EATING DISORDERS and TERRI SCHIAVO

There is a BRIDGE that connects humanity. It is Universal. The Red and Blue of the USA are already connected.


This whole tragic drama over Terri Shiavo is not only exposing the stupidity and the rigid beliefs of some people, it is illuminating the horrid hypocracy and the fear which exists in our American Society.

I am not going to rehash the facts in this drama, except to point out a couple of things, which have obviously been forgotten.

1. Terri had a diagnosed Eating Disorder; Unless chemically induced, this means that Terri had trouble as a child, somewhere in her relationship with her parents, and thus, trouble with her own relationship with herself and at best, trouble with adult relationships. This means that Terri had issues that involved control and often struggled against the wishes of the loved ones observing her illness, and struggled against the internal voice that told her she would kill herself if she continued to purge, binge, over eat, and or starve herself.

I am going to jump right to the point here: Mr and Mrs Schindler have reasons to be feeling very accountable for their daughter's suicide attempt. Yes, binging and purging is akin to playing russian roulett and no different than an acoholic who knows that to continue drinking is a slow journey to death. It is suicide. And this is the clinical point. The disorder itself is a result of and combination of the defense methods employed in anxiety or depression, which start out with and then promote self loathing. The self loathing is based on a lie. And that is where the Parents bear the burden.

Nevertheless, putting aside the obvious parental malady in this drama, and the obvious power struggle that Terri has continued to be successful in maintaining, by accident, the struggle has been waged FOR HER, by proxy. Her husband and her parents have fighting over Terri and Terri has not had to be present. I do not believe that Terri has been conscious for any of it, and it is too bad, her behaviors have caused much grief for those who loved her. Yes, her parents love her, I believe... but they did not know how to be good parents. Terri, on the other hand, had choices she could make, and chose to die instead of to live. Terri pushed the envelope just a little too far, again I say, by accident most likely, but playing the game was a major statement about how she felt about life... her life. It most definitely speaks volumes about the anger she had toward her parents.


This is definitely a tragedy and one that all would benefit from examining in terms of our societal ills and conflicts.


2. Should the government be involved in our own life and death choices?? CHOICES is the operative word here. Example: If I slash my wrists open because I am hating myself, and some caring person rescues me from my own death wish, but not before I suffer a cardiac arrest from blood loss, and thus end up in a vegetative state, I would be truely furious if I had a brain left to be furious with.. On the other hand, more true to reality, is that I really didn't want to die, and was relieved someone found me, (since I could not actually make the phone call to 911 without losing face), and thus, began clinging to life in the rescue attempt. But my desire to chose to live would have been a little too late and a set up for the drama we see today.