This guest article from YourTango was written by Mary Jo Rapini.
The recent statistics from the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) has reported that about one-third (33.8%) of U.S. adults are obese. That number rises every day, and keeping up with it is more difficult than keeping up with your stocks. I work with the finest bariatric surgeons in the U.S. They are dedicated to helping their patients lose weight in an effort to thwart diseases, and minimize current disease progression. I also run several 12-step food addiction groups in the city of Houston and online in many cities.
I talk to morbidly obese patients everyday. I teach them, counsel them, eat with them, and spend endless hours reading their journals. These patients have a story to tell, but we aren’t listening and we continue asking the wrong questions.
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Hello there,
obese are an accepted target, similar to saying that poor and unemployed deserve to be poor and unemployed because they want to be and must therefore be regulated because they are too stupid to regulate themselves. I would like to think that the the psychological community would be invited to put in an opinion, but that seems unlikely. http://swampland.time.com/2011/04/01/arizonas-flab-tax/
This blog entry rings true to me. And while I’ve applied this logic to other unhealther behaviors, I’ve never applied it to my eating habits. I think once I figure out how I benefit from overeating, I’ll be able to analyze better whether I want to continue this behavior, or would rather replace it with another behavior that has fewer negative, long term effects. Thanks for posting!
Yourtango,
I wouldn’t be me and would fail my “crusade” to put all medical professionals to task that use the term or phrase, “(pick your topic) is genetic”. If you truly want to help you patients you need to accept the fact that to date, there is no genetic link. It seems that many things that seem “genetic” are simply passed (learned if you will) from being the member of the same family. To believe that an epidemic such as obesity is “genetic” rejects the rational thought that we have evolved to the species that we have. An organism that could create so many dysfunction would never have stood the test of time. Further, it rejects Freud argument (made in “Ego and th Id” i believe) that the mind seeks to blame external or uncontrollable forces for its faults.
There is no “fat” gene. Nothing that would stand up to the scientific method has ever been discovered. Likewise, you touch upon the more conclusive proof that the whole thing is driven by environmental issues when you point out the sexual abuse link. I wonder how many patients are on SSRI/ SNRIs. I have seen 4 people placed on these drug grow to morbidly obese in the course of 2 years. And why not. Put them on a drug that diminishes the influence of the super ego, and then everybody stands around scratching their heads when the patient can’t stop catering to their Ids.
Help your patients. Turn to them and say, “If we are going to get the weight off, we are going to have to slay some demons. This will require a lot of emotional pain. It will require you to relearn many things you believe as truth. And it will require you to rise above your anxiety.”