tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post2581654201977912145..comments2024-03-26T06:17:49.527-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: The Cultural Causes of AnorexiaStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-86258649175717285492012-09-21T14:00:13.632-07:002012-09-21T14:00:13.632-07:00Thanks for the article, very effective information...Thanks for the article, very effective information.Hesterhttp://www.looprumors.com/index.php?/forums/member/204740/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-79690084517435939372011-05-11T06:04:29.876-07:002011-05-11T06:04:29.876-07:00Thanks, AVI, and Anon. I would mention that Assist...Thanks, AVI, and Anon. I would mention that Assistant Village Idiot has an excellent blog, which is linked here and on my blogroll.<br /><br />Actually, I think that our opinions converge here. I did not want to suggest that the people who contract these afflictions are suffering from nothing. I said that they suffer from a form of anomie, a social dislocation.<br /><br />Given their underlying distress they dip into what Watters and the researchers call a symptom pool and unconsciously select out different symptoms, the ones that they believe will be recognized and get them admitted into treatment.<br /><br />I think that your example of BPD is inspired, because they tend to have multiple symptoms, almost as though they were guaranteeing that they would be recognized for their suffering.<br /><br />Underlying the condition is an inability to deal with rejection. I don't think that this is controversial. But other forms of mental illness display an inability to handle rejection also. Only, as you say, and as I agree, they choose different symptoms.<br /><br />If we are looking at the question of whether or not these people would have no symptoms, that question can only be addressed by asking whether the culture that these people belong to offers other means to deal with anomie. <br /><br />If it does, if it is strong and coherent and provides a social support system, I would say that these people might well avoid falling ill.<br /><br />But then, psychiatric diagnosis and the therapy culture affect the way these people choose to deal with their distress or anomie. If the rest of the culture tends to ignore or reject them, suggesting that they need counseling, then clearly it will be pushing them in the direction of developing a recognizable psychiatric illness.<br /><br />I consider schizophrenia to be a brain disease, as does everyone else, I believe. Thus, no one is suggesting that schizophrenics would not be psychotic in a different culture. Watters does, however, suggest that the way cultures deal with schizophrenics does influence the course of the illness.Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-49476182292266079302011-05-10T17:07:04.720-07:002011-05-10T17:07:04.720-07:00I'm confused by this whole discussion; the typ...I'm confused by this whole discussion; the type of anorexia in Hong Kong is generally considered a different variety than that in the US. Additionally, very most work out of North America now looks at anorexia as more of an addictive or compulsive behavior than a cultural artifact. What environmental factors there are are as much a health anxiety response to growing obesity rates as to media standards. This kind of work seems to be a bit outdated.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-17970020118042004542011-05-10T15:52:47.659-07:002011-05-10T15:52:47.659-07:00Here's an important bit that Watters neglects,...Here's an important bit that Watters neglects, and by extension, you miss as well.<br /><br />Borderline Personality Disorders tend to pick up whatever is in the air around them, as they scramble for explanations of why they feel bad. Being impaired in their boundaries, they pick up symptoms from their friends, or from Oprah, or Seventeen magazine, or whatever. This does not mean that in the absence of those posited diagnoses they would have had no symptoms whatsoever. They would have had other symptoms. They would have found another sexiest disease of the decade. Most eating disorder clients I deal with are also BPD or PTSD. I don't think that is accidental. They are suggestible.<br /><br />Folks with OCD who obsess about germs would still have the disorder had we not developed germ theory. They would simply have found some other uncleanness to obsess about. Those who develop schizophrenia, paranoid type, these days are likely to believe that someone has planted a chip in their brain. If there were no technology remotely like this, no RFID's, no bar codes, no pet identification, they would still be schizophrenic.<br /><br />I agree that much psychological pain is iatrogenic, or otherwise caused by external suggestion. I have never encountered a multiple personality, for example, who did not "discover" that they had this illness under the tender ministrations of a therapist who believed the condition is underdiagnosed and wanting to set them all free. (Before that, they just had poor boundaries, which is easier to treat, frankly). <br /><br />But I don't think that road goes forever. That expression of symptoms is flexible does not mean that the condition is elective.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.com