: How'd She Do It? Fans of ER may have noticed a dramatic difference this season--one that wasn't in the scripts. Actress Yvette Freeman, who plays Nurse Haleh Adams, lost 107 pounds before reporting back for duty last fall. To shed the weight, Freeman enrolled in the Risk Factor Obesity (RFO) program at UCLA. Under doctor supervision, patients consume only 500 to 800 calories a day, mostly in the form of a nutrient-powered shake. Exercise (for Freeman, that means swimming, kickboxing and uphill hiking) and a regular support group help dieters reach their goals. Obviously, the plan works, but is it safe? "The RFO diets have been around for years," says "Jackie Berning, Ph.D., assistant professor of nutrition at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. "But they aren't programs the average person can do for herself."

.. .. Aside from requiring close medical monitoring, the RFO regimen costs big bucks: Participants can expect to pay as much as $1,500. And, as Berning points out, no plan can replace wise food choices and regular exercise. Sounds like something Nurse Adams would say. (from Health Magazine January/February 2003 Issue) quotes and photo [by Dorothy Low] from yvettefreeman.com UCLA Risk Factor Obesity Program

~ ~ ~ ~

When it comes to modeling, the question lots of girls are asking today is "How do I become one?" Well, instead maybe it should be something more like "Why do I even want to be one?" The answer lies in the Culture of Modeling, where models---not mothers, or the first woman in space, or the first woman to run for vice president---get all the attention and lead glamorous lives.  Think about it: We live in a world where it's more likely that a pretty woman (like Christy, Cindy, Naomi or Maggie) who sells underwear (or mascara, or shoes, or WHATEVER) is more famous than a woman who has accomplished something really important, like winning a Nobel Prize, or even organizing a local after school program that keeps kids off the streets.

.. .. What does that say about our society and how we value women? That it's more important to look good than to do good? Well, it's time to get past that kind of thinking once and for all. from Cultureofmodeling.com - created by Audrey D. Brashich - "a new site for teen girls that gets them thinking about WHERE their interest in modeling comes from, WHAT it means in a cultural context, and HOW to make changes -- starting with themselves."

~ ~ ~ ~

At 6 she began dancing with the American Ballet Theatre -- and soon her dance instructors were telling her she had to lose weight. She became bulimic, a condition aggravated by a "poisonous mix of studio execs, casting directors, and agents" when she began acting. .. Ally Sheedy finally laid her eating disorder to rest with the birth of her daughter, Rebecca, in 1994. "I just began to know too much about [bulimia]," Sheedy says now. "After a while I actually began to get bored of it. It just sort of felt like it began taking up less and less space in my thoughts.. It just stopped having the incredible control over me that it had."   [The Advocate, Dec 7, 1999]

 

~ ~ ~ ~

In working with gifted females who have eating disorders, I have noticed many of these attributes: confusion with regard to giftedness; impostor syndrome; feeling too different from others; asynchronous development; divergent thinking; intense sensitivity and empathy; existential depression... All my gifted female clients with an eating disorder shared six characteristics, namely: > personal identity that does not include being gifted > debilitating perfectionism...............> > excessive need to please others > experience of isolation and loneliness.......... > stressful transitions during onset of disorder > certain family dynamics such as overprotection, enmeshment, perfectionistic family standards, abuse or addictive behavior   psychologist Patricia Gatto-Walden, PhD - from her article "Counseling Gifted Females with Eating Disorders" - Advanced Development, v8, 1999 related pages:**developing identity.......giftedness: characteristics.......perfectionism

~ ~ ~ ~

After four years, I have realized just how intense that experience [my eating disorder] was, how negatively it effected my life and the way I perceived the world. I always thought of it as "I was skinny and now I'm not and I'm okay with myself. I'm fine now, so everything is okay."

