I used to absolutely idolise effy and Cassie when I was a teenager, and when I was hospitalised due to my ED and severe depression, there was a massive part of me that was thrilled because I was like them. For a while, I couldn’t watch Skins because I thought it was a bad influence, however now looking back I can see that I was drawn to those characters because I was already so ill, rather than the show making me ill. It’s a brilliant show for bringing these issues to light in a way that doesn’t romanticise them too much. might rewatch now!
I luckily was alright to watch it, and definitely noticed they showed the bad sides. I could really empathize with Cassie and Effy. And it was just interesting seeing all these different lives
i started watching it BECAUSE i knew there were characters with mental health issues and, sadly, they are super glorified on social media, even if the show itself doesn't do it necessarily. i watched like three episodes and stopped lol
@@hannalowercase5928 Yeah,i hate how people "fall for those characters" not bc they care what they go through but bc they are "pretty" and they romanticise suffering,which is so disrespectful to me and you and others who actually suffer,my friend is gone now bc of alcohol and drug mixing, skins uk reminds me of her and soundtrack Hope u r doin well.
I remember how slow my brain was when I had anorexia . It was like fog constantly , or that I was a spectator to myself but not really present 🧐it’s hard to describe but cassie is a really great portrayal of anorexia
Cassie's treatment seems piss poor but I think, considering Skins is an older show, it's not necessarily incorrect. Evanna Lynch talks about her ED treatment on Scroobius Pip's podcast (and also in her book but I haven't read it). A lot of her treatment was based on eating and getting her to eat and essentially just treating symptoms. She eventually began to recover when she started seeing a therapist who looked at the cause of her behaviours around food rather than just her behaviours themselves. Maybe that's the norm now but when she was treated, around 10 years ago, it apparently wasn't.
Yeah I think it also just depends on the location and some facilities are much better than others. I live in the Netherlands and when I went to a psychiatrist she was exactly like this woman in the clip; she was cold and I didn't feel she was interested in me or cared even 1%. Many people with mental health issues already feel insecure and I think I was more preoccupied with being a good patient not a nuesance than actually getting the help I needed. Looking back it makes me feel really sad...
I lost a male cousin to anorexia. He started during an abusive relationship to regain control in his life. It's created a hole in the family that is still painful several decades later.
I had my stomach pumped when I was 19 after overdosing on sleeping pills and alcohol. The ER doctor had a completely cold, uncaring attitude. I understood him yelling for me to swallow the tube when it was making me gag, but after he said "I hope it was worth the attention you got." I spent four days in a psychiatric hospital afterward, where I was diagnosed with acute stress syndrome from violent SA. I ended up with complex PTSD from that and childhood abuse. Those days in that psych ward and the way that doctor treated me were so horrible that I refused to get help for years, and ended up in a psych ward again years later with catatonic depression. I've now been diagnosed bipolar 1, but I'm treatment resistant. I've tried over 20 medications, multiple therapy modalities, PHP, IOP, ECT, and TMS. I have a vagus nerve stimulator implant as part of a study, but I am pretty sure I'm in the control group and it isn't on yet. I don't know if I'll make it through the year til they turn it on, and I don't really believe it will help anyway. Nothing else has, and now my physical health is trashed too. Sorry for the life story in your comments, just hearing about the stomach pumping brought it all up. I want to thank you for your content, these analyses are a special interest of mine and help me relate and process. I'm autistic/FASD/ADHD and have some trouble coming up with big pictures myself.
I'm with you on parts of your suffering, and hope you find long term relief soon. The cessation (even temporarily) of emotional pain, strife and depression is its own pleasure (of course)! I find it nearly impossible to trust almost anyone in the medical profession after all the experiences of neglect, inattention, personal suffering, misdiagnosis, corruption and over pricing & everything revolving around insurance & money instead of diagnosing and treating my illnesses. Of course, I'm depressed so I tend to suspect even my own conclusions ;)
@@lucar9873 oh wow :( I'm surprised microdosing psil didn't help. have you tried ket infusions, then, too? I'm sorry if I misread. I'm so sorry you haven't found anything worthwhile.. I wish I had more suggestions :(
The portrayal of a psychiatrist whose main concern is ticking boxes is actually still really prevalent in the United States. Here, our psychiatric visits tend to be very short and primarily focused on medication.
Not my psychiatrist, he’s so caring and makes sure I know I can email him with questions and such. Although, yes, there definitely is a huge time crunch and appt are really short. I can tell it stresses him out a ton, but it isn’t up to him it seems. I’ve asked.
Cassie made me feel very represented. Other shows with girls with EDs and other persistent mental health issue (depression, anxiety, etc), their issues were solved within a few episode for it to never be brought up again or it only being brought up once as a thing of the past. Emma from Degrassi is in the for front of my mind.
The facility I was in for my ED was a hotel before becoming a psychiatric facility, so it was really nice. One of our group therapy sessions was mixed like Cassie's but we were mostly kept separate.
6:37 EVERY psychiatrist i know does this. *psychologists* and therapists that i’ve met rarely do this, but every psychiatrist i’ve seen (which is a decent amount) say hello, ask about my mood, check if i’m manic or depressive, check boxes, write refills, and send me on my way. each appointment usually takes 5-10 minutes. which sucks, since i have to drive an hour to get there.
granted, i’m american. bigger country with a shittier health system (not that i’m saying the NHS is any sort of paradise). and it could also just be that i’ve had my fair share of crap psychiatrists.
