I have placed the lecture for Adolescence in the course documents section together with a HBO documentary titled “Thin.” While watching the documentary, focus on each of women whose journey to recovery is being documented and decide the following: https://youtu.be/AL3FeQU4HjU : thin video
1. What is the diagnosis?
2. What were the precipitating factors in the development of the eating disorder?
3. What are the key developmental/psychological issues that the person is struggling with?
4. What are the family dynamics that you observe?
5. Do you think the treatment approach is helping? If yes, why? If no, why not?
6. Comment on any relevant information that you believe to be important.
7. Ask a question for the class.

Feedback student atleast 4 sentences :

1. What is the diagnosis?

The diagnoses of the women within the treatment center are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Many of the women who are shown also suffer from binging and purging.

2. What were the precipitating factors in the development of the eating disorder?

Some of the precipitating factors in the development of the eating disorder were genetics, divorce, peer pressure, lack of control and low self-esteem. In the case of genetics, the mother of the youngest girls who was in treatment also suffered from anorexia. The mother had a negative relationship with food and this showed once she went to visit her daughter within treatment. The young girl also felt peer pressured to look “thin” like her peers. Also, another female who was in treatment, who ironically was a nurse, stated that her disorder gave her a sense of control of what she was putting in to her body and weight gain was correlated to a lack of control.

3. What are the key developmental/psychological issues that the person is struggling with?

The key developmental/psychological issues that many of the women were dealing with were depression and anxiety. Some of the women, even attempted suicide before and after treatment. During her final therapy session the youngest girl in treatment stated that she just wanted to die and had suicidal thoughts. Another developmental/psychological that some of the women were dealing with were obsession, both with calories and body image. One of the women was asked to map out her body type and she mapped out a more athletic manly build compared to her actual thin body type. Once the discrepancy between the true and pseudo body type was address, the young woman then obsessively pointed out everything that was wrong with her body and focused on perfectionism. Several of the women also felt guilt and anger towards those outside of the facility and did not want to be held liable if they were to either fail at the program or gain weight, claiming “I don’t want them to be mad at me.”

4. What are the family dynamics that you observe?

There were several family dynamics that I observed within the documentary. Two in particular that stood out to me were the case of the mother and daughter who both suffered from anorexia and the father who believed that his daughters anorexia stemmed from her parents divorce. Many of the families were present, either at check in visits or during short phone calls, but many of them wanted their child to stay within treatment. One mom in particular criticized and shamed the workers in the facility stating that they do not understand because they are personally not going through it. Also, in the case of the nurse in treatment who was also a twin, she believed that one of the reasons for her anorexia was due to her not wanting to look like her twin. The woman wanted to create her own sense of personality and felt that being thin set them apart.

5. Do you think the treatment approach is helping? If yes, why? If no, why not?

In the case of the documentary I personally felt as if the treatment approach did not really work. Many of the women who were documented reverted back to their old ways once out of treatment. Several even broke the rules within treatment and one was even kicked due to this. However, I do feel that the success of the treatment varies based on the dynamic and personalities of those within the facility. As mentioned by one of the women during a therapy session, the approach will only work if they are willing to put in the work.

6. Comment on any relevant information that you believe to be important.

One thing that I found to be particularly important and interesting during the documentary was the banter between the workers and mocking of the patients around the 46 minute mark. Several of the workers, including the nurse and the chef, were sitting around asking if they knew the secrets to weight loss. The chef questioned why he can’t lose weight like the patient where one of the workers then stated, “look at me, do I look like I have the secrets?” I am unsure if this scene was placed in to break up the rigidity within the documentary or to show that society and peers really do have some type of influence on how we perceive ourselves even if they don’t explicitly say it.

7. Ask a question for the class

With the high rate of eating disorders within the United States, do you think that dietitians and nutritionists should be more on the frontline of care, such as being present and apart of regular wellness checkups versus being outside sourced and referral based?