But now, as I'm getting older, I'm realizing how having that problem from age 12 to age 20 affected me so much. More than just how anorexia is physically, it affected me emotionally, altered my ability to deal. Anorexia is out-of-control and anxiety - it is very much about cutting off yourself from your body. That disorder is a lot deeper than I gave it credit for in terms of how much it affects you. Believing that your body is so important, or dealing with your own psychological upsets by depriving your body of basic nutrients for year after year after year...that's huge!' Kate Dillon ... [from EXTRA HIP Volume 4 Issue 1, Spring 2000]  -- Dillon was featured in PEOPLE: 50 Most Beautiful 2000

~ ~ ~ ~

 

['You went through quite a rough patch in your teens.'] I had a fair old bit to sort through. I was anorexic, weighing five stone [seventy pounds] at fifteen.  I always felt that anorexia was the form of breakdown most readily available to adolescent girls.  Its place and role in the family is very interesting: There is usually one person in the family who unknowingly becomes the catalyst for things - almost the scapegoat in a way - to stop the whole structure from collapsing.

.. .. ['But you got through it.'] I had five years of intense Freudian analysis, which I don't think a lot of girls of my age do.  I was never threatened with force-feeding.  My family didn't respond to my anorexia as a physical illness, which was terribly important. Anorexia is a red herring... everything that is going on underneath carries on. Kate Beckinsale  [Interview mag. July, 1998]

 

~ ~ ~ ~
 

~ ~ ~ ~

********************

My responsibility is to keep myself in a certain level of shape and health.
But my body type is my body type, and I am not going to starve myself.
And you can't win.

Everyone calls you on it if you start doing that, and then you're in the 'rexi files...
like 'anorexic' files. So, people should focus on what they are.

Nobody has it all. We all have our attributes, and you have to be grateful for those...

  Drew Barrymore  [Premiere, Nov.00]

~ ~ ~ ~

********************

"I started under-eating, over-exercising, pushing myself too hard and brutalizing my immune system.
The amount of time I spent thinking about food and being upset and my body was insane.''

 Courtney Thorne-Smith   [US Weekly magazine] - about her decision to quit "Ally McBeal''
 being prompted by constant pressure she felt to stay thin.
 
 

~ ~ ~ ~

Problem eating is often a symptom of depression or anxiety. It can stem from many sources, including (but certainly not limited to) perfectionism, power struggles with one or both parents, childhood physical and/or verbal abuse, and negative experiences and confusion about sexuality. My experience has been that when these sorts of underlying issues are understood and resolved, my patients can begin to be able to eat healthfully. Eating problems are also fueled by all the advertising generated media stereotypes of physical attractiveness that surround us.

Developing your objectivity about these media messages and increasing your esteem foryourself as a uniquely beautiful and attractive human being is anotherimportant aspect of psychotherapy when eating problems are a primary concern. My favorite self-help book about eating disorders is Susi Ohrbach's Fat is a Feminist Issue. She provides a creative and on-the-mark analysis of the politics of eating, fat and weight, in addition to a number of useful guided-imagery exercises. Sarah Benolken, Ph.D. - from her site:  Psychotherapy Is A Creative Process

~ ~ ~ ~

 
Critics of what has been called the Ballet Thindustrial Complex have been quick to mention
tragic cases of dancers who have developed life-threatening eating disorders such as anorexia
nervosa and bulimia to stay willowy enough to fit easily into their tutus.

In June, the mother of the late Heidi Gunther, who as a teenager was a student at the
San Francisco Ballet School, filed suit against the Boston Ballet, claiming that the pressure
to be ultra thin led to Heidi's death in 1997 at age 22 of complications from anorexia.

At 5 feet, 3 inches and 93 pounds, Gunther had been described by the ballet director
as "kind of chunky."

  from article: "Pride and Prejudice at the Barre" LA Times, Dec.26, 2000
 
 

~ ~ ~ ~

*********

"I was always told I would never make it in TV ... I always felt like such a misfit because this culture
isn't very forgiving about images of beauty. For me to stand here means we've come a long way."

Camryn Manheim  [ a her book:*.  Wake Up, I'm Fat!
  

