Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Binge eating disorder

Here is a NY Times article about psychologists trying to pathologize eating:
Mr. Walen is one of an estimated eight million men and women in the United States who struggle with binge eating, defined as consuming large amounts of food within a two-hour period at least twice a week without purging, accompanied by a sense of being out of control. ...

But while binge eating is challenging for women who suffer from it, the perils are perhaps greater for men, who rarely seek treatment for what many believe is a “women’s disease.” Unlike bulimia and anorexia, binge eating does not even have a distinct listing in the current D.S.M., as the diagnostic guide for mental health professionals is known. ...

Those men who do seek treatment often have difficulty finding a facility or therapist to work with them — even the literature is predominantly female-centric. ...

Many binge-eating men do not even recognize that anything is wrong. ...

“There’s nothing wrong with a college guy eating a whole pizza by himself, but with women they would be horrified,” said Roberto Olivardia, a clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of body image disorders and eating disorders in men and is an author of “The Adonis Complex.”
They want to make binge eating a new disorder in the DSM-5. The DSM-IV lists diagnostic criteria, but does not make it a separate disorder.

The family court sent me several times to psychologists to see if I have any psychological disorders. They all said that I did not. Binge eating was the closest to me having a disorder. Yeah, I see nothing wrong with eating a whole pizza by myself.

Other criteria include "Eating until feeling uncomfortably full" and "Eating much more rapidly than normal".

Of course men do not seek therapy for this. Only a woman would eat a lot of food, feel guilty, and then talk to a therapist.

So what if some stupid shrink said that I had a binge eating disorder? Would that be grounds for taking my kids away? What difference would it make to anyone if I like to eat a lot of food at once?

There are judges who act as if these psychological disorders have some relevance to the court. In the vast majority of the cases, they do not.

Meanwhile, here is the sorry state of our President:
Obama campaigns in Iowa, talks about visiting the state fair: "I think that I'm going to end at the state fair. Michelle has told me I cannot have a fried twinkie. But I will be checking out the butter cow and I understand this year there is a chocolate moose. I'm going to have to take a look at that if I can. The last time I went to the state fair the Secret Service let me do the bumper cars, but they said this year -- I wasn't president yet so I could do that, but not this time."
My kids introduced me to deep fried twinkies with chocolate syrup, along with corn dogs and sno cones. These foods are better than they sound. They are just the things to eat before a roller coaster or bumper car ride.

Our President is pathetic. We need a man in charge at the White House. You didn't hear Pres. Bush saying that he was eating broccoli on his wife's orders. I want a President who has the guts to play bumper cars, even if the Secret Service says that it is too dangerous.

Michelle reprimanded an Olympic champion on the Jay Leno show last night for eating an Egg McMuffin:
Gabby Douglas admitted indulging in post-Olympics fast food to the wrong person: First lady and healthy eating advocate Michelle Obama, who teased the gymnastics champion.

"You're setting me back, Gabby," Obama told Douglas during a taping Monday for NBC's "Tonight Show," according to a network transcript.

"Sorry!" replied the 16-year-old athlete, who confessed to chowing down on a McDonalds' breakfast sandwich after winning two gold medals at the just-ended London Olympics.
Does she really think that there is something wrong with an athlete eating an Egg McMuffin? She lectured Leno on eating a pizza. How can any man stand to be married to a wife who nags him about what he eats? I am tempted to compared one ethnic group to another here, but maybe I better not.

2 comments:

Andrew said...

A recurring theme in your blog is the rule of law. It's quite absurd for a parent's eating habits (unless such habits are negligent to the parent's health or the parent is over-feeding the child) to be used in child custody evaluations, since nothing in the law suggests so at all. If someone enjoys eating large servings of food that's the individual's choice, but shouldn't the line be drawn somewhere, especially if overeating results in cardiovascular problems?

Maybe Obama did ride bumper cars with his family before becoming president. Maybe he didn't. GW Bush didn't go on amusement park rides as president, neither did Reagan (at least I couldn't find any photos), so "guts to play bumper cars" shouldn't be at all relevant to being president of the US.

As far as Michelle being "nagging", maybe Barack Obama sees Michelle's advice about eating in a different light than you do and finds gender roles in marriage the least of his concerns in being president and raising his kids.

George said...

I think that most of what is in child custody evaluations should be irrelevant.

Yes, Barack Obama does see Michelle's advice about eating in a different light than I do.