On the subject in the title: Second pass at: A history of disordered eating: proceeding carefully Working notes rather than a conclusion.
Two things I would like separated before anyone answers on history of disordered eating, because they get bundled and then argued about as one thing.
The first is descriptive: what has actually been observed, by whom, and how. The second is causal: why. I am asking about the first only.
On the opening post — agreed on the reasoning, with one qualification.
The social side of this — how other people respond to visible change — comes up constantly and has nothing to do with pharmacology.
The general case is well covered; this is the awkward specific one.
Reading rather than contributing, but this is the most useful thread I have found on it.
What I would tell a new member reading about history of disordered eating for the first time: the confident posts are not the reliable ones, and the reliable ones are longer.
If you are in crisis, contact a local emergency or crisis service rather than posting. A volunteer forum cannot help and waiting costs time.
Not a conclusion. A place to stand while looking for one.
Confirming post #6 from a second method, which matters more than confirming it from a second person.
Adding a null result on history of disordered eating. I looked, carefully, and found nothing, and null results deserve posting precisely because they never are.
Taking post #6 at face value and following it one step further.
Where a member is finding this hard, the useful reply is usually a question rather than an answer, and this subcategory does that well.
The useful distinction on history of disordered eating is between what was measured and what was inferred from it. Both end up in the same sentence and only one of them has error bars.
Post #7 describes the usual case. This is about the unusual one.
Eating-disorder history is raised here regularly and is the case where guidance most consistently recommends specialist involvement.
Somebody will have a better source than mine, and I hope they post it.
Social and relationship impacts: weight change affects how others perceive and interact with a person. Those impacts are real and can be psychologically significant.
It is a small point and it changes the answer, which is an awkward combination.
Right — I had this wrong and I am glad to have read it before it mattered.
Reading back through the history of disordered eating threads from last year, the same three questions come up every time and only one of them has ever been answered properly. That seems like a documentation gap rather than a knowledge gap.
My experience of history of disordered eating contradicts the reply above. I am posting it as a data point rather than as a refutation, because one person's experience is exactly that.
Motivation and expectation: starting with clear motivation and realistic expectations about what will happen and when helps with psychological adjustment.
That is clearer than the version I had in my head. Thank you.
The arithmetic in post #19 is right; the assumption feeding it is the part to check.
Mood and anxiety: mood changes and anxiety are reported by some people. Baseline mental health status matters for risk. Someone with a history of depression should plan closer monitoring.
Answering the question post #18 raises rather than the one it answers.
Whatever the answer on history of disordered eating turns out to be, the method for getting there is the same: state the assumption, do the arithmetic in public, invite the correction.
I came in to disagree and I am leaving without a disagreement.
Reading this history of disordered eating thread as someone who came in with a fixed view: the third and seventh replies moved me and the confident ones did not.
Post #22 describes the usual case. This is about the unusual one.
History of disordered eating is a good example of a question where the honest answer is boring and the interesting answers are unsupported. I would go with boring.
Expectations set by other people's reported trajectories are a documented source of distress, and the trajectories posted are not representative.
I have written this out at length because the short version keeps being misread.
Posting my history of disordered eating numbers with the method attached so they can be discounted properly. Uncontrolled, unblinded, and collected by someone who wanted a particular answer.