Review: Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

The need to succeed and to excel in every aspect of their lives leads many women, especially in the upper classes of society, to develop the problem of anorexia or bulimia. The drive for these women to succeed is so great and what is expected of them by both their families and the society tends to affect them negatively as they try to fulfill these expectations. The mothers of these women tend to be perfectionists and are very demanding of their children setting such unreasonable goals for them to achieve that this pressure becomes overwhelming for them. The fathers of these women tend to always be busy and have not enough time to get to know their families better and are often busy. Such situations always lead young women into living a life which is not fulfilling to them and in the process; the void which has not been filled by doing what they would have loved to do is often filled by an obsession with food or the lack of it. These matters are dealt with extensively in this book as Marya Hornbacher tells the story of her personal experience when dealing with eating disorders as well as her road to regaining what can be considered as a normal life.

One of the lessons learnt from this book is the fact that anorexia and bulimia are disorders which are more prevalent in upper class families than in the working class ones. The main reason for this is most likely because of the higher expectations expected from the members of such families and their feeling of inadequacy due to the fact that they are not able to fulfill these expectations. It is therefore necessary for parents to read this book so that they can get a hint of what really goes on with their children and to also ensure that they raise their children in a considerate environment where they do not feel too pressured to succeed. Furthermore, it is imperative that parents pay close attention to their children and talk to them often so that they can gauge their mood and feelings. In this way, the psychological problems which bring about anorexia will be prevented.

Anorexia and bulimia are psychological disorders which affect a large percentage of people in the world today and it is most rampant in the United States. It is necessary for these disorders to be studied as psychological problems and this book is a chronology of experiences related to these problems. This book can be used as a guide on how the people affected by anorexia and bulimia behave as well as how to find ways of curing them from these disorders. I believe that this book is an eye opener in many matters concerning eating disorders and their causes and it can be used in generalized terms to determine how most of the people affected by these disorders can be helped to regain their self esteem. It can be argued that this book is a credible psychological book since it is based on the real life experiences of somebody who was affected by these psychological disorders and managed to pull herself out of these problems and make something out of herself. It is for this very reason that this book should be considered as a psychological book.

Reference

Hornbacher, M. (1999). Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia. New York: Harper Perennial.