Eating Disorders and Blog of the Week: Real Recovery from Bulimia & Binge Eating
This week’s featured blog is Real Recovery from Bulimia and Binge Eating written by Michelle Hope, a 34-year-old who “recently completed the journey to recovery after 14 years of bulimia, anxiety, depression, rage, and fear.”
Family history and genetic factors may influence a person’s risk of developing bulimia. According to Children’s Hospital Boston:
Adolescents who develop bulimia are more likely to come from families with a history of eating disorders, physical illness, and other mental health problems, such as mood disorders or substance abuse.
Michelle’s blog is an inspiring place to learn about eating disorders, including bulimia. Reading it helped me understand the disease from the point-of-view of people who struggle with it daily.
Technorati Tags: bulimia, eating+disorders, genetics, genes, disease, health, family+history
Hello Hsien.
Thank you for your kind comments about my blog and for featuring it as your blog of the week. I’m looking forward to getting to know your site as well.
From my own personal experience as well as from many of my readers who have shared their stories with me, I believe the most common trait among people with chronic (ie. they’re addicted) eating disorders is a chaotic childhood. The exact family dynamics may be quite different, but if the child experiences persistent unpredictability, with or without a dysfunctional parent, that child will grow up with an inability to feel secure – and so will be more likely to seek stability and comfort in dysfunctional, self-defeating ways. We know that food or drugs or alcohol or video games or whatever addiction of choice do provide (however temporary) a means to help a person COPE with uncertainty – they numb and they calm.
Of course, having a dysfunctional parent greatly increases the chances of a chaotic childhood. But, even highly functioning parents who for whatever reason don’t provide a secure, predictable, relatively calm household, may end up with addicted children.
If there is anything else I can do to help people understand what an addiction, particularly a food addiction, is like, please contact me anytime at michelle@michellehope.org. Remember, I also suffered from persistent depression, panic attacks, and frightening attacks of uncontrollable rage. I found my rage to be much more disconcerting than my eating disorder.
With gratitude,
Michelle Hope
Michelle: It’s your generosity in helping others that impressed me. All the best!