Will Melissa overcome her anorexia?

When Melissa DeHart was 17 she began dieting. What started as an innocent diet eventually turned into a death wish. Now she�s 28 and weighs only 58 pounds and is about to start a journey that may be her last chance at recovery. DeHart leaves today for a six-month stay at the Westwind Eating Disorder and Recovery Center in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.

stacks.msnbc.com...



They feature her daily on ET. I'd like to think she'll make a recovery but she's had the disease for so long.

Jumpin' Jesus H. Christ!

Geeze! The poor girl! The picture gives me the willies!

i hope so,she looks worse than a holocaust victim[no offense]


[Edited on 11-15-2003 by sirCyco]

jesus,
I would date her, but she would have to gain a 100 pounds.

wow.
I'm gonna send that chick some krispy kremes UPS.

Damn!!!

I am surprised Calvin Klein hasn't offered her a modelling contract.

If she overcomes anorexia as severe and long standing as this, and doesn't die a few years later from the damage she has done to her body, it will be a miracle.

Eating disorders are incredibly hard to beat even in their milder forms, as unlike drug/alcohol misuse the substance in question cannot be eliminated sucessfully from the sufferers life.

I know I'll come off as insensitive here....but I just don't get it....(likely because I love food).

Doesn't she have mirrors in her house? Can't she see that she's a walking skeleton? I saw an interview with her just a few days ago, and to me, it doesn't seem that she wants to get over this, and that is what is dooming her (i.e. her refusal to go to another center, etc.). Sad as it is...she's doomed herself...

Then again, I'm not one to consider addictions (including addictive behaviors) a "disease" because they've brought it on themselves... Even personal involvement with obesity being treated as a "disease"... It isn't....but there are medical factors that can lead to it. For example, my fiance' would constantly gain weight, even though she'd eat far less, and far less often than me...so obviously, it wasn't what she ate, or how much, it was how her body was storing fat...until it took surgery to make her healthy, and on the road to being fit...

All this woman needs to do is start eating food, and quit sticking her finger down her throat....hardly seems like a "disease" to me....then again, I will profess ignorance at not having a personal experience or friend with it...

Yeah i think its fairly rediculous to consider any type of addiction a disease,i think it is a major psychological disorder which can be equal or worse than a disease.

Im not aware of too many people who have a debilitating disease who refuse to get treatment...on the other hand many people with serious psychological problems fail to see the problem or are to messed up to do what is best for themselves.

Gazrok 8 months before I became anorexic at 17 I didn't 'get it' either. Funny how things turn around when you've fallen into a big hole. It becomes an addiction over time (I agree its not technically a medical disease although zinc deficiently apparently contributes). Not everyone who is unhappy with their body or goes on a diet will go onto develop an eating disorder - it is about FAR more than weight and food. Issues like self confidence, control, dealing with emotions and inner conflict.

She probably knows how terrible she looks - its a bit of a myth that a 60lb woman looks in the mirror and sees someone who weighes 160lb - but anorexia is a big wall against things the sufferer can't deal with, and the idea of starting to recover and watching that wall tumble down is terrifying.