supersize vs superskinny encourages anorexia

[anorexicdaughter]

hello. my daugher aged 14 has recently become anorexic and obviously we are very distressed as a family. i watched this programme for the first time this week when i realised my daughter is hooked on it, and i was appalled by the irresponsibility of it. my daughter admitted to me that she doesn't relate to the anorexics at all because they are way worse than she is, and the skinny girl in the house this week was taller than her and weighed less but wasn't labelled anorexic as such. my daughter said the images she sees as gross are the ones of the obese people and she lives in fear of becoming like them. my daughter's school has described anorexia as an epidemic right now and they don't know why. i think i just hit on one of the reasons why with this damn programme which should be banned. does anyone have any thoughts as to how to get the message across effectively to channel 4?? much appreciated.

Your daughter thought processes are skewed by a serious mental condition. She's going to look at any representation of very thin people i.e magazines, TV shows, movies etc. the same way... trying to justify this view that 'they're normal and so am I'. You and me looking at the same show don't get that message because it's not what we want to hear.

'Supersize vs Superskinny' is telling people who are underweight that their habits are as unhealthy as those who are overweight. (Being clincially underweight is not the same as being anorexic, of course) The participants are sent away with diet plans to follow either to gain or lose weight as required.

I don't think Channel 4 is at fault. Keep getting her the medical and psychiatric help she needs.

I agree with everything that chil1234 has said

I hope your daughter gets better very soon

I'm really sorry you are having to go through such a horrible illness as a family, and anything that helps your daughter reinforce her unhealthy views on food and weight is a bad thing for you, personally. Your daughter definitely shouldn't be watching that programme if she views it in the way she does (and for what it's worth, I don't think much of it). However, I'm not sure I agree the programme is one of the causes of an epidemic of anorexia. It is your daughter's pre-existing disordered thinking that makes her look at the revoltingly skinny people on that programme, who are all malnourished and heading for a painful old age, as OK or even attractive, and the fat people, who are also possibly malnourished and heading for a painful old age (if they get there), as disgusting. I see them all as sad people who make their lives miserable and would happily avoid either fate.

Your daughter needs to understand that it isn't your weight alone that makes you anorexic, it's your whole relationship with food. A too-thin person who isn't anorexic can be talked round to eating with a bit of commonsense, as in the programme. An anorexic has thrown commonsense out of the window and finds reinforcement for their frankly ludicrous point of view where others would be shaken out of it. That is what the programme is trying to point out, albeit in a silly way. By wanting the programme banned, you are to a certain extent agreeing with your daughter that the skinny people are better than the fat ones and therefore encouraging everyone to want to be skinny.

ps I do think the programme may actually be helpful for people who think they are eating healthily, but realise on watching it that they are actually not getting the nutrients they need. It does also point out that, whilst there is a lot of publicity about obesity and anorexia, there are a lot of people who have neither of these problems, but nevertheless don't have a hugely healthy relationship with food.

thanks very much for your views. i don't think my daughter thinks the true anorexics in the programme are attractive - my point there was that she simply does not think she is one of them because she is not at that stage (...yet...thank god!). my point about the latest programme was that the girl in the house was NOT labelled anorexic, but just too thin with lousy eating habits. That girl is taller than my daughter and weighs less, thus my daughter deduced from the programme that she is doing just fine thanks and that we as her family and the clinic who are treating her are all wrong. that's where the programme fell down for me and was completely irresponsible. you don't have to weigh 5 stone to be anorexic.
the local camhs clinic where my daughter is being treated described the recent enormous increase in eating disorder cases as an epidemic and they are clearly oversubscribed and are possibly not able to give as much help as is needed to these young people. it strikes me that there is a very strong correlation between the increase in the popularity of this programme and the increase in eating disorder cases, so nobody can convince me that the programme is helping to solve eating disorders.
it's been helpful for me to read comments here and in the mental health section so i can really get my head into what i think is wrong with the programme so that when i get to the right person i can articulate it properly!
any more thoughts gratefully received

There is an awful lot of disordered eating/disordered physical activity/disordered perception of what a healthy human should look like. We are all bombarded with messages about eating and exercise that are largely wrong or incomplete: how can young people live up to the correct standards of healthy eating and exercise when they are so badly educated about how to achieve them by the media and by hearsay?

Three balanced meals a day and an hour or so's physical exercise go a long way...

