2011 study:
http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/prevalence-and-correlates-eating-disorders-adolescents
This is NEDA’s summary of the study.
I don’t believe there’s such thing as ODD. If there is, I am personally proud to have it among my collection of labels.
ODD= Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Please, we need more of this! Never, ever shut up! Just think: instead of going to a hospital to enjoy the company of your treatment buddies, you can be proudly marching in the streets holding signs. You can be writing to your legislators. You can be speaking out at the schools. You can refuse to be forcibly weighed at school.
I told you that in junior high I protested the girls’ dress code by being the first girl to wear “slacks” to school? This was a bit of a quirk. The protest was organized by eighth graders. An eighth grader told me about the protest. I never knew if she was mistaken about the date, or if the group of girls deliberately tricked me to embarrass me. Either is highly possible since I got teased a lot in school anyway. So I ended up protesting a day early.
On the second day, the real protest day, about seven of us showed up in pants. We got sent to the principal’s office. I remember he told the group that he was going to be lenient on me since I was a seventh grader and they were eighth graders. None of us got as much as a slap on the wrist, though. Because of our actions, our nonviolent self-expression and First Amendment rights, we won!
Keep on speaking out and I will too. Access to treatment will not help unless the treatment itself is humane and respectful. I have yet to see or hear about those expensive residential centers actually being humane and respectful. Access to HUMANE treatment is my personal goal, and I hope it is yours, too. No more locking up and torturing kids!
Here are a few articles to ponder:
http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/dont-weigh-my-kid-in-school/ This article describes a mother’s reaction to shaming by a school nurse.
The following article justifies such actions, claiming that it is always done privately and discretely:
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/blog/nutrition/2013/08/letter_from_the_school_nurse_y.html
Is this your experience? Were you bullied as a result, or shamed? How did you feel if you had to take a note home?
A 13-year-old speaks out: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/13/students-protest-sparks-debate-over-weighing-at-school/19006167/
What is your opinion? Did you ever personally benefit form this practice?
The Church of Latter Day Saints forbids body piercings and tattoos. Islam does as well. In their texts, any form of maiming the body is forbidden.
In Judaism, tattoos are forbidden but women can have pierced ears. In Jewish history, tattooing was used to identify Jewish prisoners held in concentration camps. The presence of tattoos, therefore, has a rather loaded historical meaning in Jewish culture.
Christianity varies, probably according to denomination.
Some religious practices do not forbid body art, but incorporate it into religious rites and customs.
Circumcision is said to be genital mutilation, but this is controversial and I’m not going there right now.
ECT, which is claimed to help depression, is a form of legal body maiming done by medical professionals who are highly paid per procedure. It causes structural damage to the brain similar to a TBI. The damage can sometimes be seen beyond the brain in the outlying structures. The damage can be permanently disabling, or severely disabling for years.
There is a quote somewhere by a renowned “expert” on ECT admitting that it does cause damage but the damage is “justified.”
Many prescribed drugs also maim the body. As you know from reading my blog, my kidneys and thyroid were permanently damaged by Lithium. Other damages from these “meds” have been noted (or highly suspected) as well, including an enlarged atrium from antipsychotic pills. The kidney disease will most likely be life-shortening for me.
Where are the churches in all this? The churches need to speak out about drugging and ECT, as these practices are now not only more prevalent, but with the passing of new laws (whether it be Murphy or another that expands the use of force) more people’s bodies will be maimed.
I am wondering if people can claim religious objection to these harmful, barbaric treatments, on the basis of Freedom of Religion granted to us in the First Amendment?
(Source: References gleaned from several sites on body art. The ECT info is taken from multiple sources, too many to list here.)
This is the You-Tube I have referred to a number of times on this blog. Here a drug company rep talks about how he was told by his company. Lilly, to LIE to doctors about Zyprexa weight gain. Don’t rely on those handouts you get at the doctor’s office. This drug rep states that he was told to alter the way he presented statistics, literally LYING about the weight gain caused by Zyprexa. We need more people to speak out on this and tell their stories. Have you been harmed by a drug? Never downplay the importance of our stories. A story, an individual account is worth a thousand studies full of statistical data.
This might show up with colors reversed because I use visual aids with my computer. Nonetheless, I’m done. I still have to compile the whole thing and make sure the Nano system agrees with my word count. Usually, word count isn’t quite the same from one application to another. If necessary I will add more!
I will be finishing the 50,000 words today. I’ve decided that overall, the book is just too long, given that these 50,000 are added to text that’s already there. If i keep going like this I’ll have a book that’s monstrously long and no one will read. So I am breaking it up into several books, a series.
The first book will be about busting the ED myths we’re taught in “treatment.” I’ve got a bunch of the myths listed. I’m thinking of adding nature photos to make the book more attractive. Maybe that’ll make it sell. I suppose people will buy it hoping for skinny pictures, too. I won’t be including those. Maybe I will put in a pic of Puzzle, though. I’m sure that’ll make it a bestseller! Ha ha.
Question: Why do I hate myself after ED “care”?
First of all, know that you are not alone. Many others hate themselves, too, and are thinking the same things. Of course, in “care,” no one’s allowed to say how they really feel, lest they be accused of “negativity” or being “triggering.”
I cannot count how many times I’d sit on my bed at night saying to myself, “I can hardly wait to get out of here and lose this weight.” No one wanted to admit to anyone else that they felt the exact same way. No one. The ones that talked got kicked out, called “pro-ana,” or whatever.
Listen: There’s nothing wrong with how you feel. It isn’t morally bad to hate what “they” did to you. Many of us feel this way. The “care” of ED isn’t care! It’s abuse! It’s demeaning, shaming, and full of scare tactics. Abuse makes people hate themselves, doubt themselves, question themselves and even question their own sanity.
The way I saw those staff acting, I can tell you who was sane and who wasn’t on the wards. I can tell you who had more insight and more intelligence. I can tell you that during the times they allowed us to form friendships, these bonds were stronger than anything “staff” could ever break. Where are those “staff” now?
Just because “treatment” made you feel like shit doesn’t mean you have to stay “sick” to get back at them. You don’t need to prove anything to them. Prove to yourself that you are far more capable than they claim. To really get back at those abusers, go live a productive life. Success is the best revenge ever.
This Hunger Is Secret 