Eating Disorders

A while back in psychology, we studied eating disorders and watched a film on it. The film was about young individuals who suffered from anorexia. The individuals shown had lost so much weight that they had to be hospitalized and placed on feeding tubes in order for them to survive. One woman shown in the film is Jean Claude Pierre who had a daughter who suffered form anorexia. It was through her struggles with her daughter that Jean Claude learned the most effective way of fighting off the disorder. Instead of force feeding the person, which Jean Claude said was the worst possible thing, she recommends offering love and affection. The disease eats away at individuals brains in a sense. The patients hear voices telling them that they are not worthy to eat or to even live. Anorexia is considered to be an unconscious slow form of suicide. The conscious mind is not strong enough to commit suicide therefore the unconscious takes over. Jean Claude said that those who suffer from anorexia eat less and less until they slowly waste away and eventually disappear. By showing patients that they are worthy enough to eat through affection, it is possible to ease the mind of the burden. One common technique of helping individuals to eat involves having someone else feed the patients to rid the mind of the blame in a sense. Jean Claude Pierre has devoted her life to helping those who cannot help themselves. She opened a refugee called the Mansion and is on the verge of bankruptcy because of her caring nature.