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DE: I'm talking to
Rebecca and it's the 21st day of March, 1994. You have been
in the grip of bulimia for how long now?
RM: About 14months
now.
DE: On a couple of
occasions it pushed you into suicide attempts...on two or
three occasions?
RM: Three.
DE: And you have come
today and it isn't a total surprise out of the blue
but...
RM: There were probably
signs in the session we had last week..
DE: I thought that since
it was rather an historic event that we record this for you
and perhaps for the League. You came in looking pretty happy
and you said: "I am doing really well". What do you mean by
that?
RM: I AM
EATING!
DE: YOU ARE
EATING!
RM: And retaining food
(laughing). And the best thing about that is that I am not
panicking that I am.
DE: That is pretty
important. This is pretty remarkable even though I don't
want to go over the top about it. First of all, when we got
talking last time, you did tell me that you really weren't
eating and then you would become ravenous.
RM: I was in a
cycle....
DE: What's all this
about? What's behind it? What's in front of it? Can you tell
me everything that....
RM: Yah....like ten days
ago when you saw me...the minute I left that session up
until last Thursday. So it would have been ten days. You
know, I was really,really miserable and
quite...distressed.
DE: Do you want to tell
the people why that was...what was the nature of your
distress?
RM: Because he was not
interested in carrying on our relationship.
DE: And that had been an
important relationship for you?
RM: Yah...listening to
him say that even though I didn't feel he had shut the door
but I felt like he had half closed it on us. And you know I
wasn't any better and he was going to leave me. So that week
was just horrible. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be in my
apartment or move home. It was a horrible week..just
miserable. Since then, I haven't really had any contact with
him. This just came...not overnight but probably within two
days.
DE: (writing) "Not
overnight but in two days". What came?
RM: What came? Just the
idea that I didn't need to do this to myself.
DE: Wow! That's good to
hear. (writing) "I didn't need to do this to myself". How
had bulimia convinced you that you did need to do this to
yourself?
RM: Because I was a
horrible person.
DE: It convinced you you
were a horrible person? On what grounds? How would it talk
you into that?
RM: Initially because
what I had done to end our relationship. And then it took me
more into it because you are a failure not to be able to eat
properly or get rid of it. That kind of compounds it because
it makes you feel worse. So you feel twofold. There is the
first reason and then you get caught up in it.
DE: If someone else
wanted to understand this, how would you describe it to them
so they would know what to watch our for? You kind of saw
through this. What did you see through? What did you
understand that you didn't understand before?
RM: I really think...and
I have been saying to Mum and Dad because I told them too
because I worried it was a false alarm but I've never been
this close before...I think the best thing for me in the
last week is that I've had a almost a 100% turnaround in my
thoughts.
DE: "A 100% turnaround in
my thoughts."
RM: And I think from that
your eating ..your control and becoming normal in commas
just follows. In the past I tried to change my habits but
still had this mind thing about how guilty and horrible and
deceitful and untrustworthy I was.
DE: So was it a bit
pointless until you changed your thoughts?
RM: Absolutely, I don't
think there is any point in trying. Or trying to struggle
with it when you still haven't got that all sorted out. It
just won't happen, I think.
DE: Okay, I am excited
about this and I am interested. How did you turn your
thoughts around? And what were they? And what have they
become?
RM: I just turned all the
negative and hateful feelings towards myself...the feelings
that I had created. And that was really apparent from that
meeting with Ken. That I was creating myself in my mind.
Just negative, self-hating feelings that weren't coming from
him.
DE: No...no. I didn't
sense that. Was that the first time you realised
that?
RM: Yah. I think that
session was really so beneficial for me.
Definitely.
DE: I doubt if Ken would
have realised that, would he?
RM: No...I don't think
so. He didn't really say anything. He wasn't actively
involved in that session. He really sat back. But it was my
time to share with him and let him know how it's been. Yah,
I guess the realization that I didn't need to do it anymore.
There wasn't a point.
