Anorexia is a very serious disorder. Unfortunately, there are many misunderstandings connected with the disease sometimes making it difficult to diagnose and acknowledge the disease. Here are 5 common misconceptions about anorexia.
1.Individuals suffering from anorexia can be easily identified.
Extreme thinness is certainly the most obvious characteristic of anorexia. When the disease is advanced, the person will also have very dry skin, thinning, brittle hair, and bluish fingertips.
Keep in mind, however, everyone who is skinny is not anorexic. Thinness may be an inherited body type or the person could be going through some medical treatments.
2.We can count on physicians and other healthcare professionals to discover and diagnose anorexia.
That just doesn’t happen. Most physicians aren’t trained thoroughly in eating disorder issues so they’re not going to recognize them. Secondly, most don’t have time during an office visit to question the patient about the possibility. Third, even if they did question the patient, the chances are very good patients will lie about their eating habits because they don’t want to be discovered.
My sister was a master at lying about her food intake. At times she almost had me believing all her gastro problems. Her family certainly believed everything she said. She was good; her lies were very convincing.
3.Parents are the cause of their child’s eating disorder.
Not true. Three months before she died, and the word anorexia was finally acknowledged by family, my sister blamed my mother for her eating disorder; something about my mother criticizing the width of her hips. It certainly wasn’t my mother’s fault although what she said when my sister was in her 20s didn’t help. There are too many factors that contribute to the development of anorexia – peer pressure, media influence, and perfectionism. I suspect low self esteem was on the top of my sister’s list.
4.Only the rich and famous can afford to be anorexic.
Of course you know this isn’t true because none of you knew my sister! The rich and famous make headlines when they’re labeled as anorexics but it’s estimated that 10 million Americans struggle with the disease. And apparently anorexia is an equal-opportunity disorder – diverse cultures, religions, ethnic groups and socio-economic groups are represented.
5.A person who eats regularly doesn’t have anorexia.
Not necessarily so. Keep in mind that deception is an active part of life for anorexics. Often, anorexics will play with their food, push it around the plate, hide pieces in a napkin, feed food to the dog - anything rather than eat. The point is they are taking in a lot less calories than they require.
I’ll cover more myths in my next post.
In the in-between time let me know the misconceptions about anorexia that you see. Scroll down to Comments and describe them in the blank window.
To your healthy lifestyle,
Ruthan
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