Louis Theroux anorexia

[ringle]

Did anyone watch?

I think Louis Theroux found it very hard.

[SuccessStory]

Very hard watching, this invisible illness that’s got its claws wrapped around these poor victims.. Awful, just awful. The pain and anguish of their families. Rosie’s dad you can tell was in some mouth pain he could barely articulate, even Louis looked defeated.

[ihatethecold]

It was a very good program. I wish Louis would cover more subjects like this.

[MyBrilliantDisguise]

I think he knew that the chances were that some of those women wouldn't make it. I think Rosie's dad knew that, too, whereas her mum seemed to be taking Rosie at her word.

[Jasminedes]

A very accurate documentary, and obviously well researched, as his questions and musings were on the mark.

[SuccessStory]

I actually feel so despondent and scared after watching that program.
They said recovery takes an average of 7years! 7 yrs of a persons life and even that’s not certain.

[SuccessStory]

I most felt worried about the Asian lady. Her mindset just seemed..set. That she wasn’t going to change.

[Littlefish]

I watched it.

I found it overwhelmingly sad, but incredibly sensitively handled.

[MyBrilliantDisguise]

Yes, I felt the Asian woman was very seriously ill, though in the last clip she was sitting down, so that was an advance.

[SleepFreeZone]

What channel was this on please?

[NotTheDuchessOfCambridge]

It was a very interesting watch. With alcoholism it’s so easy to blame the alcohol, the drink itself and not the mental addiction.
With anorexia it’s a very hard addiction to understand, to push away the one thing that keeps you alive. The torture they go through to finish a bite. God I hope I’ll never have to deal with this in my children.

[NotTheDuchessOfCambridge]

BBC2 sleep.

[MyBrilliantDisguise]

I've always felt my daughter could have gone through this. She's late 20s now so hopefully out of the danger zone, but it was something I was terrified of because you seem to lose them to the illness.

My colleague said that his daughter had had it for about 12 years. It had almost broken their family. He said nothing is as strong as anorexia. Though he loved his daughter to bits, he said that if she'd died in an accident 12 years ago they would now be living a relatively normal life - though devastated, of course. Instead he said they'd had to live a living death for 12 years - it had affected every single aspect of their lives.

[Garlicansapphire]

I watched it - it was very sad and desperate - the potential for it anorexia to take a stranglehold over someone's life. I thought it very sensitively handled. I admire Louis's ability to hold a silence and refrain from offering up platitudes, to empathise and not seek simplistic explanations. He also looked very upset at one point.

I felt sorry for the Asian lady too - she was clearly very stubbornly in the grip of the illness. I also felt very sad for the girl who we'd seen photos of at her sisters graduation - but who'd never had a job. And the Jewish woman whose whole life had been affected.

With the woman gaining weight and back home with her parents I was worried her Mum was in denial - thinking her better, her Dad was more worried about how fragile her recovery was.

Tough but worthwhile programming.

[Clankboing]

I have a young daughter in early recovery / remission with anorexia. I thought Louis was very good in his handling of the illness. I wish more had been made of the latest research that suggests that anorexia is a biological brain based illness (genetics loads the barrel) that can interact with environment (environment shoots the gun). It was mentioned at the end but ... I suppose it wasn't a Science programme. I would have liked it there was more mention of how hungry these people get and often dream of food and like it. I liked that it showed different personalities. My daughter is quiet, shy and in one of the patients I saw a similar personality. These young people are so brave when they eat. All in all it was very good I thought.

[MyBrilliantDisguise]

I thought that, Clang, how brave they were when they ate. It's literally facing their demon and they have to do it almost constantly. It's hard for us without that experience to understand it, but even just the thought of being confronted with something we fear terribly every couple of hours is almost overwhelming.

[ihatethecold]

To all those parents currently living this world I really feel for you and wish you well. Look after yourselves.


My son and daughter have both had serious mental health problems (not eating disorders) over the last year but thankfully things have improved but my god it’s been so hard and heartbreaking at times.
I can’t imagine thinking we would have 7 years of it. 1 was enough 😔

[dairymilkmonster]

I have had a waxing and waning eating disorder for 17 yrs. I think I'm over the worst, but recovery is a slooooooow process for many. I have two kids now who are my reason to keep eating.

Overall I thiught this was an excellent documentary, it really highlighted the struggles people have to go through recovery, insight, ambivalence, use of mental health act for some people, various ages etc. I think he could have included a male patient, but perhaps none agreed to be filmed.

[ihatethecold]

I think it really showed it not just about wanting to be thin.
So many of us don’t understand eating disorders and wrongly assume it’s about being as skinny as possible.
It really opened my eyes that it goes so much deeper than that.

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

I watched it. A dear friend has anorexia and is extremely ill at the moment. She relapsed after some difficult life events after many years of health. She is having an utterly miserable time at the moment and she deserves so much better, it's heartbreaking.
I liked his summing up at the end. I think the Asian lady is not very far along in her treatment and will understand herself better as time goes on.

[Venusflytwat]

Watching this at the moment.
It’s so sad.

[ringle]

Agree with everyone else.
I think Theroux reached his limit and had to call on all his experience to pull this off.

[WellThisIsShit]

To me, it looks like he’s having a harder time getting under the skin of the people he’s talking to in this documentary.

His usual style has changed, because of the people involved.... his style of making observations and asking questions to make observations and lay bare insights that maybe the other person doesn’t understand... that duality isn’t here in this one.

I think he’s very cautious and careful around these poor women. He actually doesn’t know what to say, how to comment and prove without causing damage. I think he’s realised how even the usual chatting can end up fuelling the anorexia, like ‘you look well’ or even just guessing someone’s age.

He’s trapped between wanting to investigate anorexia in depth, really digging into the subject, but he doesn’t want to talk to the anorexia, doesn’t want to give this ‘enemy’ the air time or control it seems to grasp.

He wants to talk to the girls, the women, themselves. And sometimes that’s impossible.