DE: And when you turned
around all these negative and hateful feelings that had
turned against you, what did it leave behind? When you
stepped aside from those feelings, what were you left
with?
RM: HAPPY. I can't stop
smiling (laughing). It's stupid (laughing). I just feel that
everything is easy. And I knew and I certainly didn't do
this to get back together with Ken I will have to be able to
get on with things by myself in case they don't work out..
When I say 'I did this', I haven't done it yet. I should
say: 'I am doing this for me'. Because I know whichever way
things work out, I don't want to get myself better for him.
And then things don't work out and go back to square one
again.
DE: Yah, that would be a
hazardous undertaking, wouldn't it? You can't make up Ken's'
mind for him?
RM: No.
DE: Nor decide his heart
for him? I know this has been happening over a period of
time and I certainly saw the glimmer of it on our last
meeting, when did you first describe yourself as happy? What
day was it that you experienced yourself as being happy,
given that you had almost had an unendurable period of
misery?
RM: Wednesday.
DE: Wednesday, was the
day.
RM: Yah..
Definitely.
DE: And how did happiness
dawn on you?
RM: Ken was supposed to
come around on Tuesday and couldn't make it. And that
really, really upset me. And I was in the same sort of
thought frame of mind. It was almost like it happened
overnight. I went to bed miserable that night. And I had
been throwing up. And I woke up on Wednesday and I didn't
have to start work until 2.00p.m. I could have easily spent
that time in the kitchen and the bathroom. I don't know but
I just got myself up and went out for the day and drove to
Devonport. I walked around the shops. And I WENT AND BOUGHT
MYSELF LUNCH.
DE: Was that a bit of a
first to buy yourself a lunch?
RM: To buy it with the
intention of enjoying it and sitting there was a
first.
DE: "I bought it with the
intention of sitting and eating it and enjoying it". Okay,
what would you usually do?
RM: Oh, I probably
wouldn't sit anywhere in public. I wouldn't have. And I
wouldn't has just bought one thing, I would have gone mad.
And gone home.
DE: "So would have gone
mad". And eaten in secret?
RM: Mmh. Oh
yeah!
DE: Looking back, how do
you understand what possessed you or what was going on for
you that allowed you or freed you to do this? Hold on, you
went to bed feeling really miserable and one would have
predicted that you would have had a very bad day the next
day? Ken didn't show up as he promised or said he would. You
could have felt really let down and in despair? Can I ask,
did you have a dream?
RM: Not that I am aware
of.
DE: See how you feel
about this: if you had had a dream that night AND YOU
REMEMBER IT, what do you think the dream would have been?
What possibly could you have dreamt about that turned you
around like that?
RM: Maybe a period of my
life that happened or was make believe but was definitely
me. And I would have been happy or...
DE: So you would have
dreamt a happy time in your life. How old would you have
been?
RM: Sort
of....adolescent.... because I was happy then.
DE: Can you think of a
memory from then that you might have dreamt that would have
had this effect if by chance you had done it?
RM: I think probably
being with Ken.
DE: How old were you
then?
RM: Oh from 16 to
however. 16 to 20. I was really happy all the time. And most
important, i was happy with me.
DE: "Most important, I
was happy with me", so would that have been the theme of
your dream, being happy with yourself? Not being self-hating
and given yourself a hard time?
RM: Yeh...yeh.
DE: When you were happy
with yourself, what aspects of yourself were you most happy
about? What did you like about Beck?
RM: Stuff that I am
seeing now in the last couple of days.
DE: Like what?
RM: Things you can't even
describe. I don't know, just bits of me....that I hadn't
....I guess just having the time..for the last couple of
days, I have had so much space in my head for other things.
Like I don't think about it for two hours. And that makes me
smile.
DE: Do you realise now
how much of your mental space was occupied?
RM: I kinda knew at the
time. Of course, I knew at the time. I just thought about it
so much. I just couldn't help it.
DE: So what were you able
to think about that you hadn't been able to think about for
a long time?
RM: Oh, what am I going
to this afternoon. Mundane things that people think about
all the time....that people who are o.k. take for
granted.
