step would be the hardest ground to start working one, since the problem of this person is rooted in distorted thinking. To "Well, because then I would be worthless and no one would like me" she would have to start considering the issues of whether her weight was connected to her self-worth. She would have to start understanding that self-worth was based on something intrinsic, not on something external. In this step and process lurks the greatest healing process, for so many of these illnesses are based on illogical thought patterns. To "Then I would be alone and would have no reason to live" she could start seeing the ridiculous nature of this underlying belief. She could write down all the friends she has that would not care less how much she weighed. She could write down how she would never be alone anyway and that being alone might not be the end of the world. This is just an example of course, and it is not to suggest that this writing process of "cognitive distortion" and "positive response" is the solution to all these serious problems. But what is important in dealing with eating disorders, and this is the point, is that the person who is suffering must be made to start thinking properly before anything else is done. Medication is not going to help a young girl who is convinced that looking like a skeleton is the only way to get men to like her, and that her life would not be worth living if men did not find her sexually attractive. Obviously these ideas and beliefs would have to be dealt with before any other approach is taken. The point here is that many young girls suffering from eating disorders are fighting something and it is connected to a distortion in...
