ED Reflection 1 - Neimeyer PDF

Preview

Summary

Neimeyer...

Description

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Reflection Sheet 1: Abby Abby’s problems with eating began around tenth grade. She mentioned that she felt like she had no control and aspects of her OCD made her paranoid about others liking her. Abby then stated that she turned to food because she had no friends. She started to gain weight and overheard other people commenting on it. This caused her to hate herself even more and begin restricting her food intake. Abby stated that when she first started restricting she also would over-exercise. Her dad saw the exercise and made a comment to her commending her for her ability to control herself. This helped shape the idea in Abby’s mind that her behaviors were positive. Abby would also not eat around people, would have strict food rituals, and would restrict daily calories to about 1000 or less. She also would constantly tell herself how worthless and undeserving of food she was. These were some of the earliest problematic behaviors for Abby. Aside from self-starvation, another problem with eating that Abby had was refusing to eat around other people. She said that she was worried she would be judged by others if she ate in front of them due to her various food rituals she would go through. For example, she stated that she would pick the chocolate chips off her granola bar and eat them separately. She would also take a long time to eat foods in general because she needed to stretch out the time to make it seem like it was a full meal. Abby also had very rigid eating schedules. She would starve herself all day and stay up at night to eat when she had lots of time and was alone. These are the examples Abby gave when describing her problems with eating. Abby said that after telling a member of her church about her problems, that individual then went and told Abby’s mother. Abby said that their reaction to finding out about Abby’s problem was to just tell her that they wanted her to be happy and healthy. Her mom had already noticed some of the food restriction behaviors and was worried. In this case, her mom was helpful to Abby as she took her problems legitimately and didn’t just try to brush them off. Her family then sent her to therapy and eating disorder facilities which ultimately has led to where Abby is today. In terms of friends, Abby mentioned that the community surrounding her at the second facility where she stayed was the number one reason for her becoming better. They supported her and allowed Abby to see that others share similar problems. One thing that I strongly identified with in Abby’s account of her experiences was her susceptibility to other people’s negative comments pertaining to her. Abby struggled a lot with wanting to feel liked and allowing other people’s words to crush her self image. I can relate to this as I have experienced times where I will view other people’s behaviors or hear certain things and over analyze them to the point where they are twisted in my mind and I believe they are negative reflections of my own self. For example, I might see other friends hanging out without me and believe they are purposely leaving me out when, in reality, they probably just planned something last minute. One aspect of Abby’s story that was most striking to me was how significantly Abby’s community at the facility helped her recover. Abby stated that it was probably the number

one reason she was able to feel supported and make progress, and that she had developed such strong friendships coming out of that experience. I guess previously I believed that there were more important aspects to recovery (therapy, medication, nutritionists) but hearing this allowed me to realize that support systems are just as important. It has also made me think about the positive outcomes that could arise from just talking more about eating disorders and allowing others to feel like they aren’t alone....