Unraveling the Tapestry: Understanding Contemporary Eating Disorders
Argument Proposal
Imagine a scenario in which a teenager is plagued by insecurities and bombarded by images of airbrushed perfection. She starts to focus on what she eats and almost every time it is a battle for her not to count each calorie to obtain a flawless physique. But, it is not just about chasing the flawless physique, it’s about seeking control in the world that is spinning completely out of her hands. As they internalize these ideals, their self-esteem takes a hit, which pushes them into the labyrinth where there's a lot of pressure to be what they call "beautiful." But, behind this pressure hides a big problem: eating disorders. Eating disorders are behavioral conditions characterized by severe and persistent disturbance in eating behaviors and associated distressing thoughts and emotions (“What are eating disorders?” n.d., pg.1). They can be very serious conditions affecting physical, psychological, and social function. Types of eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, other specified feeding and eating disorders. The cause of eating disorders has several reasons, such as genetics, environmental factors, psychological factors, or even epigenetics. The National Eating Disorders Association helpline has had a 40 percent jump in overall call volume since March 2020 (Damour, 2021). In navigating the complexities of eating disorders, it is evident that a multifaceted approach is necessary to address their underlying causes and provide meaningful support to those affected as these disorders are often misunderstood, stigmatized, and overlooked, despite their potentially lethal consequences. Delving deeper into this topic will reveal various solutions to these complex disorders.
The first and foremost solution for the eating disorder issue is to approach psychotherapy. Many individuals with eating disorders have underlying psychological issues such as low self-esteem, trauma, anxiety, and depression (Attachment A). Research indicates that eating disorders are one of the psychological problems least likely to be treated (Wright State University, n.d., pg. 1). People who are suffering from eating disorders do not get themselves treated because there is a factor of being hesitant and judged by society. Only an “estimated 25 percent of people with an eating disorder in the US receive treatment” (Powell 2021, pg.1). There are many reasons at play, says Cara Bohon, a psychologist at Stanford University School of Medicine, “There is a lot of denial, guilt, shame and hiding of the problem. And there is still stigma around getting treatment.” (pg.1). Psychotherapy helps in treating eating disorders by uncovering and addressing the underlying psychological issues that contribute to disordered eating behaviors.
Controlled studies have shown cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to be the most effective treatment for adults with bulimia and binge-eating disorder (Powell 2021, pg. 1). It is a therapy in which eating disorders are treated by targeting distorted thinking patterns, implementing behavioral strategies, and encouraging self-monitoring to identify triggers and patterns. For example, the person might be asked to monitor all events around eating — not just what they ate and when, but the location, whether it was with others, and the emotions before, during, and after (pg. 1). Another assignment might be to take notice of what activities triggered bodychecking in mirrors or negative body image thoughts (pg. 1). “That helps them to see that it’s them making changes, rather than the therapist prescribing changes,” says psychiatrist Stewart Agras of Stanford University (pg. 1). However, it's important to note that while CBT can be highly beneficial for many individuals, it might not work for everyone or may not fully resolve the disorder on its own.
Eating disorders often involve complex psychological, emotional, and social factors. While CBT addresses many of these factors, some individuals may have underlying issues that require additional or different therapeutic approaches. But, for all the evidence behind CBT, it leads to recovery in “only about 60 percent of those treated for binge-eating disorder and 40 percent of those treated for bulimia” ((Powell 2021, pg. 1). For anorexia, all treatment methods combined result in recovery for “just 20 percent to 30 percent of people” treated. “That’s clearly not good enough,” says Cynthia Bulik, “who is looking for more effective treatment possibilities by studying the genetics that underlie eating disorders” (pg. 1). It concludes that CBT does not work for all patients who are taking this therapy.
Another solution for the underlying problem of eating disorders is to take nutritional counseling. Nutrition counseling, also referred to as nutritional counseling, food counseling, or nutrition therapy, is a form of eating disorder treatment that is part of a comprehensive, multidisciplinary treatment plan (Riebl, n.d., pg.1). The dietitian/nutritionist will offer emotional support, as well as providing correct nutrition education and addressing nutrition misinformation and eating disorder beliefs (1). Nutritional therapy is often paired with CBT and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). This helps round out an individual's healing experience, not only helping them relearn how to eat adequately but also helping them understand why they might engage in harmful eating behaviors and giving them tools to change these behaviors (1). Carolyn Costin stated that “eating disorders are not about the food, but they are about the food”, capturing the need for a multidisciplinary eating disorder treatment team consisting of medical practitioners, mental health professionals, and dietitians (Jeffery & Heruc,2020, pg.1). This makes it clear that having a proper nutritional diet plan helps individuals by developing healthier eating habits and regain control over the relationship with food by addressing nutritional imbalances.
