Posted on 08/24/2005 3:31:05 AM PDT by traumer
AN INCREASING number of middle-aged women are suffering from potentially life-threatening eating disorders as they strive to emulate the characters of Desperate Housewives, the cult American television series, according to a leading eating-disorder specialist.
Since the show, starring petite Teri Hatcher and her equally slim co-stars, became a hit, eating disorder clinics across the UK have seen an increase in older women suffering from anorexia and bulimia.
Clinics in Scotland report a fourfold increase in the number of women aged between 30 and 50 seeking treatment for anorexia.
Experts have said a "Desperate Housewives syndrome" has caused a significant rise in illnesses such as bulimia and anorexia normally associated with teenagers and younger women.
Dr Chris Freeman, consultant psychiatrist at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, in an interview with Closer magazine, said: "Desperate Housewives is a very popular programme showing older women who are attractive and have rampant love lives.
"They're also thin and it puts pressure on women in their thirties, forties and fifties to think that it is possible to have this glamorous lifestyle and a great sex life if you're skinny," he added.
"I believe it's influencing women to have eating disorders. Lots of women diet and lose weight quickly, but they aren't obsessive and perfectionist enough to sustain it.
"They might discover that, if they make themselves sick after eating, they can keep their weight down. That's the start of an eating disorder," he said.
However, Dr Alex Yellowlees, medical director of the Priory Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland's only clinic for adults with eating disorders, said it was inappropriate to link women suffering eating disorders with "shallow" television characters.
"There is a 20 per cent mortality rate among women with eating disorders and there is no evidence to suggest their illness has been driven by vanity.
"These women are not all the same. Some have had the illness all their lives and it only comes to medical attention in their thirties or forties. Others never develop the full-blown illness and others have had it triggered off by something in their lives."
Dr Yellowlees said that five years ago it would have been unusual for a middle-aged woman to attend his clinic but the age group now accounted for a fifth of his patients.
"I don't like the phrase 'Desperate Housewives syndrome' because it does affect all women and it sounds quite cruel. But we need to choose our role models very carefully, because if they are dysfunctional then it could hold serious consequences," he said.
"Eating disorders are multi-factorial, and you have to combine certain ingredients to have a recipe for anorexia.
"One of these ingredients is the modern-day idealisation of thinness. We have gone kind of mad and women have taken it to the extreme.
"More older groups of celebrities are expressing concern about their bodies and it increases the intense obsession with thinness.
"They think that to stay young they have to be thin and if you have low self-esteem or confidence then you will be more vulnerable.
"Women are very sensitive to the images that are being given out.
"It is not just housewives, but women from all walks of life - no matter how intelligent or successful they are."
Deanne Jade, of the National Centre of Eating Disorders, said women had to learn to like themselves first before they could start improving their own appearances or lives.
She said: "We are seeing more older women who are suffering eating disorders at a time when they should be at peace with themselves.
"They are under increasing pressure to look younger and thinner. They look around and they see people like Teri Hatcher, Liz Hurley and Carol Vorderman. They could be running a multi-million-pound company, but if they don't look glamorous and thin, they feel they are lacking."
Help me here.
People want to emmulate "Desperate" lives? Those gals have miserable lives on that show. Who wants that for themselves?
"programme showing older women who are attractive and have rampant love lives "
:o)
It's the same old story -- we're told by the media and a lot of men that men only value women under 25 who are 6 feet tall and weigh 100 lbs. and have 38DD enhancements. They used to call that "Barbie Syndrome." Women with bums and thighs who can't find a thing at the Gap that will go up above their knees tend to panic and the rest is anorexia.
Sad, really. I'm aging naturally and I'd guess I'm one of the few in my office who is.
At some point, someone has to take a step back and just call a spade a spade: Some women are stupid. They have chosen to take no control over their lives and they've been this way from the start.
Every disorder has to have a cause attributed to modern day life. Why don't they just say these anorexics and bulemics are screwed in the head?
They just want to "have rampant love lives"....
I just read somewhere where the women on that show all wear sizes "in the single digits". One of the women (don't know their names 'cause I don't watch the show) they know for sure wears a "0" because they provided her clothes for a photo shoot.
I wish to God women still looked as good as they did from the 30's through the 60's. Renee Zellwigger & Hillary Skank -put them next to Barbara Stanwyck , Loretta Young,Shelly Winters, & Sophia Loren in their prime. I rest my case. And, other than the luscious Sandra Bullock & a bleak handful of others, all women in Hollywood look alike today.
"No Fat Chicks"
Four times *what*? From 2 patients to 8 patients is a "fourfold increase."
Doesn't it seem the media speeds a lot of time discussing the subject of weight. Either people are dieing from obesity or kicking off from anorexia or barfing too much with bulimia. Do you think that just maybe the media is a major participate in all these problems? They are always going on about the newest diet of the day then put out a million ads for fattening food and afterwords wring their hands over people who refuse to eat. The whole thing is insane.
Typical liberal. It is always someone else's fault. No one is ever responsible for themselves.
Could it simply be that the former anorexic and bulimic teens of a few years ago has simply gotten older?
This is a really odd statement, following several paragraphs defining precisely that...
They cut back on the meds for the kids, clean the house like a bat out of hell, and talk non stop. All while losing weight.
DH taught many women how to do this :(
What this article doesn't say, is that some of these "desperate housewife" types are taking the Ritalin (amphetamines) prescribed for their children.
Then Ritalin will soon be banned.
It's true.
I like the skinny chicks.
That's quite good. For most women the mortality rate is 100%
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.