Ira M. Sacker - Dying to Be Thin: Understanding and Defeating Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia—A Practical, Lifesaving Guide

Copyright 1987 by Ira M. Sacker, M.D. and Marc A. Zimmer, Ph.D.

Introduction copyright 1987 by Karola, Inc.

How Every Teacher Can Help Copyright 1987 by Roberta Richin, M.A.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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First eBook Edition: December 2010

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ISBN: 978-1-455-50187-8

Cover design by Martha Sedgwick

Cover photo by Tony Stone/Clarissa Teahy

I believed absolutely that I would get everything I wanted if I could be thin. And I developed rituals to make sure I would get there. But the more pounds I lost, the more elaborate the rituals everything began to revolve around food.

I thought, why not purge? As long as I was still losing weight, I didnt care. Except, everywhere I went, people stared and whispered to each other as I passed. So I thought, well, maybe Ive gone a little too far. There was just one problem. I couldnt stop.

We let our daughter know we were there for her, but we would not watch her kill herself. So we walked into her apartment without knocking. My God, she just dissolved. Right in the middle of the floor, surrounded by all these boxes of junk food I was staggered. My beautiful daughter on the floor, shaking and crying.

From patients, doctors, therapists, and families, these are the words of real people who share their stories as they address the pressing questions: What is anorexia? What is bulimia? How do you fight these debilitating disorders? This guide provides the answers that will help you take the first steps back to health and hope.

THIS BOOK CAN HELP

DYING TO BE THIN

For Marianne and Hillary, with love.

We are grateful to so many people who have given their time, energy, talent, and love to this book. Our families were with us every step of the way, and so we both thank Marianne, Scott, Tara, Harvey and Lottie, Jack and Stella, and Hillary. In addition, there were our patients and their families, who worked so hard to give us the insights and perspective that make this book as much theirs as it is ours.

The same is true for our dear friends and colleagues, Patti and Stephen Englander, Neville Golden, M.D., Jack and Stella, Marvin Surkin, Ph.D., Keith Sedlacek, M.D., Shirley Winston, Ph.D., Barbara Silverman, and Stephen Bronster. They each contributed their concerns, their insights, and most of alltheir commitment to the book.

We owe a special debt of gratitude to Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who devoted precious time and thought to this entire project.

Margery Schwartz, our managing editor, and Lillian Rodberg, our copyeditor, worked tirelessly to give this book shape.

And finally, we thank Roberta A. Richin, without whom this book could not have been possible.

In a very real sense, this book was written by our patients and those who care about them: parents, teachers, friends. To help you distinguish our comments from their original words, we have printed the text in two kinds of type.

When you see this kind of type, the text consists of our comments.

When you see this kind of type, the text consists of original quotes taken from interviews with patients and others who have directly experienced eating disorders as victims or caring observers.

IRA M. SACKER M.D., is an internationally known specialist in the field of eating disorders. In addition to his private practice, he is the Founder/Director of HEED Foundation Inc., a nationally recognized non-profit foundation dedicated to the prevention, education, and treatment of all eating disorders. He is the Director of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at the Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in New York and has been honored by an appointment to the National Panel on Eating Disorders. Recent appearances on television have included 20/20, 48 Hours, the Today show, Good Morning America, Oprah Winfreys Oxygen Network, all local and national news networks; national and international news; as well as magazines including People, Cosmopolitan, Allure, Glamour, Life and Seventeen. He has published groundbreaking papers on anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and compulsive overeating for medical journals. He has helped develop a new tool for the treatment called Photo and Video-Therapy.

Ira M. Sacker M.D.

Founder/Director of HEED

Helping to End Eating Disorders

10 Sullivan Drive

Jericho, New York 11753

516-822-0324

Director of Eating Disorders

Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center

580 Rockaway Parkway

Brooklyn, New York 11212

718-240-6451

Web site: www.eatingdis.com

E-mail:

MARC A. ZIMMER, PH.D., holds a Doctorate in Psychology and is a Diplomate in Clinical Social Work. He is the Director of the Biofeedback and Psychotherapy Center in Valley Stream and Brooklyn, NY. There he has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders and stress-related problems for the past twenty years. Dr. Zimmer has developed the integration of biofeedback therapy into a treatment protocol for eating disorders. The author of numerous articles published in professional and educational journals, he has served as both consultant and lecturer to various organizations and is a member of the Benefit Committee of the American Anorexia and Bulimia Association.

Marc A. Zimmer, Ph. D.

Biofeedback and Psychotherapy Development, Inc.

5 Sunrise PlazaSuite #202

Valley Stream, NY 11580

516-825-5005

Brooklyn Location

Biofeedback and Psychotherapy Development, Inc.

9229 Flatlands Avenue2nd Floor

Brooklyn, NY 11236

718-204-0660

Someone you know may literally be dying to be thin. As many as 15 percent of the men and women, boys and girls, who are diagnosed as having anorexia nervosa will die from that disorder this year. An astonishing one in every five college-age women is engaging in some form of bulimic behavior (binging and purging), and the statistics on college-age men continue to climb. No longer a problem limited to a small number of middle and upper-middle class white teenage girls, anorexia and bulimia are insidious and dangerous disorders that can take hold of your lifeand even take your life.

Anorexia and bulimia are frightening for all sorts of reasons. These disorders cause painful, long-term health problems, and all sorts of difficulties in relationships. If the symptoms were easy to see, the hazards might be less dramatic. But the symptoms can be very hard to detect, because the person with the eating disorder does such a thorough job of keeping the food and eating behavior a secret.

That is why this book is about secrets. The private world of the anorexic and bulimic is filled with dangerous secrets. Secrets about anger. Guilt. Power. Sexuality. Fear. Growing up. Self-hatred and self-doubt. People who develop anorexia nervosa or bulimia behaviors work hard and often desperately to keep their behavior secret, even from family whom they live with or see every day.