Is anorexia nervosa simply a passion?

[KitchenFly]

Is anorexia nervosa simply a passion?

I was listening to this on the radio to day and and it court my attention in a way that it got me thinking about passion and its role in attention.

I never real understood anorexia nervosa I have watched several tv programs about it but have away so placed it in the to hard to understand basket perhaps because it is to difficult to empathise with or make sense of the logic or such little consistent logic those who suffer the state emanate.

But after listening to this podcast I believe I now have a logical context to now understand the content of suffering and cognitive disorder underlying the plight of the person with the disability anorexia nervosa.

What are your thoughts?
(Podcast)

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2016/08/cpt_20160801_1620.mp3

Podcast can also can be found via this path.

Past Programs by Date - Counterpoint - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

[magpie]

 

[KitchenFly]

lol..that's a healthy looking passion magpie, it must help keep that Sheraton flowing, no time for sadness. Keep on munching and lookin'.

 

[magpie]

lol..that's a healthy looking passion magpie, it must help keep that Sheraton flowing, no time for sadness. Keep on munching and lookin'.

Thanks! I will, my friend!

 

[geedoenfj]

Passion is supposed to be a healthy enthusiasm, Anorexia is a disease that arises from body image obsession, thus cannot be a passion..

 

[Ingrid in grids]

In the same way alcohol or drug dependency is a "passion" about drugs, sure...

 

[ChocolateMoose123]

I listened to the first part.

It describes the dictionary definition of passion, then goes farther and the definition changes into extremism.

I guess a terrorist is passionate, by this definition. A drug addict is passionate. Hitler was passionate.

I mean, let's not get bogged down in semantics. The word passion isn't the right word.

I'm passionate about running but if I run 6 miles after the doctor tells me I have a broken leg? I'm no longer passionate. I'm compulsive and destructive.

 

[geedoenfj]

I listened to the first part.

It describes the dictionary definition of passion, then goes farther and the definition changes into extremism.

I guess a terrorist is passionate, by this definition. A drug addict is passionate. Hitler was passionate.

I mean, let's not get bogged down in semantics. The word passion isn't the right word.

I'm passionate about running but if I run 6 miles after the doctor tells me I have a broken leg? I'm no longer passionate. I'm compulsive and destructive.

EXACTLY
I was afraid of giving examples of crimes because there will be comparisons between crimes and diseases, like always, the thread starts with something then end up with entirely different subject..

 

[OrangeAppled]

It may be a chicken or an egg thing, but there can be chemical differences in these people's brain. Eating can cause too much serotonin for them which leads to a feeling of anxiety. For most of us, we feel happy and uplifted when we eat food because of a good release of serotonin. Even if they enjoy the taste of food and have a desire to eat (because they rationally know they need to), the amount of emotional discomfort after eating can make some avoid it.

Again, it could be the disease causing this feeling of anxiety (fear of getting fat or whatever), but I know a few people who benefitted from anxiety medication in battling EDs. Yes, they had body images issues still, and perhaps this fueled anxiety around eating, but the anxiety was not zeal for a goal. Once their anxiety was under control, their real will was to be healthy and care for themselves properly.

So there is often no genuine willpower involved, rather, it is a real ILLNESS that controls the willpower, which is why they may need professional treatment. I think calling it a passion may imply someone is making a decision to pursue something out of deeply held value for it, rather than a compulsion out of an illness that controls you and distorts your values with fear.

 

[Lark]

I dont believe it is, I think its a consequence of personality distortion, consequence of a culture based on having (rather than being) and the fear of freedom, among other things.

 

[KitchenFly]

I dont believe it is, I think its a consequence of personality distortion, consequence of a culture based on having (rather than being) and the fear of freedom, among other things.

That kinda sounds like passion to me,. Passion based disorder.

 

[Norrsken]

Is serial killing a passion? Is stalking and molesting people a passion?
I mean, I hate to use extreme examples, but there's a world a difference between a passion for motor boating and counting all the breadcrumbs you are going to eat for today.

 

[magpie]

So far in this thread, anorexia has been compared with drug dependency, terrorism, Hitler, serial killing, stalking, and molestation.

I mean, don't hold back guys, tell me how you really feel.

 

[Lark]

That kinda sounds like passion to me,. Passion based disorder.

We've a pretty different understanding of what the word passion means then.

 

[KitchenFly]

Is serial killing a passion? Is stalking and molesting people a passion?
I mean, I hate to use extreme examples, but there's a world a difference between a passion for motor boating and counting all the breadcrumbs you are going to eat for today.

If you have listened to the pod cast you would understand the correct context for the words usage.

Give it a go, have a listen to the pod cast. You may have do some reframing within your own understanding and if you do that the content of your understanding may become larger and more enriched.
[MENTION=26674]theforsaken[/MENTION]

 

[KitchenFly]

We've a pretty different understanding of what the word passion means then.

How about listening to the pod cast so you can make an informed judgment, the word passion has several definitions and is use in many different contexts.

Try a little harder [MENTION=7280]Lark[/MENTION] if not that difficult.

 

[Lexicon]

The thin but palpable line between passion & obsession

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

As others have said, it is more like an addiction or obsession than a passion. It combines inner perceptual distortions of oneself with relief through the ability to control something about self in the pursuit of perfection. The feeling of anxiety and self rejection are temporarily soothed by the ability to control one's need and intake of food. That short-term fix of having control is the focus and not the long-term loss of control over one's body. I think anorexia is a mindset full of irony and dichotomies.

One cannot hardly blame individual people for having perceptual distortions about themselves when most entire societies foster some type of glorification of dymorphicism. From breast implants, to corsets, foot binding, to neck elongation, humanity is obsessed with artificially altering and controlling certain parts of the physical body to the point of destruction. Weight is just another manifestation of this.

On an emotional level, people most vulnerable to this have had unreasonable pressures of perfection placed on them early in life. Whether you are supposed to be sinless, always the number 1 winner, etc., many people live in a reality where the people they love withhold acceptance and create a sense that there is no way to succeed, no way to be good enough. That emotional abuse is then expressed physically in a dynamic where the individual has some control. I can make my body perfect, I can lose weight by withholding food from myself. Emotional withholding and excessive demands of unrealistic perfection in the abstract, emotional realm become concrete when taken out on the body. It is a mal-adaptive way of processing the emotionally impossible.

 

[Thalassa]

I agree with [MENTION=9335]Ingrid in grids[/MENTION] and [MENTION=5223]MDP2525[/MENTION]

I'm vegan and vegans constantly have to contend with this bullshit, and while someone can be a passionate vegan, if someone is vegan and orthorexic or anorexic, they are no longer passionate but disordered. It actually is really disturbing that people conflate the two (three?)

 

[ChocolateMoose123]

So far in this thread, anorexia has been compared with drug dependency, terrorism, Hitler, serial killing, stalking, and molestation.

I mean, don't hold back guys, tell me how you really feel.

No I'm going to stop you there. Anorexia has not been compared to those things! Let me clarify:

I have compared destructive behavior in the extreme with OP's use of the word "passion" as it mitigates the severity of the illness.

Just like it would mitigate those who committed such heinous acts were merely "passionate" in their endeavors.

Big difference.