Certainly, while nutritional therapy is recognized worldwide as a beneficial method of eating disorders, there is an argument against it that nutrition therapy might place too much emphasis on weight and food, potentially leading to approaches such as a high-calorie approach in which the patient is guided to eat to achieve a certain weight (Byrnes et al, n.d., pg. 1). Emerging evidence from studies with adult eating disorder populations details an equally dangerous “underfeeding syndrome,” characterized by the “slow achievement of nutritional goals, high rates of relapse, premature withdrawal from treatment, and even death, underscoring the need for accelerated nutrition protocols” (pg. 1). Studies have found that compared to patients without refeeding syndrome, patients with the syndrome have an “increased mortality rate and are more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit” (Dennis,2024, pg. 1). It is important, therefore, to be aware of the signs, symptoms, and risk factors of this serious condition and to seek specialized medical care as soon as possible.
Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions that require comprehensive understanding and support. Eating disorders are complex conditions that arise from a combination of long-standing behavioral, emotional, psychological, interpersonal, and social factors. While these disorders may begin with preoccupations with food and weight, they are most often about much more than food. Eating disorders can be devastating, but with treatment and support, they can be conquered. Lastly, raising awareness about eating disorders and combating stigma are vital for promoting understanding, empathy, and access to resources for those affected.
References
Brynes, N., Tar chichi, T., McCormick, A. A., & Downey, A. (2021, July 1). Restrictive eating disorders: Accelerating treatment outcomes in the Medical Hospital. American Academy of Pediatrics. https://publications.aap.org/hospitalpediatrics/article/11/7/751/179872/Restrictive-Eating-Disorders-Accelerating?autologincheck=redirected
Damour, L. (2021, April 28). Eating disorders in teens have “exploded” in the pandemic. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/well/family/teens-eating- disorders.html
Dennis, K. (2024, March 4). Eating disorders and refeeding syndrome. National Eating Disorders Association. https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/eating-disorders-and- refeeding-syndrome/
Eating disorders: Psychotherapy’s role in effective treatment. Eating Disorders: Psychotherapy’s Role in Effective Treatment | Counseling & Wellness Services (CWS) | Wright State University. (n.d.). https://www.wright.edu/counseling-and-wellness/article/eating-disorders-psychotherapys-role-in-effective-treatment
Jeffrey, S., & Heruc, G. (2020, November 17). Balancing Nutrition Management and the role of Dietitians in eating disorder treatment. Journal of eating disorders. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7672860/
Powell, K. (2021, December 17). The search for a better treatment for eating disorders. Smithsonian.com. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/search-for-a-better- treatment-for-eating-disorders-180979255/
Riebl, S. (n.d.). Nutrition counseling for eating disorders. Nutrition Counseling for Eating Disorders. https://withinhealth.com/learn/articles/nutrition-counseling
What are eating disorders? Psychiatry.org - What are eating disorders? (n.d.-a). https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/eating-disorders/what-are-eating-disorders
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Rhetorical Analysis
Franz Kafka's Struggle with Food and Eating
In the dimly lit corners of Franz Kafka's psyche, where existential dread and artistic passion merged, there was a hunger—an insatiable craving that transcended mere sustenance. Franz Kafka is a renowned artist with an absurd literary style, who wrote several novels and poems. He is an artist who suffered from an eating disorder named Anorexia Nervosa. In one of his stories “A Hunger Artist”, Kafka explores the theme of fasting and self-denial. Kafka expresses through one of his fictional characters in the story, “Because I couldn’t find a food which I enjoyed. If had found that, believe me, I would not have made a spectacle of myself and would have eaten to my heart’s content, like you and everyone else” (O’Sullivan, n.d., pg. 1). This provides an insight that he had a complex relationship with food and his struggle with his self-image while battling societal expectations. Kafka’s narrative of feeling disconnected, self-negotiation, and existential despair, he indeed would have considered eating disorders as a social epidemic.
Franz Kafka had a very strained relationship with his family, which consisted of patriarchal dominance and emotional turbulence imposed by his father Hermann Kafka. Hermann Kafka was, by all accounts, emotionally abusive to his only son, whom he saw as full of (in Kafka’s words) “coldness, estrangement and ingratitude” (Stella,2021, pg. 1). Kafka had a difficult relationship with his father, and much of his life he spent torn between chasing his dreams and making his father proud (pg.1). Kafka sees in his father everything he is not — a man of “health, appetite, loudness of voice, eloquence, self-satisfaction, worldly dominance, endurance, presence of mind, knowledge of human nature, a certain way of doing things on a grand scale, of course also with all the defects and weaknesses that go with these advantages and into which your temperament and sometimes your hot temper drive you”(Popova, 2019, pg. 1). Kafka’s father never took an interest in his writing career, which fueled his thinking that writing is a sacred task. This factor in him pushed him to take control over his way of writing along with understanding the potential psychological underpinnings of his attitudes toward food and eating. Franz Kafka also gives a glimpse of their strained relationship with his father in his novel ‘Dearest Father’. Kafka set out to hold his father accountable for “the emotional abuse, disorienting double standards, and constant disapprobation” that branded his childhood — a measured yet fierce outburst of anguish and disappointment thirty years in the buildup (Popova, 2019, pg. 1). As a consequence of this immersion in uncertainty and self-doubt, Kafka grew increasingly preoccupied with his body and health — a tangible aspect of reality:
Since there was nothing at all I was certain of, since I needed to be provided at every instant with a new confirmation of my existence, since nothing was in my very own, undoubted, sole possession, determined unequivocally only by me — in sober truth a disinherited son — naturally I became unsure even of the thing nearest to me, my body. (1)
This is especially true because individuals with anorexia nervosa may use it to gain control over their emotions and experiences related to trauma and Kafka’s character often grapples with a sense of powerlessness and a desire for control, which can be correlated with the experiences of individuals with anorexia nervosa. And he would have agreed that psychological conflict in an individual causes an eating disorder.
