When I was browsing through the internet on Eating Disorder related
websites, the topic of ‘Lifestyle or Disease’ would always pop up over
and over again.
On the one side you have the people who believe they are
suffering from a disease and require to be cured – and that this disease is involuntary.
On the other side you have people who believe that they are following a
lifestyle which should be respected by others and that you have a choice
to participate within Eating Disorders or not.
The first group is considered to be ‘authentic’ within having a mental
disorder, while the second group is considered by the first group to be
‘wannabes’.
The thing is that they’re both right and they’re both wrong.
Is anorexia or any other Eating Disorder really a ‘disease’? And is it
really ‘involuntary’ like ‘catching the flu’ and having ‘eating disorder
genes’? It’s a nice side to take because if you’re ‘sick’ and you’re
‘suffering’ and you didn’t have ‘any choice’ within it – then you are
left in a position of zero responsibility because ‘you had nothing to do
with it’. I find that to be unacceptable with regards to Eating
Disorders or even other mental disorders like ‘Depression’ which are
portrayed to be ‘diseases’. These mental disorders don’t just manifest
overnight. Things like anorexia, bulimia and depression are
manifestations which develop through time. You have to actively think
about your body in a particular way, you have to actively take comments
personal, you have to actively
compare
yourself to others, you have to actively, obsessively go through
fashion magazines while being hypnotised by the ‘thinness’ you perceive,
you have to actively put yourself in front of a mirror and remind
yourself why you are
not good enough,
you have to actively not eat and hide your eating patterns, you have to
actively put your finger down your throat and puke. There’s no
‘disease’ making you do those things: it’s all you!
Now, people don’t want to
hear
this because they immediately take it personal and believe that there
is something wrong with them and that it makes them ‘look bad’ – because
obviously they and everyone knows that this type of
behaviour
is quite disturbing. So if the behaviour is ‘out of your control’ you
can wash your hands clean and just kind of shrug your shoulders at it.
The problem with saying that you have a ‘disease’ and that it’s
‘involuntary’ is that you are placing the Eating Disorder separate from
yourself, where it’s some sort of ‘Alien invader’ where you have no say.
How are you supposed to cure/recover from that? You can’t, because you
only have the ability to bring about
change within yourself, you only have the power to
change you. So if you
see your eating disorder behaviour as ‘not you’, then all you can do is stare at it and be completely
powerless
– you’re placing yourself in victimization mode. On the other hand, if
you realise and acknowledge that you are the one acting out this Eating
Disorder and bringing it ‘to life’ – where you are the one driving it =
you have the power to change it, because you know it’s you. You might
not like it because it means that all these disturbing behaviours are
indeed coming from you and your decisions and choices to participate
within non-supportive
thought
patterns and actions – but at least you are then placing yourself in a
position of self-responsibility and can actually make a difference
within your Life.
This does not mean that I agree that ‘anorexia is a lifestyle’ – because
obviously, there is a missing link between ‘Starving Yourself’ on the
one side, and ‘Life’ on the other side. It’s more of a ‘abusing myself
style’ than anything else and should in no way whatsoever be ‘respected’
or ‘recognized’ as a ‘formal lifestyle’ as ‘one of the many ways one
can choose to live their life’. Eating disorders are harmful and
damaging and you’re basically squeezing the Life out of yourself for the
sake of your appearance matching some picture presentation. There’s
nothing ‘Life’ about that, you might as well be a plastic doll or an
image in a magazine. Though what people from this side do get, is the
point that you are the creator and maintainer of your Eating Disorder
and so it will be easier for them to stop – but of course only if they
want to. Obviously if you see starving yourself as a lifestyle then
there’s some serious mental disorder existent within you and as such you
might not want to give this up at all as a result of that.
So No, Anorexia is not a Disease and No Anorexia is not a Lifestyle.
It is what it is = it’s mental disorder. And not in the sense of a
‘disease ’ or ‘condition’ of which you are the victim. It’s a mental
disorder because you’re actively disordering yourself, and a long with
it your body as well (and your body is really the real victim
here).
Anorexia or any other eating disorder can only exist as long as you
fuel/participate within it. You have to in every moment decide whether
you are going to act upon the thought that ‘you’re so fat and shouldn’t
eat’.
Sure, there may have been events and circumstances which would make
someone participate within an Eating Disorder more likely – but in the
end it’s still up to self whether you make that decision to harm
yourself this way or not.
The whole Pro-Anna (or ‘wannabes’) movement is merely an extreme form of
what Eating Disorders actually stand for. They’re direct and
straightforward about what they’re doing and how they’re doing it – and
are only able to do this due to the vast level of
acceptance
and value that has been placed on one’s appearance over one’s physical
well-being. I mean, is it a coincidence that with the advent of
mass-media where we are bombarded with images from billboards,
magazines, tv, internet over the last decade – that there has been an
80% rise in Anorexia cases? And where children are being diagnosed with
eating disorders from an earlier and earlier age? I mean, there’s FIVE
YEAR OLDS that have eating disorders! This is not normal, this is the
direct result of our society’s values falling further and further away
from valuing life and actual well-being over appearances and fake
happiness. Our world is becoming more and more superficial and our
bodies are the one’s suffering just like the Earth is suffering more and
more under our unhealthy ideologies which do not promote actual
well-being.
Check out the
Desteni I Process Lite – a
free course – to assist and support yourself in getting to know yourself and your mental disorders and assist yourself to a
sound mind.
Check out the
Equal Money Website as an alternative economic
system that actually values Life and actual well-being over unsustainable economic growth.
