How Important is Self-Image?
by Nicol Zabak (Jun. ’02)
“Oh, what I would do for a body like that.” “If only I could be as thin as she is.” “If only… I would be able to attract guys, buy and wear the clothes I want, feel better about myself, I’d get more attention.” These are typical sayings of teenagers and adults that “want.” Some would almost go to any measure to obtain their “ideal” weight.
Victims of anorexia nervosa have an intense fear of being fat and so they restrict their food intake to the point of selfstarvation. Despite looking emaciated and weighing less than 85% of what would be expected of someone in their age group, anorexics continue to view themselves as fat.
People who suffer from bulimia nervosa are overly concerned about becoming fat, but instead of self-starvation they binge eat and then purge the food, usually by inducing vomiting or using laxatives.
Now let’s ask the question, what motivates people to develop such abnormal eating problems? The answer seems to be found in a combination of environmental, psychological, biological, and personality factors. Anorexia and bulimia are more common in industrialized cultures where beauty is equated with thinness. Anorexics are often perfectionists – high achievers who strive to live up to lofty self-standards, including distorted standards concerning an acceptably thin body. For anorexics, losing weight becomes a battle for success and control: “Me versus food, and I’m going to win.” Their perfectionism and need for control may partly stem from their upbringing. Anorexics describe their parents as disapproving and as setting abnormally high achievement standards.
A different pattern emerges for bulimics, who tend to be depressed and anxious, exhibit low impulse control, and seem to lack a stable sense of personal identity and selfsufficiency. Binging is often triggered by life stress, and guilt and self-contempt follow it. The purging may be a means of reducing depression and anxiety triggered by the binging. Depression seems to be the leader among mood disorders in people living in today’s society. Why is that? Many live in relative luxury (compared to the rest of the world). We have many accommodations through technological advances, yet we are the leading country in depression.
Of course we could “blame” it on our parents and their standards, but I wouldn’t go for that. I would have to say all this, weight problems, being depressed, and much more have to do with us and not enough trust in our faith. We are succumbing to society’s standards and not Christ’s. I believe we have switched priorities in terms of whose values we make more important. Instead of trying to become more “Christlike” and doing God’s will in our daily lives, we want to meet “society’s” standards in order to feel accepted. This places pressure on us because we compare ourselves to others. This is a no-no.
If we could stay close to Christ and keep in mind our purpose and goal of our life on this Earth, it helps place things in perspective. We won’t be overwhelmed by these radical ideas about our physical appearance and instead become more concerned with our souls and our inner worth. Society looks at the outer shell while God looks at our inner selves. He wants us to reach perfection and peace within.
When Christ comes again, He will not care who is more attractive or who has more money. I know this is redundant, but it is honestly true. After being at The University of Texas at Austin for a year, you learn the various lifestyles others choose since you’re surrounded by over 50,000 students daily. You learn that to be accepted does not mean you have to meet others’ standards nor be like anyone else. You are there because you want to be there; you want to learn in order to become competent in the field you have chosen.
Too often we look to the wrong sources for our standards. We act based on these, and in the midst of the hurt that inevitably follows, we blame those we love most for our actions. Ultimately, as in all troubling situations, we have to look within ourselves and turn to Christ for help.