Born Anorexic?

For a long time the only acceptable narrative for this illness was about thinness and victimization. But I note a growing number of former and even some current patients who not only accept but endorse the idea that an eating disorder is a brain condition, a genetic predisposition and not a personal choice or weakness. They report feeling relieved and helped by this knowledge instead of demeaned.

Was I Born Anorexic? is one such essay.

This is a meaningful change in the landscape of eating disorders, and I wonder if it is coming about as society becomes more comfortable with seeing the brain as a functioning (and sometimes malfunctioning) organ, or is it a function of a change in how eating disorder patients are being treated, or are we simply only now ready to hear this directly from patients?

Whatever the reason, I am glad to see it. May a new generation of recovery and recovered voices tell the truth about eating disorders.

See also: Carrie Arnold's blog, the Patients Speak page at F.E.A.S.T., and June Alexander's book "My Kid is Back."

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