Kafka's intense creativity and his writing, which focused on deep existential themes, affected his relationship with food and people. He believed that fasting heightened his creativity. His diaries describe a strict avoidance of food, alcohol, and even sex. “I dieted in all these directions,” Kafka wrote on January 3, 1912 (Veroff, 2017, pg. 1). He said, “When it became clear that writing was the most productive direction for my being to take, everything rushed in that direction, and left empty all other of my abilities” (1). Kafka may have believed he was in control of his appetites, but it is more likely that he was, in fact, helplessly out of control (1). Throughout his career, he had several significant relationships with women, both romantic and platonic, which deeply influenced his personal and creative life. He was a hypochondriac (1). He was effeminate, but has also been labeled as a womanizer, who maintained passionate correspondences with several girlfriends and fiancées—although he never married. His whole life, Kafka shuttled restlessly, paradoxically, between grandiosity and self-disgust. Several of his biographers have even speculated that he was secretly gay (1). In a letter to his second fiancée, Milena Jesenská, he once confessed, “No one sings as purely as those who inhabit the deepest hell” (1). This would have been a beautiful line if it were not immediately preceded by this tortured admission: “I am dirty, Milena, infinitely dirty, this is why I scream so much about purity” (1). Kafka carried a great deal of darkness inside him as most of the anorexic people do which forced him to inherit uncertainties and complexities of existence.
Ultimately, Franz Kafka would have agreed that an eating disorder is a social epidemic. Through his own experiences, novels, and poems, it can be concluded that he shared the same aspects of illness as a patient would. Kafka’s eating disorder was not merely a footnote in his life; it was a significant aspect that shaped his identity as a writer and the substance of his literary works. His dedication to his art came at the cost of his physical health, as he often sacrificed bodily comfort for the sake of his craft. Even though Kafka never agreed that he had psychological issues with his experiences of coping with alienation and isolation, he would have related that eating disorder is a social epidemic in present time.
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References
O’Sullivan, E. (n.d.). The Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka (1922). Pressbooks.bccampus.ca. https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/perspectives/chapter/the-hunger-artist/
Veroff, R. (2017, August 29). How Kafka’s eating disorder shaped his writing. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-kafkas-eating-disorder-shaped-his- writing_b_59a07dfee4b0a62d0987aee0.
Popova, M. (2019, February 13). Kafka’s remarkable letter to his abusive and narcissistic father. The Marginalian. https://www.themarginalian.org/2015/03/05/franz-kafka-letter-father/
Sella, O. V. (2021, June 22). The Life and Times of Franz Kafka. The Science Survey. https://thesciencesurvey.com/spotlight/2021/06/22/the-life-and-times-of-franz-kafka/
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Reflection Essay
I began this course at the end of my freshman year, and I got to know so much about writing skills in an advanced way from writing argumentative essays to rhetorical analysis, to citing the sources correctly in MLA as well as in APA. This course has changed my writing skills in every aspect. I am an avid reader and whenever I used to write, something was always missing whether it was a supporting argument, research, or evidence. And writing an academic essay was not an easy job for me. It took me hours of research to collect evidence and find the correct words and skills to support my claim, but with proper guidance and peer feedback, I was able to write a college-level essay. However, learning how can I connect my argumentative solutions with the author’s perspective was the hardest section for me to write about. During the course, I was familiar with APA, but this course helped me with how I should make correct placements of cited work.
My topic for the essay was eating disorders, which I was eager to work with, because not being able to eat well through stress and having body dysmorphia inclined me to work on this essay in depth. So, finding the arguments along with counterarguments and their solutions was not a tough deal for me but how I will relate my topic with an absurd fiction author. It was not an easy job to find an author whose ideas would support my topic and I felt lost. I spent almost a month finding an author with supporting evidence along with how connecting this to the author will rhetorically present my essay. But when I found Franz Kafka’s work and his anorexic behavior, I knew that this is the author I should relate to from my author’s perspective. I was able to connect his ideas and experiences with my essay and each thought along with evidence was a strong point for me to move forward.
I would like to say that my goal for the future is to make the best use of the skills I used to write essays in the future and hopefully start writing my blogs. Now that I have a solid foundation for my writing skills along with critical thinking, grammar, punctuation, and citation, I want to make the most out of it for future English courses. I would like to say that Professor Hammett has helped me a lot to achieve good writing skills and her constant encouragement to finish my work pushed me to give my best. I hope that her guidance in writing will reflect on my writing journey.
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