As eating disorders go unnoticed or tagged as lifestyle choices, they become solidified as such when any celebrity, such as Joaquin Phoenix drops 52 pounds in a matter of weeks for a movie role. With free will, we’ve decided to spend our time reminding anyone struggling to work through this, if triggering, that they are in control of their perception. We help them reframe instead of avoid, as triggers, especially from the media will never get easier.
Joaquin Phoenix’s Weight Loss
We believe that our patients are super powerful and capable of handling media without being controlled by it. As the latest Oscar went to Joaquin Phoenix for a movie he dropped 52 pounds for, claiming that dropping that much weight that fast made him feel mad, and disordered, we thought we’d chime in.
Any dedicated knowing weight loss that is voluntary brings up the question of the chicken or the egg. Can you develop anorexia from extreme weight loss? Is it a result of trauma? Is it because of the media pressure to be thin? Well, upsettingly it’s all of the above, and more. People have fallen into massively disordered thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that become identifying factors simply by extreme and quick weight loss.
Extreme weight loss can, and often does, affect the brain’s neural pathways, causing perception to be normalized to an unnatural weight, along with eating habits that are incompatible with life. With the pressure to lose 52 pounds, Phoenix accepted everything that Joker, the movie incurred. Did the weight loss induce disordered eating? Yes. Does he have an eating disorder from this weight loss? Possibly. Is it Joker’s fault? NO.
The knowing his transformation could cause shifts in his brain chemistry puts him in complete control of his own return to recovery. While losing that much weight over such a short amount of time can induce anorectic tendencies, we still want people to understand that the induction of any eating disorder can truly be genetic, biological, spiritual, environmental, or any combination of the above. With eating disorders there is no rhyme or reason to any of it, as it begins.
The highest rate of induction in my experience has been due to massive transition or trauma, but again, that doesn’t mean that is the end of reasons people end up struggling. The brain can change, brining eating disorder behaviors, or behaviors can change the brain.
At Ramey Nutrition, our experience of how our patients start in theieatingr eating disorders ends up with them unintentionally “falling into patterns,” with good and healthy intentions. When we are in transition or trauma, our genetic coping skills or predisposition to cope allows the genetic factor to turn on, even when previously dormant. The reason we pay minimal attention to avoiding environmental factor is because they are an ever growing trigger, one in which we believe our patients can surmount. So what do we do with this movie? Choices are infinite in this example.
- We can avoid it, which we would recommend, not if you’re triggered by skinny people, but if you’re just not into DC comics.
- We can watch it, and glean meaning beyond his body.
- We can really look at his body. Feel what happens to our own psyche, write about it for 10 minutes, read our writing, and discern how it helps you recover more than if you had never seen it.
For more information on how to get control of your eating disorder, please call or text us at (206) 910-8690 or register here for a FREE Assessment today!