Helpful Quiz, Ability to Conceive, Osteoporosis

Eating Disorders Today has a name change and a new location. 

Please visit Eating Disorder Recovery for Women at http://www.eatingdisorderrecovery.com.

       Breaking the Mirror posted answers  http://www.breakingthemirror.com/  Quiz Answers!January 11, 2008 to a to a ten point eating disorder quiz posted on a teen fashion site. 

       Posting this quiz is a wonderful idea. It helps provide clear information that can combat prevalent and false ideas about eating disorders.

       I would add that while birth control is always a good practice when someone is sexually active and not prepared to conceive a child, it is also true that severe anorexia can seriously
limit a woman’s ability to conceive.

      Another point missing from the quiz relates to bone strength. Many young women with eating disorders develop osteoporosis. It doesn’t hurt, and it doesn’t show. Some anorexic women who are
only 17 years old have lace bones comperable to a very old and fragile woman.

       That said, stating health risks will not scare a person into recovery. But they might scare a person into treatment!

       I hope so. I’ve recovered from bulimia and have been a psychotherapist dedicated to eating disorder recovery for many years. It seems that girls and women need to notice that the eating
disorder eventually causes more pain than they can bear before they are willing to risk giving it up.

       This requires a desperate kind of courage because they genuinely face the unknown in the therapy work. It can be almost impossible to imagine a life without the eating disorder. Yet, a
glimmer of the freedom that might be possible if they were genuinely free of the behavior, the thoughts, the anxiety, the planning and strategizing, the need for the cover up lies
can keep a person on the recovery road.

       I'm glad to know that in the sea of high drama, repetition and hype on the internet relating to eating disorders, some realistic information is being offered that can be truly
helpful to people looking for solid recovery.

 

Comments

[Angelique]

Joanna:

Thanks so much for commenting about the quiz. I truly appreciate your thoughts... and your points on osteoporosis are well-taken.

I have an acquaintance who is in her early 30s, is trying to recover from anorexia, but whose bone density is severely low.

I'd love to interview you sometime about your own recovery and mission to help others. Feel free to email me -- I post Face to Face with EDs interviews every Thursday and would love to highlight your insights.

[Joanna]

Dear Angelique,

Well, thank you right back!

I'm impressed with your site and put it in my blog roll.

Yes, I would be happy to have you interview me. I'm glad to support your
fine work in any way I can.

Let me know what I or we need to do to make that happen.

warm regards,

Joanna