Expert: Joanne - 2/19/2009

Question
QUESTION: hi i was wondering if you could help me I'm not ill or anything him a little under weight for my age and height but i keep searching weight loss tips and going on diets as i think I'm fatter than i should be and I'm always looking up pictures of anorexic people and constantly think about my weight every day am i experiencing some sort of mental anorexia?

ANSWER: Jennifer

I don't think it is mental anorexia as anorexia itself is a mental illness with physical manifestations.  I'm not sure how this would be described, possibly body dysmorphia at the moment.

It worries me that you are idolising the anorexic body, and you yourself obviously know that it is not right that you have thought to come and ask about this.  

By looking for these pictures and weight loss tips, I am scared that you are finding and using pro-anorexia websites.  These websites are very dangerous and the people involved in them do not care for the people visiting these websites, but rather are condoning living with a potentially fatal illness and not seeking help for it, but continuing to feed it.  Some are looking for other people to post tips and tricks, or their weights as a means of finding competition for themselves, or 'bettering' themselves as an anorexic.  All in all, anorexia tends to make people quite selfish.  They find it hard to look beyond what is happening to themselves, so find little problem in helping others slowly kill themselves.  I used to use these websites on a very regular basis, and I now regret having ever found them!

I am not saying that everybody with anorexia is selfish, or is quite happy for others to die, I'm simply saying that the people in control of these websites have little consideration, or possibly even knowledge of what they are actually doing to the health and welfare of others.

I would like to think that if you are looking for weight loss tips, you are looking at websites that promote healthy eating and exercise, but I know that typing weight loss tips into a search engine is much more likely to pull up tips and tricks for anorexia.

Underweight is called just that for a reason.  Someone has worked out the ideal weight range for your height for the majority of the population.  Outside this range, the majority of people will be putting their health at risk, if it was safe for them to be at such a weight and have no effect on their health, then it would be within the ideal weight range!

I think that you possibly need to speak to someone, be it a relative, doctor, counsellor, tutor, etc about these thoughts.  You sound as though you have body image issues, and possibly could have body dysmorphia and/or be at risk of developing a severe eating disorder.  Believe me, it is much better for your health and also easier to treat the sooner you seek help for problems like this.  The longer it goes on, the more likely these behhaviours, thoughts, feelings, etc are likely to become habits, and habits are very hard to break!

Joanne

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hey thanks for the help my friend has mentioned that to me before about the body disformia or whatever you call it she said i might have it but I'm not sure as i don't know the symptoms do you know what they are? if so would you be able to tell me please :) thank you for the help x

Answer
Jennifer

I could have just copied the signs and symptoms of Body Dysmorphic Disorder here, but thought it would be much more useful to provide you with this link instead.

http://www.thebddfoundation.org/what_isbdd/signsymptoms1.htm

This whole website is dedicated to body dysmorphic disorder, so it may be worth having a look around it and seeing if you think that this does apply to you and then have a look at what they suggest.  This is a British website though, so the support organisations and professional help they mention may not be useful if you are from elsewhere.

I have found this American website  http://www.bddclinic.info/joomla/  but it looks like it could be a one-off, but you should contact your doctor to see if they can recommend anyone else in your area that can help.  From what I have read, many people will not receive help specifically for BDD, but for obsessive compulsive disorder as they are seen to be very similar conditions and are likely to be treated in a similar manner to each other.

I think that you really should visit your doctor as they should be able to point you in the right direction for professional help, give you a diagnosis if it is appropriate and then you should be able to start counselling/therapy, maybe even combined with medication if they feel it is necessary.

You do not need to just 'put up' with they way you are feeling, there is help out there for you!  You do not need to be extremely poorly or underweight before you are eligible for help.  Health organisations would much rather see you now to help prevent this going any further!

Joanne