DE: What would be an
example of what you would consider a mundane thing that you
can now think about that you couldn't have thought about
before when you were captured by bulimia?
RM: I have just been able
to hold a conversation with somebody. Like I spoke to my
parents and the girls I am living with. And some other
friends who came around for dinner last night. I have been
chatting to people the last couple of days. And they have
all said the same thing in different ways. Like you have
been away and you have come back. And especially Mum and
Dad. They said ;you were here in body but you were always a
million miles away in fairy-land'. Just being able to have a
conversation with somebody and be in touch with what they
are saying and to think with them and talk without nodding
and being a thousand miles away, thinking about the next
'what shall I eat tonight?', 'will I be able to get out and
eat secretly'. You know, horrible things that creep
in.
DE: Did you realise that
people had been missing you?
RM: YAH! I HAVE NOW! I
didn't realise it at the time.
DE: I remember meeting
you with your girl-friends and how outraged they
were.
RM: It didn't effect
me.
DE: It didn't even touch
you?
RM: No. Not really. You
know I was sorry for them but it didn't sway me in any
way.
DE: Who was your friend
that felt most strongly?
RM: Jo. She doesn't know.
I haven't spoken to her yet.
DE: Jo had first hand
knowledge from her sister?
RM: Her sister and
another friend. She has had lots, probably more so that
anyone else.
DE: She knows what you
are going through?
RM: Yah.
DE: To some extent. How
much you were lost to her whereas you might have though you
were just changing
RM: It is really weird
though because since I have been going through this, I have
hardly seen her at all. Probably I have avoided her. I do.
Absolutely. Like I would speak to her on the phone but I
certainly wouldn't make arrangements to see her.
DE: I'll bet you
wouldn't! (laughter) She would be pretty high on
anti-anorexia, wouldn't she?
RM: Oh yeah. She has had
a friend who has just come through it. She was bulimic for
years and her boyfriend was anorexic. And they were engaged
And the wedding was called off a week before because they
both were just not in control. You know -she was bulimic and
he was anorexic. He left the country because she decided she
just had to get well. She had been bulimic for 5 or 6 years.
And she has just come through that and she spent a lot of
time in hospital this year. She's my age. So Jo went through
a lot of that with her. And probably knew what was in store
for me if I didn't pull back.
DE: Do you think you will
be able to recontact Jo at some time in the
future?
RM: Oh yeah...absolutely.
I think I've got a barbeque at her house this
weekend.
DE: She's not expecting
you to show up?
RM: She won't be yet.
I've got the message but she probably won't expect me to.
But I will.
DE: Were you touched by
your Mum and Dad?
RM: Oh yeah.
DE: Vanessa, Alex and
your other girl friends.
RM: Yes.
DE: Did you feel like you
had come home to yourself too?
RM: Yes, I just felt so
comfortable and relaxed. But I'm not worried but I still a
little bit dubious. I don't want to say I've done it because
I don't think I have.
DE: Please
don't.
RM: It's only been two or
three days.
DE: I'd urge you to
consider that you are learning some things about your
enemy.
RM: I know the grip of
all that nastiness has gone so the determination to do it is
there now. And that's never been there before.
DE: "Determination is now
there".
RM: And the urge to kind
of do it has gone too.
DE: The urge to do
bulimia?
RM: Yah.
Absolutely.
DE: This is pretty
extraordinary! Well would you be willing to theorize about
this?
RM: Mmh.
DE: If we were to
theorize about where you have got to now, I guess it must
have a lot to do with the fact that you shed all these
self-hating, negative thoughts?
RM: It hasn't all gone.
It all hasn't just dropped off me.
DE: What per cent of
self-hate has been replaced by self-appreciation?
RM: The bulk...70% has
gone, purely because I am not throwing up. The cause of
it-the mind thing - that leads to that has gone. Therefore
obviously the throwing up has gone. The two together..I mean
throwing up can make you feel just as bad.
DE: Is throwing up a
duplication or a reproduction of how you were
feeling?