@@carterspang5477there are def some really good ones here too. mine was amazing, just gotta keep trying til you find the right one. funny enough, i had a horrible experience with therapy as a kid (and it was court ordered too, so couldn’t leave) and now im scared to get help
While I adored Skins, it was really bad for my already shitty mental health and I didn’t realize that as a teenager. I used to put Cassie’s episode on repeat for encouragement and just walk around my apartment to burn calories. I would be interested to rewatch the series now that I’m stable and see what I think of it now.
I haven't seen Skins in forever. Season 1 was definitely the best. I'd forgotten what accurate representation it had of eating disorders. I struggle with an eating disorder roller-coaster. The aspect of control eating disorders bring is really intense. I developed epilepsy when I was young, and my medication made me gain a lot of weight. I felt like the one thing I could control in my life was eating. After being hospitalized, I was able to have a less unhealthy relationship with food for some years, but I started really gaining weight thanks to my degenerative neuromuscular disease. It doesn't help when you start from a place of obesity and people constantly tell you how you look so much better. They don't see what's going on behind the scenes, they just see the result. Any time I try to lose weight my brain just goes, "Starving yourself is easier and faster." I'd get down to a better weight, then my brain would say it's okay to eat more than 300 calories a day. Of course, all the weight would come back. I've decided that until I get to a healthier mental health situation, I'm not even going to attempt losing weight. It won't be healthy and it won't last.
Man skins is so nostalgic for me too! It really was an intense experience watching it for the first time as a teenager. Will you do more reactions to this show? I feel like there are tons of mental health topics throughout even just the first couple seasons
I work in an NHS children's hospital and we do actually occasionally have a man come in and play harp. 😂 But yes, definitely not the norm in most places.
In my experience, preoccupation with food can also be constantly critiquing what others are eating and telling them how they need to eat in a pretty intrusive way. As someone who was on the receiving end of that, it can make it difficult to spot any signs that something may be wrong because of how upset you are with the other person who is in need of help.
Thank you for mentioning Refeeding Syndrome. I’ve never seen a psychiatrist talk about such physiological issues as Refeeding Syndrome, but it’s really important for people to know about (especially if they’re health professionals who treat patients with EDs in hospitals: Refeeding Syndrome is so dangerous and must be treated quickly and appropriately). Fear of Refeeding Syndrome is actually what drove me to choose recovery for my own ED (and then get professional help [i.e. a treatment team] when “all-in” wasn’t working). I wanted to control my treatment options, and if my family found out about my ED and forced me to inpatient against my will because they thought that was best for me*, even though I didn’t think I was emaciated enough to need inpatient, then I wouldn’t have control. Although, I think my underlying fear was of dying. And also of becoming a stat...I didn’t want to add to the statistics of deaths from AN. Anyway, that’s all a side tangent. I feel like Refeeding Syndrome isn’t much talked about, when it comes to treatment for restrictive EDs, so I’m really glad that you brought it up! *my dad is a GP and my parents are generally overprotective of me. From a physiological medical standpoint, I assumed my dad would take the lead on involuntarily admitting me to hospital, seeing how malnourished I was
The part about not eating being a symptom is very important- when I didn’t eat it actually had nothing to do with being skinny, I was crying out for help that I wasn’t getting at home or from other people around me. Luckily I never got too sick, at least as far as the eating disorder but it did end up damaging my relationship with food and with my body because losing weight and being sick was my proof to the world that I needed help and that the people that dismissed me when I asked for it were wrong, not me. Being skinny wasn’t about being pretty, it was about being noticed and feeling validated in my pain. People could have sat with me at the table and made sure I finished my dinner or sent me to the hospital if I continued to get worse, but what I needed was for someone to acknowledge the thing that was making me starve myself. I needed someone to get me out of my home situation, I needed to be told “you are not making this up, you are trying your hardest” and yes, I needed to eat, but not eating was very much a symptom of the illness, not the illness itself.
It'd be really interesting to see you analyse Effy in season 4 and the unusual treatment she got and how it made it worse. Thanks for teaching us :) Love your vids Dr. Elliot!
Dr. Carthy! I just wanted to thank you! I've been struggling with depression and anxiety for years now. I was in a very dark place, but didn't dare to ask for help, or felt like I am not worthy of it, thinking maybe the world would be better without me. Your videos made me realise I'm not alone, and there might be a way out of this. I asked for medical help, I spent 2 weeks in the psych ward, and learned a lot about myself. I just been released a few days ago, and I know I have a long way to go. However I feel like with the help of my doctors and family I can start taking my first steps out of the dark place I spent such a long time lingering.
I'm so glad you touched on the permeability of ED diagnoses. I've been diagnosed with both anorexia and bulimia, and it is SO WEIRD how what feels like essentially the same disorder, are treated so differently by people. I feel like more restrictive ED features get romanticized almost whereas there was so much more shame around bulimic symptoms. Like in my head, it all just felt like one disorder, but people treated me so differently depending on what exactly my diagnosis was. It was just really weird. Also being a trans man with a "girl's problem" made treatment weird at times, too. 🤷♂️
All I could think of throughout this was "please do My Mad Fat Diary too!" The therapist in it is certainly more human than this lady :) (Would love it as a full series react)
I was just about to comment this! It's such a good show and I feel like it portrays people with mental illnesses very respectfully, compared to most shows out there!
