(This blog was
originally posted on June 9, 2016)
“I have it on very good authority that
the quest for perfection our society demands can leave the individual gasping
for breath at every turn. This pressure inevitably extends to the way we look.
Eating disorders, whether it be anorexia or bulimia, show how an individual can
turn the nourishment of the body into a painful attack on themselves.” – Diana, Princess of Wales
Recently, singer Meghan Trainor
took her music label to task for altering her image. Apparently, the company
digitally slimmed her waistline in the video of her song, “Me Too.” Trainor was
happy and confident with her talent and her body image. Apparently, the record
company had a different idea, which is why the tweak was ordered in the first
place. Long story short, the video was promptly taken down and replaced with
the original version, sans photo-shopped images and exactly how the singer
wanted to be presented.
But not everybody has the opportunity or resources (internal or
otherwise) to determine how to present herself and be perceived by others. With
so many magazines and movies/television programs featuring uber-slim models and
actors/actresses, it is not surprising that we integrate the message that this is how they should look. After all,
that is the image the media and clothes designers want to promote. NBC’s popular weight-loss program, The Biggest Loser, makes the
process of losing weight into a competition. In this case, the “winner” is the
person who has dropped the most weight within the duration of the series (just
a few months). Is it really surprising when someone takes these popular images
and subconscious suggestions about the importance/value of looking like the
beautiful people featured in the magazines, to an extreme? Apparently, there
are websites devoted to the various ways a person can lose weight—including
fasting and purging—and there are various dietary “supplements” available to
suppress appetite and facilitate weight loss.
An eating disorder is not an
extreme version of a diet or extreme over-eating
at a meal. There are three basic categories of eating disorders: anorexia
nervosa; bulimia; and compulsive eating. In the context of this essay, I will
address just the first two. Each is a very complicated, dangerous condition
that can cause severe physiological destruction and even death. The symptoms
and etiology (medical/psychiatric origin) of each are addressed in the Diagnostics and
Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, a basic reference guide for various
psychiatric disorders. Typically, these conditions are out of scope of my or
most other certified hypnotherapists’ professional expertise to address in
hypnotherapy. To do so, I would have to receive a referral from the person’s
(licensed) medical doctor and/or mental-health worker to work with the
individual. Even then, my input as a hypnotherapist would be only to help the client fortify her or
his self-confidence and self-esteem and reinforce new healthy-eating behaviors
recommended by the person’s medical and psychiatric team. Ultimately, the
treatment (management) of anorexia nervosa and bulimia is often a lifelong
process which must be done under such medical supervision.
You can watch the late Princess of Wales’s entire speech about eating
disorders at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqNI9aRUb3k.
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Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified
hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors
from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about
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