RM: Yeah.
DE: So you were feeling
something and the throwing up was acting towards yourself in
a hateful way?
RM: Yah, but that's all
you feel. I never felt anything. I didn't experience any
feelings. I just 'be bulimic'.
DE: So were self-hating
feelings being expressed?
RM: Sometimes even after
a counselling session or talking to Mum or Dad, I would want
to go and think about it and feel however I wanted to feel.
And 9 times out of 10, I would just cut off and be bulimic
and then I would go to bed. And I would never think things
through. I wouldn't let myself....FEEL.
DE: What's it like to
have your feelings back? Do you think they are a valuable
part of your experience?
RM: Yah!
DE: I guess some of those
feelings are mixed?
RM: Yah, I'm still
feeling....
DE: But you're feeling
it! Not acting it!
RM: Yah, I just feel
happy with ME. Not a 100%...not as much as I would like to
but I know that I am no the road now.
DE: You can imagine it
was a little confounding for me because I knew this recent
history of you...from you and from your friends. I know you
might not have felt it, but I very much felt the love and
appreciation your friends had for you on that particular
day. It was very apparent. They all came. They all talked so
strongly and deeply. And it may have been on that day that
bulimia wiped that off the record but I need to tell you
that's how I experienced your friends in relationship to
you. I knew that you were a very popular person. Many of
those friends were friends from way back. From primary and
intermediate school. It's pretty good to keep friends that
long. So this is an interesting time! How would you think
bulimia takes your feelings away?
RM: Because it really
says you don't need to feel anything because you have GOT
IT. There is no need to waste your energy crying or being
sad or arguing or getting angry or standing up for yourself.
there is no need to do any of those things. Well I guess it
told me - I don't know about anyone else - there was always
the voice that said: 'What's the point of feeling those
things. No one would listen to you. And what you have said
really doesn't count. So don't bother'.
DE: That your feelings
didn't count or you didn't count?
RM: Both! I guess it was
sort of like my best friend.
DE: You thought it was
your friend?
RM: Yah...right up until
last week....I don't want to say it's finished...I have
never hated it or got angry at it ever.
DE: NO, YOU SURE DIDN'T.
Hold on: "Until last week, I never hated it or got angry at
it". Did you get angry at it?
RM: No, I get angry at me
and think: "Oh, God! Get it together" but I would never get
angry at it. Yah., I would just take it out on myself. And
make me suffer worse because I wasn't getting in
control.
DE: "Would take it out on
myself". So do you think it is possible to speculate that in
this dream you did get angry at it and hateful towards it
rather than getting angry at yourself? Why I ask is that
something happened out of your consciousness. You went to
sleep in a certain frame of mind and woke up and you had
turned your thoughts around 70%. Something happened in dream
land! (laughter) And you woke up and stopped taking things
out on yourself.
RM: Yah! Just from the
moment I woke and I was exactly the same. Yah, I just went
for a drive.
DE: When did you figure
something was up?
DE: How long was that
after you had awakened?
RM: About two
hours.
DE: Two hours later, you
found yourself walking around smiling?
RM: Yah.
DE: When can you remember
smiling last?
RM: NOT FOR A LONG
TIME.
DE: Did your face
hurt?
RM: Yah, it has been
(laughing). My cheeks have been really sore.
DE: Sore cheeks isn't a
bad price to pay. I'll bet. does that suggest to you how
unused you are to smiling?
RM: I'm sure I smiled but
I didn't mean it. I wasn't happy inside. It was a little
mask.
DE: If Rebecca of two
weeks ago came to you and said: 'Look , I've noticed that
you have been able to turn your thoughts around 100% and
bring happiness back into your life, would you help me do
it?' Is it possible in any way that reading Aliza's notes
helped?
RM: Yah, I think it has
been a combination of things - 50% due to that session with
Kelvin, myself and you.
DE: What's the other
50%?
RM: It's in
bits...
DE: What are the
bits?
RM: For once taking on
what people around me were trying to tell me.From friends.