The mental care of the past was more effective though. Literally. Modern psychology and psychiatric workers are beyond useless, they are actively enforcing and supporting mental illness.. That's the reason I quit my psychology major. I've never felt so defeated and depressed by what I was passionate about. The entire fkn system and the mental help institutions are utter GARBAGE. They resemble now a school more than a medical field with cool kids clubs. We are culturally decaying and the institutions make things WORSE, as they make everything cool and hip. Like wtf No wonder teenagers and young adults feel like they have mental illnesses and turn them into a personality. They say that more than 50% of people have some kind of mental illness, depression, anxiety or whatever. A cold doctor will treat you as a patient that has a problem that needs to be fixed. Your modern clinicians will treat you like a teddy bear that needs cuddles and it's not your fault, it's the world that doesn't accept you and your delusions. You should chase your delusions and accept them, then force everyone else to accept them too. The whole "gender" shitshow is spilling over into everything in the psychology field. They call it "affirming care". They will bomb you with wired questions when you are just a child and don't understand anything to confuse you. Once you are nice and confused, they will give you a solution: "you are not actually a boy. You are girl inside. That's why you sad after your dog died. Don't tell your parents about this, hide it. I will write a letter and we will secretely start you on hormone treatment and once you are a bit older, we will butcher your body and have you on heavy, expensive medications for the next 40 years old of your life up to 45years old, while you are constantly going back to the hospital due to massive complications", they say to a 5 year old that was sad because the dog died. Then they keep going "you don't have a problem. It's the world that doesn't see you as pretty. You are healthy at 40kg with bulimia and you are healthy at 200kg as you are addicted to food. But you are pretty and you are healthy". Meanwhile obesity is skyrocketing alongside depression and suicide, especially among the tons of transexuals that were groomed from when they were children, because one day a 3 year old boy picked up a pink teddy bear instead of a car. Most of the times we can fix most problems by fixing a parent or the modern psychiatrist. The psychiatrist is not there to be your friend. It's not there to make you feel good. The goal is to try and fix a problem, not make the problem a part of your identity. And that is exactly what modern health workers do. Aside from pushing their own ideologies down the throat of mentally vulnerable people. We need to make psychology scientific again. You don't need to be friends with a patient that you have on your operating table as a surgeon. On the contrary, having a connection with a person as a doctor is BAD and leads to a wrong diagnosis. I've seen that first hand as i had to diagnose myself as my doctor thought she knew me and she downplayed some symptoms. "don't worry, it's just some anxiety. You don't have an actual problem". Yeah, my ass. Turns out i had a deficiency in potassium or magnesium (tip: same sex doctors are the way to go. Make if you are male and female if you are female. My female doctor SUCKS. She doesn't understand the male psyche or body. Always thinking male problems are tied to mental health like with women). And i won't even go about how female psychiatrists are even worse, which sadly is the vast majority. That's why the field went to shit in theast 30 years, as more women started outnumbering the make doctors and turned the institution into a goddamn joke. Just like how female teachers ruined school since they started running them, turning school up to high school completely centered around girls. There's a reason bulimia is a female problem and depression/suicide is a male problem. We are completely different. Yet most psychiatrists are female, coming fresh from university taught mostly by women and they have NO IDEA how the male brain works.
It's really interesting to hear about the potential pathologies, thoughts, and feelings behind the symptoms of anorexia. Usually it seems that it's only thought about in terms of its symptoms as if that's the whole of it, as opposed to what's driving it. I really don't know much about eating disorders, so thanks for this great video that sheds some interesting light! On another note, many years ago I actually did go to a psychiatrist once who was super cold and literally took out a DSM IV and just went by and ticked boxes. My mother was a social worker so we had the DSM at home and I was thinking "Um, I have a DSM and I can tick boxes too...why am I seeing you exactly?" He then took a call during our session from a patient, and it sounded like she was in distress from being dependent on benzos (that was my guess) and was in withdrawal...and his attitude was basically "stop calling me, I'm not going to write you another prescription" and hung up. Zero empathy. I felt so bad for that poor person on the other end of that call. Needless to say I saw him precisely once and never went back.
There are terrible professionals in every field... unfortunately we find this people in mental health care when we try to seek help sometimes. About EDs motivations: I once heard some anorexic girls are trying to recover a lost childhood, and somehow deeply feel like they don't want to grow up so part of trying to be skinny has to do with that. Some are trying to be socially accepted and in a movie I watched it seemed to be something related with mother neglect and the wish to be taken care by the mother. In Cassie's case it seems to me to be in a way a cry for attention, specially because those notes start showing up telling her to eat, because this is part of her fantasy, that someone will take care of her/ is secretly paying attention to the fact that she's hurting herself that way and it seems like a reproduction of the lack of affection of her parents. Food is often related to affection, so for her she wouldn't eat to represent the affection she doesn't receive, but she actually wishes to. She wishes to eat and to receive affection. There are a few cases of anorexia related to sexual abuse as child, but I don't know much about it. I think bulimia is more related to the idea of guilt or having to keep up with feelings or realities (or maybe even a toxic type of affection or violence) that you can't deal with so you wouldn't feel like you really need to put all that out. You can stay with all that inside of you. Or maybe you'd feel like you don't actually deserve to eat, that could serve for either anorexia or bulimia. In my case, I have eating compulsion. I always felt like I wanted my mothers love but she would always suddenly cut me off emotionally out of no where, for no reason. And it made me feel unstable about affection, so I felt like each time I had an opportunity, I should desperately take all that I could. I did the same with food. Specially when she was not emotionally available. So I would eat desperately as if I would never have food again, because I wanted affection and I felt like I was about to lose it anytime. Now I'm medicated, but like for other reasons, but it ends up my compulsion is way lighter.
