Posted by Blossom on December 7, 2004, at 18:18:44
I think its great to have a place to share about this stuff. My story is a positive one. Let me share it with you guys just because I really should be studying for finals, and I need to procrastinate it for a few more minutes ;)
I became anorexic when I was a teenager. I don't know exactly when it started, but I had this really bad boyfriend who verbally abused me quite often. I became depressed, and basically missed out on some of the best years of my life because of it. Now I look back and feel so sad that I missed so many great opportunities because of my depression.
Of course, I didn't realize that I was depressed for a long time, and didn't realize that I had an eating disorder (for 12 years!). Nobody confronted me with it, except for the occasional snide remark from a friend or acquaintance about my low weight. But one day I was reading one of these web sites about a girl just like me who had everything going for her, but she just fell over and died one day because of excessive purging. I thought, "Hmmm, I wonder if that could be me." So I hauled myself over to the student mental health services at my university and got assessed. Of course, even after they confirmed the diagnosis, I still spent several sessions debating with my T that I really didn't have an eating disorder, or depression for that matter, and why was I even here in the first place? (He even pulled out his DSM IV and went over line by line the criteria.) But eventually, they put me on meds, and now, I can't believe how much better I feel. I was very reluctant to take the antidepressants at first, but the meds and the therapy have literally changed my whole life. I'm so much happier and don't have any need to restrict and purge and punish myself like I used to.
No wonder people like me fall in love with their T's. Why shouldn't I fall in love with someone who has literally given me a whole new life?
I think in my case, the eating disorder was very closely connected to the depression, and once that was cleared up, the eating disorder kind of took care of itself.
I know, it sounds so easy, but for a lot of people the story is much more complicated than that.
Blossom
poster:Blossom
thread:425845
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/eating/20041128/msgs/425845.html