This Mean Disease is a great book, written by Daniel Becker, that tells us about his life, and how he and his family suffered because of his mom’s disease. Anorexia Nervosa is the name of the disease that Daniel’s mother had suffered from. Becker says that one of his earliest and not very appealing memories of his childhood is when his mom was packing her suitcase and was getting ready for going to the hospital. At that young age, Becker was not understanding what is happening to his mom, and why is she going to the hospital.
Anorexia Nervosa occured when his mom was in her early thirties. The tragedy for his family happened in the 1960’s, and for that period of time this disease was not common, and mostly teenagers or young adults were the potential victims. Becker’s mom was constantly hospitalized, but sadly the treatments did not have any effect. The failed treatments caused Becker’s mom to fall into depression. She lived her whole life with the disease and was not able to cure the illness, and that was the cause of her death. By growing up in such a traumatic environment Becker was very depressed, and he thought that the depression was inherited from his mom.
This book is related to the course by showing what can happen to people with Anorexia Nervosa and to their families. In class, while talking about eating disorders, we have discussed the disease, and it actually happened to be the third cause of top eating disorders in the United States. We also talked about what can cause Anorexia Nervosa, and that it mostly affects young women even though there are some male patients that have the disease too.
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Anorexia Nervosa can be a result of depression, and also it can cause a depression. Patients with this disease think that they are overweight even though they are not. This disease could be named as a mental disorder because patients with Anorexia actually see themselves overweight in the mirror, and when they realize that they are not fat, sometimes it can be too late.
This book really impressed me by how simple it was to understand even though it had a really deep meaning. I knew some information about Anorexia from some tv shows that I have watched. I personally can not relate to this book because I do not know anyone with Anorexia Nervosa even though I can understand that for the author it was really hard. I think this book was lacking some specific details, but that does not make it any worse.
One thing that I was really impressed with was that the book talked straight about the topic without some pre tale. I think that Anorexia Nervosa is being neglected as a really serious eating disorder because many people are not educated about this disease, and that can lead to more patients with the disease. I believe that if in schools Anorexia was taught as a very dangerous disease and that it can lead to very bad outcomes, then we could have actually cut the number of teenagers that have the disease.
I have learned from this book that Anorexia is not only about eating or not eating food but also is about having and going through a major depression. Being in a constant depression will affect your brain and also self esteem which will not really help in curing the disease. In my opinion, there could have not been done many things to cure Anorexia back in 1960’s because the disease was new and yet to be observed. Nowadays, this disease is already observed but still does not have a specific way of curing it.
There are some therapies and medications to help patients with Anorexia to recover, but I personally think that first we really need to cure their souls and then their bodies. By that I mean there should be a reason that the patients get Anorexia. I think that everything happens for a reason, and that the disease was stimulated from something. In my opinion, you should love yourself as you are, and you do not need to change just to please others. This can be a really good way of thinking because most of the time the Anorexia Nervosa is caused in patients that want to lose some weight in order to please others around.
As long as you are healthy and there is no harm from your weight to your body, then you can be any size you want to. I think that low self-esteem is also a big cause of Anorexia, so always do whatever you want to do, not what others want you to do. Even though this books ends on a negative note, it is very educational because it teaches us a life lesson about the eating disorder and its consequences.
I did not really like the cover of the book: just a ripped painting on the floor and someone looking from inside of it, because to me it did not make sense. The book publishers could have put some picture that was more relatable to the story. The most important concept in fighting with a disease I think is to not lose your hope. It is very impressive what our minds can do, so we should use it for our own well being, not against it.
While reading this book, I asked myself a question: is Anorexia Nervosa really an eating disorder, when the cause of it is actually both psychological and physical? The physical part is trying to eat less or starve yourself in order to lose weight. The Psychological part is the thoughts about being fat that can cause the action of not eating food, and also people seeing themselves fat and feeling that way. It can be a controversial topic, but in my opinion, this disease (Anorexia) is more of a psychological disorder than an eating disorder.
I hope one day scientists will find the cure of all diseases including Anorexia. Before reading this book I do not know why, but I thought that people are faking Anorexia and that they can actually forcefully eat to regain their weight. This opinion was a wrong one because in the book, Becker’s mom really liked food and eating food but because of the illness she was not able to eat it.
In conclusion I want to say that I really enjoyed reading this book. I am thankful to Daniel Becker for sharing his personal story about his experience with Anorexia. This book helped me to realize that Anorexia Nervosa is a really bad disease that not only affects the patient but also the family members. I really hope and believe that one day we will overcome THE MEAN DISEASE CALLED ANOREXIA NERVOSA.
