Thread: Anorexia Truth

Originally Posted by imported_Lisanurse

The only way they are able to ask for what they need is by looking sick. They have extreme fear that if they gain weight, the time, care, and attention they need will go away; that people will think they're "fine" when they're anything but fine. So gaining weight is symbolic. Being sick and underweight is a way of saying "Hello! Look at me! I'm NOT o.k.!!"

As a someone in recovery, I can say this-- I personally find that part hurtful as well as untrue. The bottom line, at least in my case and the girls I worked with, is that we never wanted help. It's was forced upon myself and those I met. I feel that to equate being anorexic with a "cry for help" is demeaning towards the disorder and those affected. Maybe I'm just sensitive about this, but I find it all too common for the people I encountered staffed in treatment facilities to view anorexia that way. It is not a cry for help, it's a silent way of saying don't look at me, I'm hardly even here.