~ ~ ~ ~

 

Like most girls, I'm always really self-conscious about do I look fat, if my legs are short, if I'm weird shaped. But when I go onstage, man, it never occurs to me. I think I look beautiful.  Janis Joplin

~ ~ ~ ~

Billy Bob Thornton and anorexia Clinicians are starting to learn more about gender-specific treatment and how eating disorders and body image issues affect the sexes differently.  Segregated programs for men can address male sexual and biological concerns, and their needs can be more adequately served - for example, through exercise and strength training classes and nutritional education.  Male support groups allow men to express their emotions more openly and with a common language.

Public awareness about men's dissatisfaction with their bodies is on the rise.  Inside Edition recently ran a piece on actor Billy Bob Thornton [above], who talked about his brush with anorexia nervosa, and HBO aired a segment about a male student athlete, who died from that disease. Men and plastic surgery, which is also discussed in Making Weight, has been covered on the evening news, and a trend seems to be occurring much like when women started talking about bulimia 20 years ago. from article "Fat is NOT JUST a Feminist Issue Anymore" by Leigh Cohn, M.A.T. from page: Males and Eating Disorders Leigh Cohn is Co-Author of Making Weight: Men's Conflicts with Food, Weight, Shape and Appearance

~ ~ ~ ~

Often a person with an eating disorder covers her pain so well that even when she tells the truth about her suffering, people don't believe her. They think she is exaggerating, overreacting, in a mood that will pass.

She can look so good or so happy that people who love her and think they know her well, cannot get past what they wish to see and hear. They can also be too afraid to believe that her descriptions of personal pain might actually be true.  << from article: Bulimia, Anorexia and Compulsive Overeating: When Family and Friends Don't Get It by Joanna Poppink, M.F.T.   [Los Angeles psychotherapist]  joanna.poppink@verizon.net see articles list on her site

~ ~ ~ ~

I was anorexic for many, many years -- even before people knew what it was. They didn't even have a name for it back then. I was a model in New York. And the reason I was anorexic is because I developed a bust when I was 8 years old. I matured very early. And I didn't want any of it. Plus I have a very, very round face. I kept dieting and dieting. Throughout my life I never believed I could be too thin. ... Once a month I go in for blood tests. I know I've abused my body by not eating and going to extremes. ... My goal in life is very simple right now. I'm going to try to stay happy. I've gone through a nightmare. And thank God I'm out of it! Sandra Dee...../ photo and quotes from article on fan site  [from National Inquirer [sic], July 14, 1998]

.. Sandra Dee and her dog Theo

 
  ~ ~ ~ ~

.. .. It was only the fourth or fifth episode of Popular, and I was in the hair-and-makeup trailer, going over my lines for the next scene.  "You have to lose weight," Betty ordered, rolling up the tape measure. "You've gotten very heavy, Tammy."

My jaw dropped. My heart raced. I began to sweat icicles. ... Even though I had heard about Hollywood's obsession with thinness, I never though I'd be seeing the issue face-to-face --- especially at size 4. So instead of dutifully striving to meet those unrealistic standards, I challenged them. I spoke to one of our producers, a woman who was visibly angry. She told me not to lose the weight and to forget Betty's remarks. Betty didn't come back after the first season. I got support. It was so great. Tammy Lynn Michaels from Teen Vogue - Spring 2001 -  posted on tammylynnmichaels.net

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

Bridget is not a woman with a weight problem.  She's a woman with a self-image problem." Renée Zellweger****** **Helen Fielding Bridget Jones's Diary

 

  ~ ~ ~ ~

When I was going through my divorce I lost weight. My mom said, "You look terrible."  But as with anyone else, losing weight was a point of pride.  That is our whole society and especially the women in American culture have bad body image, and I don't think that is only the media's fault. I think it is a combination of everyone's fault, but not only because Kate Moss is on the cover of Vogue.   Cindy Crawford    [AOL chat March 26, 1999]  [quotes and photo from cindy.com]

 

~ ~ ~ ~

**-more on:**eating disorders:: page 1.....eating disorders : page 3 ***-
 

...eating disorders : resources.articles  books  sites.......

**-related pages:  body image***sexuality***mental health***nurturing mental health

****home page :: Talent Development Resources**-site contents / search***books etc

*********sections:---Women & Talent ------Teen / Young Adult talent