I'm really sorry that happened to you. I think there needs to be a way to report this kind of thing, something more than just a bad Google review. I think doctors need to be evaluated too, for their own mental health and their patients but to my knowledge there's nothing like that required.
It's kinda creepy and good at the same time when he knew to say "It makes you hungry" before character said it. Did he actually know the next line or actually KNEW the patients reaction? (And did tv show actually got the psychology right?)
He might have subconsciously remembered the line from the show, as he mentions watching Skins when he was younger. I know when I've rewatched Skins I've remembered a lot of the dialogue even though I hadn't seen it in many years. It was one of those HUGE shows in the UK that a lot of teens loved and talked about at school as it was airing, I can't really think of anything comparable in terms of cultural impact, at least during my teens. It's also very possible that he just knew the reason an ED patient would have that reaction. Could be both!
You're very right on how the media portrays anorexia and bulimia as separate disorders, when in fact they have a lot of overlap. This was actually something I didn't realize until I developed an eating disorder (EDNOS/atypical anorexia) and was in contact with a lot of other people with eating disorders online (not through pro-ana, through a legitimate support forum) and in treatment. I thought anorexia was just restricting and nothing else, and I never intended to binge or purge but I ended up doing so. Eating disorders actually fall into many categories. The one restrictive eating disorder that I've observed most commonly from my own experience is a combination of anorexic and bulimic behaviors to some extent, for me it was primarily anorexic behaviors but the bulimia sometimes came up as a reaction to restriction. There are actually very few anorexics who just restrict the whole course of their illness and never binge or purge. The vast majority either have the binge-purge subtype or will eventually switch between the restrictive subtype and the binge-purge subtype if they were originally just restricting. Also, unfortunately anorexia is still diagnosed based on weight (so even someone with pure bulimia who was underweight would be diagnosed with anorexia, but someone who was a normal weight and was just restricting wouldn't), but there are a lot of people who are not underweight with restrictive eating disorders who either lose weight due to restricting or maintain weight due to restricting and binging/purging. In fact, only 6% of people with eating disorders are clinically underweight according to ANAD. Then there's people with overeating disorders which would be the bulimia/BED category (like the two subtypes of anorexia, people switch between bulimia and BED a lot), for them their main "drug of choice" is binging and/or purging and any restricting is just a necessity. For the aforementioned restrictive eating disordered people, it's the opposite. I know I'm probably oversimplifying things and I am not a doctor or expert by any stretch, but I just wanted to put in my 2 cents.
I did not know that show, but having severe ED (starting with anorexia when I was 15) I was alomost waiting for you to make some content on that. And I can't tell you how much it touched me to hear you say that "the not eating is a symptom". It is so really really PAINFUL and exhausting how most of my family members (and people in general) just don't get that, not then when it started and still not now 20 years later. I also have depressions, anxiety issues and personality disorder... still they think (and say) "just eat normally and all will be just fine". My ED has changed, but I still can't overcome it. Besides, looking back I was depressed, self-hurting and a lot was just wrong long before I started a diet (that sort of never ended), but my problems were only faced when a teacher forced made me go to the shool psychological service due to seeing me get thinner and generally worse. I've been hsopitalized a few times in several psychosomatic hospitals and psychiatric units, and all used group therapy's as well. Totally can relate to that, having patients with completely different issues in one group. Concerning all the different psychiatrists and/or nursing auxiliaries I've seen over the years, I can only say there are really good and empathetic ones, but also ... others. I really got the feeling that in some mixed units, eating disorder patients were especially annoying to some staff members. Too many incidents to go into details... Anyway, the earlier times all that need for control and calories counting etc. was exhausting. But yeah, at the same time it was less terrifying then the rest of my life I guess, and gave me (the feeling) of control, to have found one single thing that I won't let them take away from me (like all the rest of "me"). As I said, it is different now, just has become "normal" to me. I'm glad you mentioned the certain fluidity within eating disorders, mentioning Bulimia too. But just as non-eating, throwing up in itself is just a symptom. It can happen in Anorexia as well. More and more misunderstandings to face 😒 But I'm already really damaged, in so many ways. My body too, to a point a recently got reclassed into temporary invalidity. That's why just to all of you who know how it feels like, I whish you the strength to find the way out of ED before it is too late. Even if (just like me back then) you might just not be able to really "believe" that the ED is not the solution. But If I only manage to make a single one doubt for only a moment, this would already be better than nothing. And to those who managed to overcome it, you can be SO PROUD of you. You won a terribly difficult and hard war 👍
I have to say one thing... the scene with Cassie messing with the food taught me, a back-then active anorexia patient, how to make others think I have eaten at all.
