Sunday, 15 November 2009
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Is There a Cycle for Unhealthy People?
This deals with "Society Disease."
This was my response to another post that I saw.
"...I personally like skinny girls or normal or whatever the norm is nowdays because to me, a personality honestly is the best thing. true other girls and if it includes you too, striving for thinness may be suffering from more than just wanting to look pretty. But I'll tell you this - what psychiatrist and psychologists analyze in people nowadays is nothing but crap. They have messed up so many peoples heads that people strive to fit the small, skinny petite look. Mental diseases are what people claim if they want to look or feel a certain way. OCD, bullemia, anorexia, etc. are things that people just have in their mind.
Have you ever heard that the mind is strong enough to kill the body? It does this because, after a certain period of believing in something, it eventually becomes true in our minds... and then our bodies. The thing is that is an infection that society has tried to push on everyone."
Lately, all over, I have seen countless blogs postings about weight loss and the personal appearances of individuals who try to loss an amount of weight beyond neccessary. This is what I think of society's infection: because we all try to fit a size deemed normal by models, billboards, and commercials, this creates a downward spiral.
Any person may watch a billboard displaying a model who needs to eat food. This person may observe that this model "supposedly" feels great about his or herself, and also notices how small clothing the model's clothing is and suddenly wants to become that skinny, too. The person then starts to diet and exercises relentlessly at a pace which many articles have said helps them lose weight (but are in actuality unhealthy). As this person continues on their diet, she starts to experience side effects of sudden weight loss and has to stop. Suddenly, another commercial/ad catches their attention about weight loss and a "healthy" alternative. Then, they start to follow this in hopes of achieving a goal, but choses a new lower weight to achieve.
Eventually, this person goes to a doctor who warns her of dangers of her eating and dieting choices. However, a goal must be achieved because she wants to be as skinny and pretty as these models. Degradation continues until eventually a mental disease takes over. This person then has to go to psychiatrist/psychologist to deal with her dislike of self. The doctor gives medicine and begins sessions, and then this person is later deemed fit for normality and is free from the meds. By this time, she is financially and mentally stressed but physically okay... at least until another commercial/ad comes on.
Do you think that my take on "society disease" about fitness and health is right? Do you see this as a cycle as well?
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koreansoul09@xanga
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Comments (12)
It's definitely a cycle.
A cycle I'm very familiar with, myself. A very, very hard cycle to break. I think you are very right.
i think this "analysis" is extremely over simplified. of course, society and the media play some role in perpetuating the vicious dieting cycle, but the "thin is in" obsession's roots go far, far deeper than skinny models and diet ads. thinness has historically been equated with holiness, asceticism, and virtuousness. while Hollywood's standard of beauty has shifted immeasurably from the past to present day, the thin ideal and disordered eating/eating disordered behaviour cannot be pinned on the media alone.
this scenario depicts someone falling into an eating disordered behaviour, and it is foolish, naïve, and simplistic to assume that the genesis of all eating disordered behaviours (which encompasses chronic dieting) is society alone. like any other addictive, self-destructive behaviour, eating disordered behaviour serves a function. like drug abuse, alcoholism and some other mental illnesses, it functions as a coping mechanism.
in sum, dieting and weight loss are only symptoms of the problem, not the problem itself. this "analysis" only feeds the stereotypes that eating disordered individuals already have to deal with: that all sufferers are vain, self-centred, and want to lose weight to become pretty, happy, and popular etc. this post is a grand and sweeping generalisation that doesn't have the foggiest idea of what it means to be "unhealthy" with respect to eating behaviour. basically, i would say, get your facts straight before you go trying to sort out society's "infection."
@carydeeluxe@xanga - your response to this was indeed very refreshing because listening to the so-called experts assume that girls/boys who fall victim to ED's are due to the over exposure of stick thin models and the media seem very ignorant.
@carydeeluxe@xanga - facts straight? first off, its a personal opinion of what i believe so by all means you can think what you want. secondly if you want me to get my facts straight and you want to go all psychoanalytical, by all means, i have quite a few psychology classes under my belt. This posting however is AGAIN what i believe. and nothing professional or expert like. If you want to associate thinness with what you call holiness etc. you should realize that that is select countries/cultures. Then again i could argue against what you are stating because in some cultures it is considered a good thing when you can eat a lot/look like you eat very healthy. Its very humorous that you think i am stating things without as you call it "getting my facts straight". i do appreciate your voice and opinion on the issue.
@IInsist@xanga - i by no means am trying to say that i am an expert, i am typing what i believe and what i have witnessed with my own eyes.
@allyouwanted15@xanga - thank you for your comment. i hope you can/have overcome this. ^_^
Mind you, I suspect the media doesn't have half as much to do with eating disorders as most people think it does. But yeah, the term yo-yo dieter was invented for a reason and I don't think most yo-yo dieters are better off because of their dieting.
Can't say I entirely agree with fat acceptance people. But at least if someone who's over and done with angsting over not looking like a model gets told to lose weight by their doctor and goes on a diet, they'll be sane about it. None of this "I wanna look like Kate Moss" crap.
@snowandstarstone@xanga - haha i know
@koreansoul09@xanga - Thank you. I'm still working on it, but I'm better :)
@allyouwanted15@xanga - great, imma start making posts about working out and healthy eating, so if u want, u can check them out too ^_^
@IInsist@xanga - thanks. i also find them intolerably ignorant. which is why,@koreansoul09@xanga - my response came off so harsh. the scenario you depicted (which was clearly set in a western society) really got under my skin. as someone with an eating disorder, i know this argument all too well. certainly, you have some valid points, and i didn't mean to say that you don't.
my point is that this behaviour runs so much deeper than most people will ever know or acknowledge. pinning it on twenty-first century society and pop culture detracts from the individual experience of those going through them. coming from the "unhealthy" side of the spectrum, in my experience, losing weight had less to do with looking like a skinny model, and more to do with feeling clean, needless, and pure. they're both aimless goals in their own respects, and both just symptoms of the anxiety that drove me to the behaviour in the first place.
again, i really didn't mean to offend you. i understand this is an opinion piece and that you don't claim to be an expert. however, opinions that include generalisations still hold implications for those being generalised.
Yeah, I'd have to say I've felt pressure from both sides. Of course, there is a disparity looking in the mirror in a bathing suit and not seeing what I see in the media. It used to bother me a lot but then I just started working out and eating healthy and now I really am happy with the way I look.
On the other side of this, it has absolutely nothing to do with looking "hot" or "sexy" or whatever advertisements try to portray. For me at least, it started out that I just wanted to be healthier so restricted all "bad" foods, which really was just a lot of food. It builds to a point where it's not how you look, but the amount of pounds lost and calories burned and wanting to be in control of food because it's the one thing you really feel like you can be in control of. I remember when I used to have difficulties with eating and someone would say, "Oh you look great" I would think, yes I am doing a good job and I am in control, not that I was happy I fit a certain norm. I think it's a pretty layered subject and one that is slightly different for each individual.
its def a cycle, pressure from society.
gah
@AmandaBobN@xanga - i agree as well, i think society has a lot to do with it, because its like mind manipulation to people./
@jdubface@xanga - definitely, it is up to each person how it affects them, it doesnt hit us all the same way.
@carydeeluxe@xanga - ahh its ok no worries, everyone is entitled to their own opinions and thoughts so i am not offended. thanks for ur input.