Pressures on Women To Be Thin Can Be Deadly
                                                        Dr David Coombs, Ed.D. MFT

    The obsession for women to achieve the “right” body size can contribute to the development of a mental illness called Anorexia Nervosa which has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.
    Enormous pressures by the media cause women to focus their lives on being thin and gorgeous in every way. Women, throughout the world, pay a high price to fit into a prescribed mold. To be acceptable, they believe they must wear a size 2 which for most women is not only unrealistic but is also impossible. Women spend fortunes on extreme diet programs, endure plastic surgery, buy expensive cosmetics and hair products, enroll in gym memberships, have home exercise equipment or simply just starve themselves.
    Recently, a survivor of an eating disorder Dr. Nicole Hawkins, PhD, gave a presentation sponsored by Therapia and Center for Change for Southern Utah. She reported society’s media teaches women to hate their bodies. Certain destructive elements of our culture trap women into thinking they must do all they can, even not eating, to have the perfect, acceptable body.
    A few highlights from Dr. Hawkins reveal the stress many women feel:
Only 2% of women in the world call themselves “beautiful.”
86% of women are dissatisfied with their appearance.
When asked, two out of five women said they would gladly give up 3-5 years of their lives if they could just reach their ideal weight.
51% of girls who were teased and mocked thought of suicide. Peers can be shockingly cruel on social media. (i.e.“You are so fat and ugly, why don’t you just kill yourself.”) Frequent use of Facebook creates greater eating pathology and body dissatisfaction.
The average model is 5’11” and weighs 117 lbs, and wears a size 2. The average American woman is 5’4” and weighs 166 lbs and wears a size 14.
The majority of the images presented in media have been airbrushed or manipulated. 56% of girls believe models have “perfect bodies.”
90% of women diet regularly. 90% of diets fail after one year. Dieters regain all weight lost plus another 10%.
14% of 5-year-old girls diet. 50% of 9-year-old girls diet. 80% of 10 year-old girls diet. 90% of high school girls diet regularly.
Major depression is a common side effect of extreme diets that do not deliver the desired results.
    Dr. Hawkins is the clinical director for the Center for Change and reports remarkable success when girls suffering from eating disorders are medically stabilized and receive adequate nutrition. With individual and group counseling,  girls and women are taught the truth about the destructive influences of our society. They also learn healthy ways of thinking, eliminating distorted thought patterns, gain greater respect for their miraculous bodies, and grow in appreciation for who they are, and how beautiful they really are.
    Doctors with the Wellness Center behind the IHC hospital in St George also provide help for women with legitimate health issues that cause weight gain and weight retention in spite of appropriate diet and exercise. One long-distance runner kept gaining while eating correctly, lifting weights, and running an average of 40 miles a week. The wellness Center helped her measure her metabolism and discovered it was barely working. She learned she was gluten and dairy intolerant. With her diet changed, her metabolism corrected, she lost 30 pounds to reach 170 pounds. Her coach told her that she had reached her perfect weight. Not many women would jump for joy at weighing 170 pounds. However, she was delighted and was able to hear and accept what the doctor said and left feeling beautiful. Women’s goals ought not be set by the media but by their achieving their own healthy weight—determined by their genes and their age, coupled with eating correctly—not dieting—and exercising.
    More must be done to protect women, young and old, from expecting their bodies to go where they cannot go and from the damning and deadly effects of eating disorders. All women can learn to be grateful for the bodies they’ve been given and to stop comparing themselves to others.

(Several books were recommended at the Center for Change Conference: Making Peace With Your Plate, (“eating disorder recovery") by Robyn Cruze and Espra Andrus, The Body Image Workbook by Thomas Cash, and Intuitive Eating, by Evelyn Tribole.)

Dr. Coombs is a licensed marriage and family therapist with his office in Washington, Utah. Contact him at 435-705-3579. email to DrDavidCoombs@gmail.com or visit DrDavidCoombs.com.