Flatting - there is just no room for it in that situation.
Working. You know I didn't want to lose another job because
of it. And another little per cent-yah, I just want to be
happy.
DE: You've done your
time?
RM: Yah. Oh
yeah!
DE: And did reading
Aliza's notes fit in there.
RM: Yah, that was another
bit. they were just so sad. It's just so senseless. There is
no need. That's the whole thing - there is no need for it.
Someone could have told me that four days ago and I would
have said: "Of course, there is! There is ten reasons why I
should be doing this".
DE: Can you think of any
reasons why everything fitted together so profoundly. For
example, could the session with kelvin, you , and me have
done it without the other bits?
RM: It was just in the
space of days...
DE: What do you think
would have happened if I hadn't met you today and talked
about this, do you think we would have developed the degree
of awareness we are developing? Did you have all these ideas
before we talked?
RM: Today. Yah, I knew
something on Wednesday but left it until Thursday night to
speak to Mum and Dad. It was worried that I was being
tricked. I have never approached them before, this is the
first time.
DE: So you talked to your
parents on Thursday? And how did you go about that? Ring
them up or did you go and see them?
RM: I saw Dad at work
because I work with him...at the same place.
DE: How did he react to
what you said? Was he believing?
RM: Yah, he was. He was
really believing. For Dad, it made me happy...his
response.
DE: What was
it?
RM: He's not very good at
....even though I know he cares...he thought it was
great.....and it was good news. And that was the extent of
it. I knew that he was feeling more than that. he didn't
know how to...My parents went out and celebrated on Thursday
night WITHOUT ME! They went out for dinner.
DE: So he must have told
your Mum?
RM: Apparently he told
Mum that I had some news and I called her.
DE: So you rang your Mum
up?
RM: Yah..I think she had
an idea. He must have said something to her.
DE: So was she ready to
heart it? And what was her response?
RM: Just....she was
crying.
DE: Crying with
joy?
RM: Yah...and she said
that that has been our one wish. "If we could have anything
in the world, it would be for you to get better".
DE: And where did they go
to celebrate?
RM: They went to CinCins.
Wine and beautiful food. And she said it was the first night
in months that her and Dad went to bed without worrying
about me.
DE: "First night in
months that they....
RM: Weren't worrying or
being conscious of...just having it in the back of their
minds. I guess in a way they might feel a little bit
freer.
DE: I would imagine. How
much freer do you thin k your Mum and Dad might be feeling
at the moment?
RM: A lot..I don't know
how much. A LOT. Like the stress has gone between
us.
DE: Do you think you will
have to do much work repairing your relationships with your
mother and your father?
RM: Yah! Oh,
Yah!
DE: And who did you tell
next? when did you let Vanessa and Alex know?
RM: I sort of said to
them on Wednesday night. They were sitting in Vanessa's
room. And I was reading through my notes and trying to think
about things. And write things down and they left me alone
in the lounge. And I went into their bedroom for something
and they said: "How is it going?" And I said: "Oh good!" And
I said: "You know I think I am getting there"..."I can just
feel it". And I remember saying to them: "I don't want to
tell anyone because I am scared that...it was a really short
conversation. Basically the gist of it was I think I am
there but don't say anything to anybody. I am not going to
say it to Mum and Dad. And they turned around and said:
"Yah, we think you are too! We haven't wanted to say
anything".
DE: "They turned around
and said: "We think you are too!" What do you think they had
observed about you that....
RM: God Knows!
DE: Take a
guess!
RM: They wouldn't have
observed me being happy or any of those obvious things but
just I think they saw me trying.
DE: How would they know
you were trying?
RM: Because I would sit
down and eat a meal with them; whereas before I would have
gone to my room when they ate.
DE: Did you go into
hiding?
RM: Yah..I had to leave
the room because I couldn't stand to see other people
eat.
DE: Well, tell me about
that...that must have been pretty hard? What made you decide
to do that? It must have been hard for the first
time?
