Tag: bulimia

There are three underlying characteristics that are particularly marked in any sufferer. These are an intense morality, an extreme sensitivity, particularly to the needs and feelings of others, and a profound sense of worthlessness [ … ] there is a large measure of agreement among authorities on anorexia nervosa that these are key characteristics [ … ] It is characteristic of those who become entrapped in the illness that they are completely rule-bound [ … ] They apply their moral rules to food, to eating, to exercising as to everything else in their life [ … ] sufferers typically adhere very strongly to a cluster of values that centre on hard work, self control, personal responsibility, high standards of achievement, deferred gratification, not receiving rewards that have not been earned, not receiving where this is not deserved [ … ] these values and aspirations can be applied to food and body regulation as effectively as they can be applied to work, educational achievements, career success, personal relationships and of course sports, where encouragement for these values to be extended to body regulation is explicit [ … ] Anorexics, bulimics, all those striving to get their body ‘into shape’ [ … ] are people who place very high value on control [ … ] it is the continuity between the sufferers’ moral attitude and that of their social group or culture that again explains why the condition can be lethal.