I'd love to know what you think of the anorexia representation in Red Band Society. It and skins were my main intro to understanding what anorexia was actually like, rather than just what it was
Just wanted to say, thank you for making videos! I have my first appointment with a psychologist in a week, and I was honestly really worried about opening up to a complete stranger. But binging your content has changed my whole view on what psychiatry can be! Your videos are an amazing resource, and now I can’t wait to start getting better!
i’m honestly resentful of the treatment i received when i was a young teenager. i gained weight back and was technically healthy but after i finished doing therapy i didn’t receive any help with the mental side of it and i still struggle with that
wanted to mentioned the therapist/psychiatrist cassie had is pretty much every therapist i’ve ever had evaluate me or “help” they ranged from ditzy to callous to borderline psychotic and my personal favorite the gaslighting narcissistic who was under qualified. that’s been my only experience.
Ok so first of all, I’ve sealed with many psychiatrists and they were (almost all of them) like the one he talks about at 6:31 . My current psychiatrist does it. It is still extremely prevalent in my country, I’m lucky enough to even have access to medical treatment, and that is what it looks like.
I'm pretty sure she had a substance order to help deal with her eating disorder and depression/anxiety that came before and or after she developed the ED. She wants control because other things in her life are out of control.
I've had a psychiatrist write me a prescription for antidepressants, schedule another appointment for a months time and fill out a form for me to sign within 8 minutes of meeting me. I literally sat down said "Hi, I'm ___." The second appointment I was supposed to have with him never happened. I never saw that doctor again because I was referred to a different doctor because the medication he prescribed to me, I was allergic to. I almost died because he was "too busy" to check my file.
Another film I watched recently covers anorexia really well, as well as the effect it has on family. It's called "To The Bone". I would recommend Dr. Elliot review it.
I've had refeeding syndrome. The NHS has poor services for eating disorders. I now live in and out of general hospital getting electrolyte infusions and have done for years. Ive been told I can't have a dietician as im "complex". It feels like I've been left to die tbh. Eating disorder services say they cant see me as my physical health has declined to an extent that i have other comorbidities. What is sad is that I couldnt access services before despite trying and when I did I was told I wasnt sick enough
I watched Skins when I was younger and hyper identified with Cassie in a lot of ways when I was at the height of my own eating disorder. And overall, I really enjoyed this video, as I enjoy most of your content. But there were two points I just had to bring up: 1) I can't believe that you didn't discuss how physically dangerous it is to drink a ton of water before a weigh-in. Like, this is one of the more dangerous eating disorder behaviors, and people watching this video could come away just thinking it's a trick to make yourself feel full (which, of course, it can be, but in the context of that scene it most likely was not) 2) When I was in in-patient programs, I *absolutely* had experiences like the psychiatrist depiction here. The therapists were generally fantastic, the nutritionists and dieticians were mostly great, but the psychiatry and patient intake/discharge meetings were often horrendously cold, callous, and dehumanizing. Nothing against psychiatry in general, obviously its super important, but the bedside manner between the average non-psychiatrist psychotherapist and the average psychiatrist is VASTLY different in my experience
I also assume that the person checking the discharge order is not the same person Cassie would have been working with, most likely the assessment is informed by her direct therapist.. So she really would have no connection to Cassie
I fell into disordered (restrictive) eating when I was in college and it was really scary. It gave me the appearance of being in control when actually I was losing more and more control (over my eating and my life, really).
I'd love to see your take on Centaurworld, especially Season 1 Episode 8. The entire show is a really great kid-friendly exploration of loss, trauma, friendship and found family, but S1 E8 is an allegory for a suicide attempt, and friends talking you back from the edge.
Regarding the guy in therapy who mentioned voices, I interpreted said voices less as actual voices that he is hallucinating and more like self-talk or what he imagines other ppl are thinking. More social anxiety, less schizophrenia.
I have actually seen psychiatrists like the one shown there (circa 2017-2020). One issue in my experience is that you never see the same psychiatrist twice, so there is no emotional connection there (whereas you usually have some continuity with therapists). I’ve seen some other psychiatrists who have been kind, but the empathy was quite generalised because we didn’t really know each other. It could also be depicted that way because there’s such a high rate of burnout amongst eating disorder professionals, which can sometimes lead to professionals in that area emotionally disconnecting before they walk away from the job. I think that’s partly why so many people with eating disorders have had bad experiences.
If you're totally obsessed with all that stuff and just knew everything he was talking about but still appreciated his deep non- superficional knowledge!! I loved the video 🖤
I had some problems with food. Still do. Nothing too severe though. I know a few people who've had really intense problems. It's been terrible for them, and I can often see them having to mentally prep for meals. It must be a huge struggle to manage a condition that's so central to something you have to have to survive. When I was at my most problematic, I had dropped 2 1/2 stone. Everyone was telling me I looked good. Suddenly I was "acceptable" in the very small gay scene in my small and isolated corner of England, whereas I was too goofy, and my average size too big before then. I was irritable, angry, and exhausted, but somehow that seemed better than eating a but more. One of my close friends told me I was acting like an arsehole and my actual, non-shallow friends were starting to not want to spend time with me as I'd swing from really upbeat hunger highs to crash out depression to being annoyed with everything. I thought about a friend at the time who was really sick and struggling, and whose parents were having to move back from the Netherlands to try to support her. I knew that if I got that bad that I would feel like I would never have the strength to recover. I also thought about my poor mum who had finally retired and was happy. I kinda got a couple of bossy friends to make me eat and I made an appointment (under some duress) with my GP. I still have a not great relationship with food (I tend to overeat), but I'm a much, much happier man now.
