Anorexia is an evil seductress.
She comes into a person's life offering promises of control, happiness and acceptance. In the courtship stages of a person's relationship with anorexia, the disease offers rose-tinted glasses and more "good feels" than "bad feels." The truth and bad stuff takes time to kick in, to be noticed, and to be understood...but by that time, the horrible mental and physical habits of the illness have taken firm root.
Here are some of the common lies Anorexia tells:
Anorexia promises acceptance, but the truth it is terribly isolating and lonely.
Anorexia promises love, but the truth is that it leads to self-loathing and leaves no space for other relationships.
Anorexia promises beauty and popularity, but the truth is that it makes its victims so preoccupied with the inner demons, that they withdraw from people and life.
Anorexia promises control, but the truth is that it steals it's victims power.
Anorexia promises a life worth living, but the truth is that anorexia is actually dying.
Anorexia promises relief, but the truth is that it compounds anxiety and depression exponentially.
Anorexia promises perfection, but the truth is that it will destroy every shred of self-esteem.
"All of anorexia’s solutions come with expiry dates. The hunger high tends to degenerate into chronic gnawing unpleasantness. The depression embeds itself to make life feel nearly unbearable. The obsessive-compulsive rituals brook ever less resistance. The money in the bank loses meaning (or is eaten away by the costs of illness). The friends you once had drift away. The compliments cease. The thinness is way past attractive. The specialness reveals itself as nothing more than the winning of a competition whose prize was misery. The utter predictability of anorexia is a greater terror than the universe’s unpredictability. And the universe stays how it always was, except now made just a little bit more miserable by your misery." - Emily Troscianko
If you or someone you care about needs help breaking up with this deadly disease, there is help and there is hope.
Check out the resources on the NEDA website for screening tools, help lines, and even online chat.
If you live in metro Phoenix, Arizona we can help. I've been supporting individuals working to break the grip of anorexia nervosa for nearly a decade and understand how to help you navigate the path of recovery.
The work is arduous and the path is rocky, but with the right guides, you can release yourself!