Abnormal Psychology
In watching the film “Dying to be thin” my understanding of anorexia was changed in a couple of ways. One way was that to be a dancer you are expected to be 15% below average body weight. This shocks me because the diagnostic criteria for being anorexic is being 15% below average body weight. Another aspect of anorexia that I did not know about is that the onset generally happens around the time of puberty. Treating eating disorders with a group of people with different eating disorders and multiple doctors is surprising to me because I wouldn’t have thought that group therapy would be affective because people with eating disorders do not see them self’s as skinny so if there are people there who are skinnier then themselves I would think that would make them feel worst and want to lose more weight. But having people around you sharing similar stories of pain and suffering that are similar to their own stories could inspire them to become better as a group rather than being alone in the struggle. The different individuals in the film surprised me because I was surprised that people could be anorexic from exercising more calories than they consume. This film has clarified to me what bulimics look like. Previously I had assumed that bulimics would look similar to anorexic as opposed to being of average weight. Anorexia in the dancing community is still looked away from today, this film is making a good attempt to educate people of the silent suffering that these people have to go through to feel fulfilled and to feel attractive. Being as deadly as this disorder can be people need to educate people of these eating disorders and try to prevent them.