Wow, I knew that electrolytes could get unbalanced and potentially cause heart problems, but i had no idea that could be to do with anything called refeeding syndrome or to do with insulin! Huh! Kind of surprised to learn this-- thought I'd learn everything there was to know about AN/restrictive EDs when I was recovering myself, but goes to show there is always more to learn. Love the reaction videos on this channel as you always learn something, and Elliot seems seems so friendly
The Psychiatrist's attitude is still very prevalent and I've had at least one run in exactly like this. Though admittedly I find the older the Psychiatrist and the higher case load the more common Also my time spent in hospital there were many "one size fits all" groups. These usually were very open about there "one size fits all" approach and usually named things such as "wellness" or "dealing with negative thoughts" etc. Very generic
I'm a guy and I struggle with and eating disorder. It's been difficult to manage especially when not having support. It's hard to find treatment. There are days I find myself wanting to just break down and cry because it consume me. Around this time last year I was at my lowest. It's hard to look back at it. My behaviors are still there. Just not as severe.
This is definitely how a LOT of psychiatrists behave, unfortunately, to this day, in other countries. In Saudi Arabia, mental illness is still very stigmatized and very little CBT happens, mostly ticking boxes and pushing pills, unfortunately. The psychiatric hospitals here are still very much "insane asylums" of old, depressing, dark, dingy, everyone looks like they're messy and neglected, it's scary. It looks like a prison. They do have some greenery outside, but...
The part about the group therapy reminds me a bit of my first anxiety group. Obviously it wasn’t as insanely mismatched as here I was just so misplaced there because everyone else could connect and seemed to have social anxiety while I had agoraphobia specifically but that didn’t get diagnoses until maybe 4-5 years later. The psychiatrist has spoken to me for an hour, said I had anxiety and sent me to a group. The group was nice but the issues people had I could rarely relate to and the help and advice we got also rarely benefitted me. Years later I got a proper diagnosis, great mental health workers and all that good stuff 🙂
Hoping someday that you do an analysis of Dr. Elliot on Scrubs. I thought she had narcissistic traits but wasn't a narcissist, just entitled and oblivious. She also hurt people quite a bit even tho she had empathy and felt pain herself. I always wondered if it was bad writing, or the tug of a "hollywood happy ending", or something else.
Honestly skins was my life growing up unfortunately it really does draw a lot of parallels between fiction and real life as a teenager in the 90s to 2017. In a weird way it actually helped me realise I needed help watching characters like Cassie and Effy
any psychiatrist you know don't do this because you are not their patient one on one. Every 15 psychiatrists I went to in my life were like this. Wake up.
Can you talk some more about binge eating disorder without the purging element. I find that people who overeat and can't help themselves are constantly overlooked in the eating disorders conversation. I'd love to know more about how theoretically the health services should be able to help because I've attended things like Addictive Eaters Anonymous and found them completely unhelpful since no one there had the issue I did.
I recently got diagnosed with ADHD hyperactive/impulsive type, which was a huge surprise to me, because I’m an introvert, and actually pay attention really well, I was just really impulsive I guess (my attentiveness score was better than the average person though which was interesting), but before starting ADHD meds, I was constantly thinking about food, and what I was going to eat next, and had even tried to be anorexic, but just couldn’t. I just would eat and beat myself up about that I couldn’t even be good at being anorexic, let alone just eating normal and healthy. Now that I’m on ADHD meds though, I don’t think about food that much anymore (and sometimes actually get so involved in what I need to get done that I forget to eat), and it’s so freeing. Anyway TMI, my point is that I also really do wish people would address that obsessive preoccupation with food and not just anorexia or bulemia. I want to understand more about why I am so food centered, when I am my “regular self” and not taking my ADHD meds. Why is food such a bigger deal for some than others?
i know nothing about this specific support group, but i know there's one called overeaters anonymous, it might be more beneficial/specific to what you're saying?
I can't talk about England's mental health system, but in Latin America there actually many psychiatrists like that, very much uninterest in anything other than giving a diagnose, prescribe some pills and get their money. They're quite expensive too. A lot like other doctors, too. I have two or three friends who have been misdiagnosed because of doctors like that, and even the best professionals I've known are guilty of at least some of these behaviors So while I understand that we gotta take clear the mental health professional's image so more people reach out for help (and Skins did like to beat them up, just look at season 4), I also think we gotta aknowledge the problems that do exist. I mean, yeah, I hope over there this is actually just a satire by now, but I grew up with Skins to here in Mexico, and this was not so inaccurate to my experience, so yeah
Hi Dr Elliott! Question. Do you know if sometimes there's an association between anorexia and the fear for young teen girls to grow up and becoming a woman?
For me I think there definitely was. I particularly struggle with getting my period back (I was literally hysterical when it happened) and having breasts/“curves” gives me major body dysmorphia. I also have a massive aversion towards ever getting pregnant or having children. I know I’m just one person but I have a long history of anorexia so I hope this can go some way in answering your question.
I'm not anorexic, but I do have an eating disorder and body dysmorphia. I discovered in my twenties that I am trans, and a lot of it is actually gender dysphoria, and when I gain weight it accentuates the more feminine shape of my body.
