Eating disorders are a very complex, increasingly topical social problem. Anorexia is especially difficult to understand. More and more people are realizing that they are not really about food problems, that they are in fact an addiction where the causes are much deeper. But many people still think that a person just needs to start eating normally and anorexia will miraculously disappear. They do not understand that “healing” means a process that requires a lot of willpower and work on oneself. In the empirical part, I want to show that it means to “heal” to win a long and hard fight. To have ups and downs, but to persevere and decide every day again that you want to be healthy, that you want to be happy. In theory, however, I will shed light on this process and the forms of assistance that are available. Anorexia requires years of treatment, an average of nine years, and some never heal.
Our own interests led us to the chosen topic due to our acquaintances with people with anorexia, people who have recovered from anorexia and people who have another form of eating disorders. Because it is an extremely difficult topic that can lead a person to relapse, we expanded the criteria and were open to anyone who would be willing to talk about their experience and feel mentally strong and stable enough to be able to look inside and re-experience great vulnerability.
In researching the topic, we used thematic analysis, which is ideal when we want to research an individual's experience. We prepared a list of open-ended questions in advance, categorized them, and then left the participants free to speak.
To summarize the answers and theory, it is crucial that a person admit to themselves that they have anorexia. Without self-recognition, a person cannot be helped. The family system is not always one of the reasons for the development of anorexia, but the parent may unknowingly harm the child due to their own distress and consequently increase the risk of developing the disorder. There is no single model that is optimal for all addicts, and in all of them an extremely important support system in the form of parents, partners, friends or professionally trained workers. Insight into the reasons for the appearance of anorexia is necessary, as the only way to cure it is to solve the causes of its occurrence. In our case, the theory and results differ only in the claim that a person who is cured never again thinks of anorexia as a possible way to solve problems. The theory is that a person will never be able to eat carefree and will always be burdened with food and their body. Meanwhile, half of the participants in the interview told us that they had left anorexia behind and that it no longer had any effect on them.
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