Anorexia is a mental illness?

Question by Penguin: Anorexia is a mental illness?
I had an eating disorder, and I do not consider myself mentally ill. I received NO psychiatric treatment, and am taking NO medication. I recovered on my own. How could I have been “mentally ill”?

I would be willing to view anorexia as a “disease” if society also viewed alcoholics and cutters as mentally ill. Anorexia is similar to alcoholism in that it is an addiction to dieting and losing weight. When you lose weight, there are very real rewards. If you were formerly chubby, people tell you that you look great, which essentially encourages you to lose more. Anorexics are also comparable to cutters, but instead of slit wrists they rely on hunger pains to revel in masochistic pain.

Another thing. Anorexics don’t look in the mirror and LITERALLY see themselves as obese cows. Often times during my eating disorder I would see myself as ALMOST perfect. Nearly there, just a few pounds to go. The problem was that once I lost the pounds, I still saw problem spots. I thought, maybe just a few pounds more….

That’s where the trouble lies. You lose perspective. You really just want your body to look absolutely perfect, because someone in your life has told you that thin = happy. My father was always telling me to lose weight. He constantly told me that I was fat, and encouraged my brother to make fun of me. I wanted SO BADLY to be thin. So thin that he thought that I was TOO thin. I just snapped. That’s how I got my eating disorder.

The problem was that I had been called fat for so long it became a part of my identity. I wanted to transform myself into someone new. Someone THIN. But even after weight loss, I still felt like that chubby girl on the inside. Losing weight hadn’t changed who I was, and I couldn’t face that. I thought, maybe I just need to lose a little more.

Do YOU think that anorexia is a mental illness, or the result of pressure from family, friends, and society’s ideals of beauty?
I am not concerned with whether or not it is CLASSIFIED as a mental illness. I am interested in your opinion – SHOULD it be classified as a mental illness.

Best answer:

Answer by Varishnakov
Yes.

What do you think? Answer below!