@@lucar9873 I hear you. I have a good friend who had an eating disorder and who is also trans. Have you started transitioning? Did your eating disorder got better? 💙🤍💓🤍💙
@@abbyhuntley3171 Thanks! Hope things are better for you now. I know a teen girl (she's my friend's daughter) and she has anorexia. I know a lot of changes happened in her life (moving out of her childhood home, being far from her grandparents and aunties, 2 new baby sisters, the struggles of realizing she's queer) around the same time she hit puberty. I was wondering if the two might be linked.
@@anne12876 no, I have a lot of complex health issues that are taking priority. I am starting with a nutritionist counselor tomorrow for help with my eating disorder. I have ARFID with a binge eating component, made more difficult by gastroparesis that has me using a feeding tube and MCAS that causes lots of reactions to foods. I don't know if I'll ever be able to go on hormones.
Organize, never eat, loving food, not eating it, looking it/touching it/smelling, but never eat it. that's how i was, i could also be very ditzy and empty headed, idk how to explain it. healed now and can eat everything again withoout guilt
Also RE the voluntarily you arent actually allowed out. I have agreed to go inpatient and been told if I even walked to the front of hospital for a coffee I'd be discharged. Ive never felt free to make choices or allowed to
When do you find time to research, prepare and record all these videos considering that you probably have long shifts at your health center? I am amazed!
Even though psychiatrists/doctors are not trained to and more often don't just "check boxes in the DSM," the sort of cynical view that media often has of mental health care stems from the fact that cynicism, paranoia and distrust are such a common symptoms of severe mental illness, at least in my opinion.
Hi Dr. Eliott Carthy, Great analysing videos. I wonder if you can you do a analysis on Effy Stonems (Skins) therapist John Foster, in season 4, episode 7 and 8, and also a video on your analysis of Effy's mental state. Best Regards
7:58 idk but where I live you’re privileged if you have the chance to be in that group of people who at least HAVE treatment. I was hospitalized various times, for various reasons, including ED and we where all in the same group all time, it didn’t matter if more complicated patients (more aggressive and so on) we’re making the rest of us uncomfortable, which then lead to us getting worse. Maybe the punishment was for them to be isolated for some time, not being with the group. Still, we where the privileged ones, that is the best mental health clinic in the country.
Skins was marketed as this hyperreal series, and I never felt attached to it except as a piece of media. I didn't want their friend group, because it was toxic, and most of them I found to be awful people. And I didn't care for the sex, drugs, partying either. But a lot of my school mates did. And watching this made them want to do stupid things, too. So idk, I guess I find it complicated. In a way it glamorised having these troubles and dealing with them in the worst ways, but it also starred actual teens and involved them in the writing and character building. Which is nice. Instead of seeing adults pretending to be teenagers.
i don't mean to sound rude, but it's not "adults pretending to be teenagers", it's ACTING. there are reasons why a show would decide to cast older people playing teens.
for some reason I thought you were reacting to “The Skin I Live In” a disturbing , horror and thought provoking film starring Antonio Banderas. I really want to know your thoughts on that one .
Hey doc, sadly a lot of psychiatrists are like cassie's and worse. It's only a lucky or rare few who get good psychiatrists. If you want proof of a cold hospital look at England's Springfield Hospital in Tooting. The reviews speak for themselves. It's a shame and I hope things will get better there
Maxxi was one of my awakenings too 😂 i think its important to note when you first meet cassie she's absolutely blitzed on pills hence the tweaky behaviour and why she passes out on the trampoline
I used to absolutely idolise effy and Cassie when I was a teenager, and when I was hospitalised due to my ED and severe depression, there was a massive part of me that was thrilled because I was like them. For a while, I couldn’t watch Skins because I thought it was a bad influence, however now looking back I can see that I was drawn to those characters because I was already so ill, rather than the show making me ill. It’s a brilliant show for bringing these issues to light in a way that doesn’t romanticise them too much. might rewatch now!
I luckily was alright to watch it, and definitely noticed they showed the bad sides. I could really empathize with Cassie and Effy. And it was just interesting seeing all these different lives
I was definitely triggered by Cassie A LOT. To the point I wasn't even able to watch the show. It hit me HARD
i started watching it BECAUSE i knew there were characters with mental health issues and, sadly, they are super glorified on social media, even if the show itself doesn't do it necessarily. i watched like three episodes and stopped lol
@@hannalowercase5928
Yeah,i hate how people "fall for those characters" not bc they care what they go through but bc they are "pretty" and they romanticise suffering,which is so disrespectful to me and you and others who actually suffer,my friend is gone now bc of alcohol and drug mixing, skins uk reminds me of her and soundtrack
Hope u r doin well.
@@Dionaea_M
Hope u r doin well
I remember how slow my brain was when I had anorexia . It was like fog constantly , or that I was a spectator to myself but not really present 🧐it’s hard to describe but cassie is a really great portrayal of anorexia
And irs a relief not to think...
@@jinefer63530
Hope you are doing well
How long did it took u to recover? Cuz i am currently under treatment too
@@minkin24One day at a time
Anorexia is definitely like an addiction. As someone with a long history of it, I always empathise with people struggling with addiction.
