Worshiping the Gods of Thinness

A detailed Summary of Worshiping the Gods of Thinness

What were you thinking the last time you looked at a Victoria secret supermodel? Chances are if you were a male or a female you admired the perfect figure those women maintain. Generally people do set these women as role-models as to how the rest of the women in the world should look as well, and some girls go beyond healthy grounds to achieve the cultural beautiful that is set for them. Most would conclude that a girl that would stoop to thinking she could possibly be as skinny and perfect as a model is probably an insecure outcast whom just wants to be accepted, well they are most definitely wrong, in Reviving Ophelia chapter 9 "Worshipping the Gods of Thinness" four accepted young girls are interviewed and evaluated for serious eating disorders.

The first girl that we are introduced too seems to be as normal as can be or more commonly phrases as 'perfect' as can be, she was a gymnast with many friends and was outgoing. She seemed to be happy until she turned about thirteen and the pressures of life began to weigh her down. Her behavior was very maladaptive she takes a big risk by purging her meals in order to maintain in her mind what she thinks she should be. However, the outside influences that forced her to do this are actu

Prudence was the next case study whom had a rather different reason as to why she was so addicted to food. She was not like the average girl in her class, everyone around her was like a Barbie doll: perfect teeth and hair you name it. Prudence was a gorge she ate profusely in replace of sharing her emotions however it was likely to happen since her family is very introverted as well. She was never taught to share her feelings in any other way then the way she taught her self (bingeing) except through her brother Greg whom was killed in a car accident. Prudence is suffering from a case of atypical depression. Atypical depression is defined by the ability to feel better temporarily in response to a life event, plus any two of the following criteria: excessive sleep, overeating, a feeling of heaviness and sensitivity to rejection. She could not discuss her feelings towards her brothers death and how much it affected her therefore she turned to food for the answer and for the fulfillment at the time, her eating habits were so weakly abused that her mother had to lock up the food that way she would not inhale it all. After Prudence went through therapy and started to manage her, feelings in a different way either talking them out or writing them down she began to get her mind off food. She even learned a slogan-HALT-so she could identify her feelings rather than immediately labeling them as hunger. Through therapy, she started to heal visibly because her physical statue was appearing healthier. Prudence's family used a common defense mechanism while experiencing Greg's death, Denial, and this may not have been the direct cause of her addiction to food but it definitely played a role. However, through examination and self-determination Prudence finally lived through a Binge-free day.

Samantha was a popular cheerleader who suffered from anorexia. Her disease was Maladaptive and disturbing. Her obsessive compulsion with exercising, weighing her self and loosing weight was life threatening and could cause her to have a heart attack. Samantha's pursuit at the beginning was only to loose a few pounds but her perfectionism allowed her to keep on loos

Some common words found in the essay are:
Gods Thinness, , Reviving Ophelia, self anorexia, therapy started, addiction food, loosing weight, atypical depression,

Approximate Word count = 1453
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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