You are mad if you are trying to blame your daughters problem on a TV programme. Anorexia is a mental illness that has physical consequences. You cannot decide to become anorexic after watching a programme. True anorexia is often a response to severe trauma (it was in my case) or other issues in which the person feels somehow inadequate. I know when i am in an anorexic mindset it is usually in response to poor self esteem, the not eating gives an amazing sense of control in a life that is otherwise scary and out of control. I suggest that rather than get on your soapbox about this programme, you read some good books. Hilde Bruch is a good place to start, if a little outdated, and Susie Orbach is also good. Anorexia isn't epidemic, but it is becoming more visible, I think as doctors are more aware of it as a diagnosis than they were 20 or so years ago (my aunt was a sufferer from the 80s til the mid 2000s).

justallovertheplace you are missing my point on all fronts. i didn't say the programme caused her anorexia on its own. the word 'epidemic' was used by both my daughter's school and by the camhs clinic to describe the current situation as they see it, so you're wrong to say it's not an epidemic right now. i sincerely hope you own situation improves and that you have less mad people than me to help you through.

Forgive me, I must have misread your thread title
It is not epidemic. A tragedy yes, all to common, yes, but not epidemic. Bad body image, I'll give you that one, but not anorexia. And tbh if your daughters school is telling you this then they need to address it in in school in personal health lessons (have no idea what they are called now).
I understand completely where you are coming from. You most likely feel extremely helpless right now. But going after channel 4 is misguided in the extreme and won't be helping your daughter one bit. The problem is within her, and you going on a mission is not going to help at all. But it is probably easier than dealing with the issues that your daughters therapy will bring to the fore. I wish her the best of luck

anorexicdaughter, I think you are still missing the point - not all thin people are anorexic. The girl in question could be made to see the error of her ways fairly easily and try to change them. An anorexic will rigidly stick to a self-destructive pattern (which does not tend to involve chaotic, unhealthy eating, but rather obsessively controlled habits) and will refuse to see sense, hence your daughter's viewpoint of the programme in question. She clearly sees a skinny person as attractive, even though the makers of the programme have told that person that they are unhealthy and have an unhealthy relationship with food. Just because she seems to have the idea that anorexia only starts at a certain weight (which of course will always happen to be below her current weight), you don't have to play along with her game.

i really do think the programme doesn't help an ever growing number of anorexics but it probably does help a number of people who are more mentally healthy so i take that point. but you're right that we need to concentrate on the issues we can deal with rather than taking on channel 4 who will never back down on a programme which makes them money from special k advertising, much as it makes my blood boil because of our current situation. publicity about controversial tv always serves to increase viewing figures, as in the Big Brother bullying and distressed 9 year old performer and their mums crying on camera on Britain's Got Talent. so i realise the soap box has to go! we're at a relatively early stage with her illness although she's going down rapidly and i'm grasping at any idea of any help that i can come up with. thanks for your time and your thoughts; it helps put things into perspective and context. currently 2.30am and guess who can't sleep...

It's very very good news that your daughter is being treated so early on in her illness. Hopefully she will make a full recovery quite quickly. There is so much crap out there being peddled by the media about such and such being a bit fat/thin/anorexic/overeating bla bla bla. I think a lot of young girls expect to have bodies like barbie dolls thinking that it is the way for a good and happy life. It's not what your body looks like, but it matters an awful lot what you can do in it. I wonder what Nelson Mandella looks like naked? Or Mrs Thatcher? Or any Olympic althlete or leader in their field.

Are you being offered family therapy? I hope you and your family are getting all the support you need.

If anything i think it encourages people to seek help which is probably why your daughters GP has declared an "epidemic" Anorexia Nervosa is an all consuming secret before it becomes the acknowledged _illness.

(am i going crazy or is there another thread that i have already replied on?)

I agree I'm uncomfortable about the channel 4 programme from seeing the trailers only BUT
in worrying about your daughter I think you need to focus on the underlying causes of the anorexia (i.e. emotional / psychological), not how it manifests itself (e.g. watching tv programmes or thinking about food obsesively etc). As soon as I started recovering from / dealing with the massive trauma I had gone through I was able to slowly move away from being anorexic. People focussing on my behaviour didn't help at all, the people who helped were those who helped come to terms with what had triggered it (several bereavements in quick succession in my case)

Can highly recommend a booked called Anorexia - a stranger in the family by Katie Metcalfe. Very good book written by a teen anorexic, part one is her story and the second part is by her family telling of the impact on her parents and siblings.

call me old fashioned but rather than ban a program wouldnt it be better to remove the tv from a child's room? the programme is mostly rubbish but it doesnt encourage anorexia any more than it encourages obesity