Quote From: carla_nycHi this is my first message on the Dr Phil website. I was watching the show on Friday and noticed a preview for a show about a girl who is so influenced by Mary-Kate Olsen that she purges with a picture of her. I am the exact same way- when I was watching the show I quickly identified with the level of glamour and sucess thats now associated with eating disorders. My eating problems started long before I began to take notice of all of the shrinking celebrities now in Tinseltown, I became bulimic at the age of 13, and have struggled off and on with both bulimia and anorexia since then ( I am now 18)- this past year I've really gotten out of control. I feel that my perfectionism ( I've obtained a 4.0 average and graduated from a top school in the top 2 percent of my class- and I am starting NYU in the Fall, I've taken a year off to travel.) has lead to such a tremendous amount of stress and exhaustion that I need to keep atleast one thing in control in my life- my body. I am about 5'5 and 100 pounds, but my goal weight is 85 pounds, because thats Nicole Richie's weight, and I think she looks great now. I paste pictures of her together in a scrapbook and whenever I want to eat, I look at them- and imagine myself being that perfect. I also pasted a picture of her on my bathroom wall and when I am purging I do look at it. I feel the same way about Mary-Kate and Lindsay Lohan, but Nicole RIchie is my favorite "thinspiration." I weigh myself about 5 times a day and make up little rules in my head about punishments for eating too much. I never go above 400 calories.....I'm hoping to get treatment soon though, since its been happening for years now. Although celebrities obviously didn't cause my problems, seeing them in magazines with gorgeous bones poking out certainly doesn't help.
I am 20 years old and went to a private all girl school in middle and high school. Many of these girls were very high achievers. Many of these girls were very isolated and coddled from the world. Many of them had "eating disorders".
I find it interesting how eating disorders are something that have only really been in existence for the past 30 years.Most of these girls are like you and don't really have any "real world" experience. I also find it interesting how statistically speaking it tends to effect middle, upper-middle, and upper class caucasian girls from the suburbs in North America and Western Europe. Almost no one in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America has these so called "disorders."
You sound like you are almost proud of your eating disorder. You brag about your scrapbook and you refer to celebrities. I personally find it disappointing that all of the years and struggle that went to women's liberation has ended up with well off girls obsessing about their bodies. Just think about your true motivations for doing these things and not the usual cliches of "I want to be perfect."Do you think some rural peasant Chinesse farmer woman is going to be counting calories? Or even a migrant farmer girl here in this country? Do you think that guys, or anyone else for that matter, wants you to be or cares if you are 85 pounds? Or are you doing this for attention and to give you something to talk about on the so called "pro ana" sites out there with your girlfriends?
I don't mean to necessarily sound harsh or cold, I just feel like maybe had the girls who have these disorders would have been treated more harshly by their parents and society, making themselves puke or starving themselves would be the last thing on their mind.
(Original Air Date: 10/17/05) Do you catch yourself mesmerized by the photos in People or US Weekly magazines, looking to see who's wearing what, who's drunk and who's kissing whom? We can't get enough of celebrities, but when does our obsession go too far? Dr. Phil's first guests are two photographers who capture famous faces — but one is a paparazzo who chases down the stars, while the other is invited by celebs to take their pictures. Then, meet two women who can't stop obsessing over their favorite celebrity. Tabitha's infatuation with Tommy Lee is holding her back from meeting her "real" soul mate, and taking time and money away from her 3-year-old daughter. Could something biological be causing her obsession? And, Jenni wants to be the famous twin Mary-Kate Olsen so badly, it's ruining her life and could be killing her. Share your thoughts.