RM: I don't know because
I have a special place I sit at the dinner table at home and
I haven't sat in it for over...I can';t remember the last
time. So I have swapped shifts this week for Wednesday and I
am going to Mum and Dad's for dinner.
DE: Have you really?
Wednesday night. Are you ready for this?
RM: Yah...and I think
everyone knows as well and are prepared for me to slip. Like
it not like they think if I have a bad day, there is going
to be a crisis and she's had it.
DE: Par for the
course.
RM: Yah, it will be kind
of. One step back and...
DE: Yah, I wouldn't do it
any other way. Please don't do anti-anorexia in
a....
RM: The opposite
way.
DE: Do it in a very
imperfect way. It could be an interesting night, couldn't
it?
RM: Mmm.
DE: When would have been
the last time they would have been able to enjoy a meal with
you?
RM: Probably about a year
and a half ago. I was almost anorexic before I started this.
For probably a period of sex weeks. And they were bribing me
with good. And then I just went the other way which was
bulimic. So counting that sort of stage and the period when
I was just losing my appetite...yeah, well over a year and a
half. About two years.
DE: You are a pretty
friendly family, aren't you?
RM: Oh , yeah. it's
incredible how much of life isn't involved with food but
revolves around food in everyday living. To steal away from
that, you cut out half of your living because you are not
involved in anything. You miss out on so much.
DE: It is a special time,
when you think about it. Breaking bread or having a meal is
a symbol for peace..connection. I guess all our celebrations
are associated with food and drink?
RM: I went supermarket
shopping with Alex on Sunday night and we were in there for
an hour and a half (laughing). And it was just fun. I had so
much fun. Look I had been shopping of course, but it was
always a whip round to the brownies and bread and whatever
else I could find. I hadn't shopped with the intention of
keeping it in the fringe for a long time. That was pretty
amazing!
DE: Oh great! What do you
think Jasbindar is going to think about this? Has she spoken
to you lately?
RM: She did leave a
message on Friday. I should give her a ring.
DE: Do you think she will
believe this?
RM: Yah.
DE: I guess when I think
about me knowing you in terms of anti-anorexia/anti-bulimia,
what I found hard to understand was why it was and how it
was able to convince you it was a friend of yours. We talked
about it a number of times along the way. Is there anything
I should know and the League should know about the ways it
beguiles young women into believing that it is a
friend?
RM: I think that one of
the pre-requistes for being captured by it-anorexia, I don't
think you have to be but I am sure it is more likely if you
are in a bad place and feeling vulnerable and questioning
your own identity. Like you are at crossroads and that comes
along and says: 'Come with me!" Initially, it seems like the
perfect thing to do. And when you realise it's not, it's to
late in a way. And because for most women who haven't had
experience with it, you don't know what you are dealing
with.
DE: How long into the 18
months was it before you knew you were over your head? That
it was controlling you?
RM: I was told that I was
but I just didn't believe it. they said: "This will get away
on you" but I said: "It won't". I was confident and just
believed...because it hadn't at that stage.
DE: When do you figure it
got away on you? How many months along the way?
RM: No more than two. Six
weeks. six to eight weeks.
DE: Six weeks! That is
about as bad as cocaine, isn't it?
RM: For 2 - 3 or 4 weeks,
I thought it was great. I might have just thrown up dinner.
And then I'd do it more often. And I'd fast and try to diet
more often. Until I became like starving, dizzy, and
head-acy and dehydrated and no energy. I'd feel awful and
then: "Wham!" That came out of nowhere. I never thought that
would happen. I didn't know that that was part of it. I
didn't know that bingeing and throwing up. I just thought
maybe I could control as a way of getting rid of meals when
i felt like it. I didn't know....
DE: When you were most in
its grip, how many times did it cause you to
vomit?
RM: A day...up to 15
times a day. And I was getting up in the night as well. It
was like 24 hours. I wouldn't stop and go to bed - I'd get
up in an hour. And be trance-like and go
downstairs.
DE: if you were to look
ahead into your future and a time came that you felt you
were free and out of danger, how do you think you would
celebrate this event? And who would come?
