I was over to a friends house today. His therapist has made him start a workout notebook and I asked if I could read it. He said yes. She had made him write over and over:
I am not now, have never been, and will never be happy with my body until I am not overweight.
It covered pages and pages. It is just so sad. I find it sick. What if he’s not successful, what if he only loses weight to a certain point. Does anybody else fear that she is setting him up for an eating disorder?
I next found several passages where she had told him to beware of me and the darkness that I bring (presumably because I am not trying to lose weight) and reminding him that he needs to “Carry the Light” for both of us.
If he wants to lose weight, I think that’s great. I am more than happy to support him. I recognize that not everyone is happy with their body at its current weight, I recognize that some people will see health benefits from losing weight. I do not think it’s ok to “train” someone to believe that they will get sick if they eat badly and to teach them to view people who do not want to lose weight as “darkness”.
I can’t process this right now, it’s just so…Yuck.
As a counselor, I am appalled by this! The point of counseling is to develop insight on thought patterns and emotions so as to foster stability; this does neither of these. Please tell me he no longer sees this person…