Eating disorders are attention seeking

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Күн бұрын

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@CathDaddy 5 ай бұрын

Oh wow. I’m kind of shocked at how much this resonates. The shame of looking incompetent is actually the bane of my existence for the exact reason you state - because it always always invited humiliation.

@hilaryturner3333 5 ай бұрын

I agree with your stance, that seeking attention is often part of the ED, but not in the way that the term "attention-seeking" is mostly understood. Perhaps "cry for help" would be a more sympathetic term. Even now, as a recovered adult, I struggle with help-seeking. I find that if I'm in a really low place in the middle of the night, it just feels "off" somehow to text someone and verbalise that. Lovely to see Lola -she's clearly feeling well, which is awesome. We recently lost our doggo -not to the tumour I mentioned previously, which turned out to be benign, but just old age I think 😞. Bali looks amazing -I'm tempted, but I maybe don't need it at the stage that I've reached in my recovery... might be better off putting my $$ and my energy toward horse camp instead 😊

@marieap6945 5 ай бұрын

Thank you for this, dear Mia. I believe my ED has a lot (if not almost everything) to do with boundaries and asking for help (linked to self-worth, of course) - as was my self-harm/cutting when I was younger. Great takes, and superbly expressed, as usual. Big hug

@pamelapoet9 5 ай бұрын

I love how Lola shows up on cue when you say "attention seeking." LOL.

@maggimesser8284 5 ай бұрын

I really relate to this. In my case it was more so that I learned really early on "if you don't see the illness, it doesn't exist" and as a mentally ill child and later mentally ill teenager who was undiagnosed, this was my way of showing to myself that something is wrong. Not so much for the attention from others (but that certainly was a part of it) more for myself. It was also "easier" to hide from life that way I guess. Especially being hospitalized (which was quite traumatic in my case because it was against my will) was kind of not against my will, if that makes sense? Because I needed the "excuse" to take time away from uni especially, but life in general.

@kaia8167 5 ай бұрын

Attention itself is a human need. I think it goes beyond needing help - I believe people need attention. Not only when they're suffering or because they're suffering, but because we need to be seen by other humans. We are fundamentally social creatures, and in isolation we whither away, even if our basic survival needs are met. So labelling someone as attention-seeking, and then deciding that that's a bad thing, is like labelling someone as food-seeking and then shaming them for it. Absolutely ridiculous. And then what do these "attention-seekers" do? Internalize even more shame around their needs. Retreat further away from the attention they desperately need, becoming even more at war with themselves, because the need never goes away. It can't. Healthy people "seek attention" all the time! They just do it in a way that is...ya know...HEALTHY, so no one bats an eye. I agree with what you said completely, Mia, I just think there's a piece missing, which is that even wanting attention that isn't about getting help is still okay. Because it's a human need.

@GinaBlythe 5 ай бұрын

For me personally, it was me trying to avoid attention; to disappear. Could others have seen it possible seeking attention? Maybe, but for me - how I saw it - it was to avoid attention. And it worked. My illness was ignored, even when I was down to 75/80 pounds. I wonder where I'd be with my recovery had someone actually cared enough to face it head on...would I have actually recovered? Who knows? No one cared enough to notice...and a part of me didn't care...

@Aria123-ng1ts 5 ай бұрын

❤likes) this helps me out a lot with understanding my eating disorder (bulimia) I thought at first I was doing it for attention, then realizing it was more serious then I thought; I tried to stop but it felt like I was at a complete lost, I couldn’t stop, it became addicting, because of stress to it didn’t help anything, I feel like I’m nothing sometimes, I got bullied because of my weight, and now I’m going on a trip thing with my friends and not eating is all I can think about now, and now feeling hopeless to this thing I can’t control;…

@miacarter3867 5 ай бұрын

I do agree that some people with ED’s are seeking attention in the fact that they don’t know how else to express their emotional pain so it shows up as an ED.