RM: I've already been
celebrating (laughter).
DE: How have you been
celebrating.
RM: I had people over for
dinner last night.
DE: Oh, that's a pretty
big thing! Who did you have?
RM: Six girls...no there
was about 8 of us at my place.
DE: Was it a bit like a
reunion?
RM: Yah, we just cooked
dinner. And ate dinner.
DE: Did people comment
that it was nice to have you back?
RM: Yes.
DE: Was that good to
hear?
RM: Yah.
DE: I think it would be
harder to fight with this if you didn't have something to
come back to?
RM: Yes.
DE: You said some people
have lost all their contacts and have become disconnected
with others?
RM: That kind of nearly
happened. I was close to that.
DE: I think you would
have had a hard time shaking your friends off.
RM: Yah, you're
right.
DE: I think they might
have stood aside for awhile but I doubt if they ever
wouldn't have wanted your friendship. Did any of your
friends comment on the celebratory nature of this
meal
RM: Oh yeah. They were
really so happy. Absolutely.
DE: Was it
hilarious?
RM: Yah, it just seemed
so stupid. I was laughing last night like I....it ended up
that we split up. some of us were wanting to watch
television and some of us were wanting to sit on the
balcony. We were having chips and dip before dinner. But
those who had moved inside had taken all the food. And there
were about four of us outside. I said without even thinking:
"Shall I go and get some chips from the kitchen for us?".
"Yah, you do that!" And I said: "I will!" Being in that
atmosphere and not thinking: "should I be eating this?" I
was so normal. I didn't feel uncomfortable...embarrassed...I
just felt very NORMAL. I felt like they would have felt. And
for a brief instant that felt like so long ago when it was
like two weeks ago. Because I felt so comfortable that it
was weird. Not a 100% comfortable but normally I didn't eat
any food in front of anyone.
DE: `What you have been
doing before....trying to get out of it?
RM: `Yah...first of all,
I probably would have never got myself into such a situation
in the first place. Or tried everything I could not to get
into that situation.
DE: Would you make
excuses, like saying you were sick?
RM: Yah, or busy or just
didn't feel like it.
DE: Say you got trapped
into such a situation, what would you have done?
RM: Just eat
nothing.
DE: If anyone had said:
"Hey, Beck, would you like some of this?" what would you
have done?
RM: "No,
thanks!"
DE: If they said: "I'm
worried about you!" would you have said, "Don't worry about
me?"
RM: Yah.
DE: Would you get
bitchy?
RM: No, I never got
bitchy. I would just say: "No thank you...I'm fine!" It was
never really an issue. No one pressed ever.
DE: Well, I kind of
avoided her. Or like I would turn up when everyone was half
way through their meal and say that I had just eaten at
home. Or something like that. Just lie without thinking. "I
have just eaten and am really full".
DE: Is it nice not to
have to lie anymore?
RM: Yah...that makes you
feel bad too! Lying to people.
DE: Well, Beck, the
course of anti-anorexia is not entirely a smooth one, would
you allow that there will be a few 'hiccups' along the way?
And there will be times for us to study?
RM: I know
that.
Questions for
Consultation:
1) How do you know when
your anti-anorexia is for real? Not fraudulent?
("I don't really believe
it is fraudulent")
2. Does anorexia have
ways of talking you out of significant developments in your
anti-anorexia? If so, how did it do this?
("That would be easy to
be talked out of it....like you could have a bad
morning")
3) "I am scared it is
going to come back...bang...without any signs. I want to get
on the defence".
Has anorexia ever made a
successful temporary come-back on your?
On reflection, were there
some signs or clues it was creeping up on you?
4) Is it like giving up
smoking? Like an 'evil' habit? Do you have to do it 'cold
turkey?" Or are there any other possible ways to leave it
behind?
5) The next two months, I
just have to grit my teeth and persevere. I know I am going
to put some weight on and I don't want to? How does one
endure the possibility that one might gain some
weight?
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