- Hey everybody, happy Thursday!
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and that is my light because I am filming
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Now into today's question.
This question I've been saving for a while.
I save all of your questions that I tell you
I'm gonna do a video on in this huge document,
and then I just go through them while they wait
for their turn to be talked about.
So today's question says,
"Hey Kati, how are eating disorders suicidal behavior?
I mean if you're not severely underweight
and it's not anorexia."
Now first of all I want to address the fact that
not all eating disorders make us underweight.
And there are a lot more eating disorders
other than anorexia that can kill us.
All eating disorders are dangerous.
I'm gonna say it again.
All eating disorders are dangerous.
Do you hear me?
Loud and clear?
Okay.
So with that being said, let's move on to the
real question, which is,
"how are eating disorders suicidal behavior?"
Now, the way that I see it,
and I've talked to a lot of my clients about this,
is that eating disorders can be kind of like
a passive way to commit suicide.
Because many of my clients will have suicidal thoughts,
suicidal ideation, where they kinda have this like
loose plan, and they think about it
and it sounds really good, it's like a release.
A relief.
We're letting ourselves out, right,
'cause we can feel kinda hopeless, sad,
we can feel like nothing's ever gonna get better.
And suicide can feel like that way out.
But we won't do anything in the moment to kill ourself
because we don't actually want to die,
we just want the pain and suffering to stop.
And so we'll take actions that in a way
passively work towards suicide.
Does that make sense?
I know that that's kind of confusing,
but that's the way that I see it.
Because we're not taking direct action
to attempt suicide, or commit suicide,
we are taking action that's not good for us,
and maybe in the long run it might kill us,
but it's just because we're really unhappy
and we don't know what else to do.
And therein lies the main problem and the main thing
that I work on with my clients, is understanding
that eating disorders are a coping skill we use.
We use it because maybe we had something
really really shitty happen to us.
No one in our family talked to us about it,
we had no other means to cope with it,
no other tools in our toolbox,
and so we controlled and did the only thing
that we can do which is harm to ourselves.
Controlling ourselves.
And that sometimes leads to an eating disorder,
because we control it with food.
Some control it with exercise,
some control it with overeating, undereating,
binging, purging, self injury,
there can be a lot of things we do
to help control ourselves and our situation
so that we can better manage what we're going through.
And, bravo.
In the moment, in that time, that eating disorder
saved our ass.
Right?
Helped us get through.
Maybe it helped us numb out, maybe it helped us
focus on something else, could be a bunch of
different reasons why it helped us.
But now it's hindering us, and the coping skill
isn't serving its purpose anymore,
and it's actually doing harm,
and we need to change it.
And so I talk a lot with my clients about that,
like do you really feel like it's still
serving a purpose, what do you get from it now?
Are there other ways that we could get that
purpose served, in something that maybe's
a little healthier.
And that is the beginning conversation about recovery.
And know that even if you feel hopeless,
if you feel like you're in a deep dark shitty hole,
and there's no way out, there is.
There's a light at the end of the tunnel.
Our community's here to support.
We're here to talk to you when it's three in the morning,
you don't know who else to reach out to
or who else you can call, you have your Kinions!
That's the wonderful thing, 'cause we're around
the world, we're 24/7 here at katimorton.com.
And you can hop on and chat with people.
I will mention that my website is not a place to
manage suicide, like if you are a danger to yourself,
cannot manage it, please call a hotline, call 911,
get help in the moment with someone local who can
get to you as soon as possible and keep you safe.
But the website's a great way to get support,
get understanding, because yeah,
eating disorders are kind of suicidal behavior,
even though they're not taking direct action,
they can actually lead to a lot of medical complications.
And so if you're struggling, or know someone
who's struggling, please reach out for help,
encourage them to reach out for help.
There's a lot of people out there who really,
that's my whole job, is just to help.
To listen, to support, and to help
each and every one of you.
I hope you found this interesting.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Do you think eating disorders are suicidal behavior?
What are your thoughts?
Let's get the conversation going.
If you liked this video give it a thumbs up,
don't forget to subscribe, I put out videos
Mondays and Thursdays, and you don't wanna miss 'em.
And I will see you next time.
Bye!