Eating Disorder Issues Made Into A Movie

In a new documentary, “thin” examines the issues of girl culture of being stick-skinny and its devastating mental and physical effects. It debuted on Nov 14. The documentary is on four women with eating disorders and their experiences.

The issues examined in the show are pretty real. The show follows the various ups and downs that the women go through in their bid to become thin. It also examines the social impact to those with eating disorders. For instance a parent finds it hard to see why his daugther has difficulty stopping her eating disorder despite asking her to snap out of it. In another scene, one of the women brings her own food to a family Thanksgiving dinner.

The show tries to bring across the fact that people with eating disorders do actually have emotional illness. It is not a simple case of snap out of it. The mental state of someone undergoing eating disorders is complex and not easy to fully comprehend.

Then, with the woman who brought her own food to Thanksgiving, she would rather isolate herself than join in the festivities by loved ones. In real life, eating disorders can cause someone to withdraw totally from the company of family and friends.

The “thin” documentary is timely. There are concerns about how young girls nowadays are increasingly focusing on their external appearances, so much so that they based their self worth on their outer looks. Thoughts that are allowed to fester would some become an obsession and then turn into an eating disorder.

Young girls both in their preteens and in their teens are being reared on a diet of media messages that depict models who look thin. You also get to see many advertisements from slimming centers, showing you before pictures (not desired figures) to after pictures (desired figures). Media messages about how an attractive female body looks like inadvertently create a huge impact on impressionable young girls. It has been found those at risk of developing eating disorders, are those who do not have a sense of strong self esteem. Good family support and values also place an important role.

Eating disorders should be taken seriously. It is a problem of modern society. It should not be taken as a mere socialization issue, as most people see it. But as an illness that requires medical attention.

Eating disorders are also not to be taken lightly. Lives of even bright and intelligent people with eating disorders can be destroyed. Increasingly, there are more and more treatment centers who offer psycological help for those with eating disorders.

Read more about eating disorder symptoms here.