Acceptance Through Denial: Eating Disorders, Alcoholism, and Dr. Phil
Written by John Rozewicki   
Sunday, 19 March 2006
We live in a fantasy world. People with serious problems appear on shows like Dr. Phil, and they're left usually with what amounts to someone saying, "Stop it." The person feels as if they've gotten some profound insight in to their troubles, but they are left just the same as they were before while Dr. Phil gets his own prime time special. I wish that the problem were limited to him, but it's not. His popularity is only a sign of the ignorance of the public, and the stagnation of the information being given. The popular philosophy is that of free will. All people have to do about their problems is choose not to have them. Alcoholics can magically stop drinking. Women with eating disorders can start eating properly and rise to a healthy weight. It's simple. It's easy. We've given them their solution. We can move on, and feel like we've done something even though we've done nothing. It's all good, right? The problem with this philosophy is that it stems from a misconception. If it's all up to choice doesn't that make them bad people? The alcoholic chose to lose their job by coming in drunk? Those people who can not stop a behavior, despite very negative consequences, obviously have problems bigger than whatever the behavior is. Yet, the real problems are ignored by the public.

Symptoms vs Illnesses

Oftentimes the symptoms are confused with the illness. Throwing up, is a symptom. The flu is an illness. The problem is not that I'm throwing up, it's that I have the flu. If I force myself to stop throwing up the flu will not disappear. There are things driving people's problems just like the flu is driving my vomiting. Alcoholics can't will themselves to stop their behavior anymore than I can will away my vomiting. The cause of both problems lies deeper than only the things we see on the outside. This needs to be taken in to account if anything is ever to be done. People blame societal pressures on women for eating disorders; i.e. "the media." They believe that if the women just felt good about themselves that they would stop needing to so rigidly control their weight through destructive means. It's very logically sound that someone who is restricting their nutritional intake must be doing so to control weight and image. However, it's still wrong. This thinking comes about by thinking that the symptom, binging/purging, is the problem. Any extrapolated reason for the problem must also be faulty by extension.

What works.

Alcoholics drink. They do so because they are unable to manage feelings. They seek out destructive behaviors like drinking to help them regulate. The behavior makes them feel better, and can even work for a time. Why would a person ever choose to start destructive behaviors, in the first place, if they didn't work? It's so difficult to stop because it works so well at the onset. It doesn't work in 20 years but it works now, and that's all they care about because they're in pain. It has very negative consequences down the road, even fatal ones, but it works for right now. This is the same reason people cut on themselves, and this is the very same reason that girls with eating disorders binge or purge. It is all a bid for control and regulation of feelings. Consequently, 12-Step programs, however you feel about them, work very well for treating this whole spectrum of disorders.

Acceptance Through Denial

Society is increasingly more accepting of these disorders, but only at face value. Reality is too painful to face. It's easier for people who do not have these disorders to cope with those that do by denying the depth of their problem. We make their problem simple so that we can more easily deal with it. There's no easy answers for a person who doesn't have the ability to regulate their emotions from moment to moment. There are easy answers for someone who drinks too much or starves themselves. Unfortunately, these ignorant positive attitudes are hurting more than they're helping. It used to be that there was a stigma attached to having a problem, and so many did not seek treatment. The stigma about problems is no longer prevalent, but people are still not seeking treatment. The same denial that those without problems use to make themselves feel better harms the people who actually have problems. The people who really do have to cope with these problems get told by everyone around them that what they have is really simple and easy to fix. They're told it's all about choosing to stop. They end up not seeking any treatment, because of their own denial and the denial being imposed upon them.

Ignorance as a Destructive Behavior

Simply stopping the behavior really isn't a solution. It doesn't fix the thing that made them do whatever they do in the first place. The behavior doesn't exist in a vacuum; on it's own apart from anything else. The spouse of any addict in treatment will tell you that their partner wasn't fixed after they stopped drinking. They still have a lot of work to do after they do quit. Quitting is only the beginning of a long process. The person has to build emotional systems, in treatment, that they can use to regulate in daily life. The process is even harder if the behavior has left a lasting impact on the person. Ecstasy, most recently, has been shown to cause severe depression in the long-term. Typically, more than 20 hits is where doctors start seeing problems. Ecstasy users start not wanting to go out, having panic attacks, and then eventually they spiral in to profound depression and agoraphobia. Brain damage has to be dealt with through medication, first, before any other treatment can be done. It also isn't limited to ecstasy. There's long term brain impairment associated with marijuana, mushrooms, methamphetamine, etc. There is no free lunch.

Looking Deeper

I wouldn't be surprised if anyone reading this article found something in it that they didn't know. These are answers I had to search for, and only found through diligence. Hopefully, I've educated a few of you. Take this information, and use it to filter the things that are being thrown at you. This is only beginning. Many in the media typically don't go further than skin deep on most issues; even ones where they purport to be doing in-depth reporting. Look deeper for yourself, so that you really know what's going on. At the heart of this issue is ignorance at every level. The systems in place to provide us the information are failing. The people we count on to know what they're talking about are paying lip service, and telling us things we already know instead of informing us. Everyone takes a health class that covers eating disorders and addiction. How many television specials do we have to sit through where we are condescendingly given the definition? Diabolically simple things we've all heard before are not profound insights.
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