Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site randvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!tektronix!hplabs!sdcrdcf!randvax!karen From: karen@randvax.UUCP (Karen Isaacson) Newsgroups: net.social Subject: Re: Anorexia & errors in self perception... Message-ID: <2523@randvax.UUCP> Date: Tue, 4-Jun-85 12:01:32 EDT Article-I.D.: randvax.2523 Posted: Tue Jun 4 12:01:32 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 11-Jun-85 02:55:10 EDT References: <147@unc.UUCP> <158@unc.UUCP> Organization: Rand Corp., Santa Monica Lines: 25 In <2521@randvax.UUCP> Ed Hall happened to say: > An extreme case of this sort of thing is Anorexia Nervosa, where > the focus on this internal self-concept is so strong that even what > a mirror shows is questioned. which brought to mind my life-long experience with mirrors. As someone who has had absolutely no success in the no control of my weight (since turning 20, I've weighed as low as 110 and as high as 240), I've had the opportunity to see myself in the mirror as pleasantly slender and substantially obese. *But that isn't what I've seen.* It isn't a matter of questioning the mirror -- when I was 110 and looked in the mirror, I saw a *fat* person. (When I now look at photographs taken of myself during that period, I see a slender person...) Now, when I look in the mirror, I see a slightly overweight person, but when I look at current photographs, I see a blimp. So --- am I an isolated crazy person, or do most people hallucinate when they look in a mirror? If I'd had more will power, I'd be anorexic (or dead...) today. -- Karen Isaacson decvax!randvax!karen karen@rand-unix.arpa