Anorexia nervosa comments by Baroness Joan Bakewell associating the illness with narcissism landed the TV presenter in hot water. According to Baroness Joan Bakewell the eating disorder, which is now medically linked to mental health, is a result of self-indulgence.
Mirror reports that Baroness Joan Bakewell believes that anorexia nervosa comes from young people being too focused on looking beautiful and thin. Rather than a medical condition, Baroness Joan Bakewell suggests that anorexia nervosa is a result of narcissism.
Anorexia A Result Of Beauty Standards
"To be unhappy because you are the wrong weight is a sign of the overindulgence of our society, over-introspection, narcissism, really," Baroness Joan Bakewell commented. "No one has anorexia in societies where there is not enough food, they do not have anorexia in the camps in Syria."
What concerns the Baroness more than anything about anorexia nervosa is the pressure people put upon themselves to become thin. According to Baroness Joan Bakewell she finds disturbing how young females experience so much anxiety over a little bit of weight.
Criticisms Ensue
Although well-meant, Baroness Joan Bakewell's view of anorexia nervosa was not taken kindly by people who protest the simplification of the eating disorder to mere narcissism. Leigh Wilson-Hawley was such a one who, based on personal experience, believes that anorexia nervosa is about invisibility and inner turmoil.
Wilson-Hawley further said that anorexia nervosa does not exist in third world countries because these places have no food which needs controlling. According to Anorexia & Bulimia Care, around 1.6 million people in the UK suffer from eating disorders. On the average, eating disorders reportedly affect individuals as early as 16 to 17 years in age.
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Eating Disorders Are Mental Health Issues
Anorexia nervosa and similar eating disorders are now considered life-threatening mental diseases. Anorexia nervosa is cited as the most common cause of death among adolescents with psychiatric illness.
The National Institute Of Mental Health classifies anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder and their variants as real medical illnesses, which may be treated. Findings point to genetic, biological, psychological, and social factor contributions in cases of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating and similar disorders.