Cassie's treatment seems piss poor but I think, considering Skins is an older show, it's not necessarily incorrect. Evanna Lynch talks about her ED treatment on Scroobius Pip's podcast (and also in her book but I haven't read it). A lot of her treatment was based on eating and getting her to eat and essentially just treating symptoms. She eventually began to recover when she started seeing a therapist who looked at the cause of her behaviours around food rather than just her behaviours themselves. Maybe that's the norm now but when she was treated, around 10 years ago, it apparently wasn't.
Yeah I think it also just depends on the location and some facilities are much better than others. I live in the Netherlands and when I went to a psychiatrist she was exactly like this woman in the clip; she was cold and I didn't feel she was interested in me or cared even 1%. Many people with mental health issues already feel insecure and I think I was more preoccupied with being a good patient not a nuesance than actually getting the help I needed. Looking back it makes me feel really sad...
@@amidreaming333 Same, psychologists are so bad in my country. They all treat their pacients horribly...
I lost a male cousin to anorexia. He started during an abusive relationship to regain control in his life. It's created a hole in the family that is still painful several decades later.
Rest in peace to him, I hope your family’s able to continue healing thru the grief
I had my stomach pumped when I was 19 after overdosing on sleeping pills and alcohol. The ER doctor had a completely cold, uncaring attitude. I understood him yelling for me to swallow the tube when it was making me gag, but after he said "I hope it was worth the attention you got." I spent four days in a psychiatric hospital afterward, where I was diagnosed with acute stress syndrome from violent SA. I ended up with complex PTSD from that and childhood abuse. Those days in that psych ward and the way that doctor treated me were so horrible that I refused to get help for years, and ended up in a psych ward again years later with catatonic depression. I've now been diagnosed bipolar 1, but I'm treatment resistant. I've tried over 20 medications, multiple therapy modalities, PHP, IOP, ECT, and TMS. I have a vagus nerve stimulator implant as part of a study, but I am pretty sure I'm in the control group and it isn't on yet. I don't know if I'll make it through the year til they turn it on, and I don't really believe it will help anyway. Nothing else has, and now my physical health is trashed too.
Sorry for the life story in your comments, just hearing about the stomach pumping brought it all up. I want to thank you for your content, these analyses are a special interest of mine and help me relate and process. I'm autistic/FASD/ADHD and have some trouble coming up with big pictures myself.
I'm with you on parts of your suffering, and hope you find long term relief soon. The cessation (even temporarily) of emotional pain, strife and depression is its own pleasure (of course)! I find it nearly impossible to trust almost anyone in the medical profession after all the experiences of neglect, inattention, personal suffering, misdiagnosis, corruption and over pricing & everything revolving around insurance & money instead of diagnosing and treating my illnesses. Of course, I'm depressed so I tend to suspect even my own conclusions ;)
have you tried MDMA or psilocybin or ketamine for depression/bipolar symptoms ??
@@LouxNUH I've tried both. MDMA didn't do much, psilocybin lifts my mood while I'm high, but the boost doesn't last, and microdosing did nothing.
@@lucar9873 oh wow :( I'm surprised microdosing psil didn't help. have you tried ket infusions, then, too? I'm sorry if I misread.
I'm so sorry you haven't found anything worthwhile.. I wish I had more suggestions :(
@@LouxNUH I have tried k that I sourced from friends, it was horrid. I can't afford k infusions and my insurance won't cover since I'm bipolar 🙃
The portrayal of a psychiatrist whose main concern is ticking boxes is actually still really prevalent in the United States. Here, our psychiatric visits tend to be very short and primarily focused on medication.
Not my psychiatrist, he’s so caring and makes sure I know I can email him with questions and such. Although, yes, there definitely is a huge time crunch and appt are really short. I can tell it stresses him out a ton, but it isn’t up to him it seems. I’ve asked.
That’s what psychiatry is.. just pump the patient with pills
Its the same in the US. Been dealing with psych since 1994.
Cassie made me feel very represented. Other shows with girls with EDs and other persistent mental health issue (depression, anxiety, etc), their issues were solved within a few episode for it to never be brought up again or it only being brought up once as a thing of the past. Emma from Degrassi is in the for front of my mind.
The facility I was in for my ED was a hotel before becoming a psychiatric facility, so it was really nice. One of our group therapy sessions was mixed like Cassie's but we were mostly kept separate.
6:37 EVERY psychiatrist i know does this. *psychologists* and therapists that i’ve met rarely do this, but every psychiatrist i’ve seen (which is a decent amount) say hello, ask about my mood, check if i’m manic or depressive, check boxes, write refills, and send me on my way. each appointment usually takes 5-10 minutes. which sucks, since i have to drive an hour to get there.
granted, i’m american. bigger country with a shittier health system (not that i’m saying the NHS is any sort of paradise). and it could also just be that i’ve had my fair share of crap psychiatrists.
@@carterspang5477there are def some really good ones here too. mine was amazing, just gotta keep trying til you find the right one. funny enough, i had a horrible experience with therapy as a kid (and it was court ordered too, so couldn’t leave) and now im scared to get help
While I adored Skins, it was really bad for my already shitty mental health and I didn’t realize that as a teenager. I used to put Cassie’s episode on repeat for encouragement and just walk around my apartment to burn calories. I would be interested to rewatch the series now that I’m stable and see what I think of it now.
I haven't seen Skins in forever. Season 1 was definitely the best. I'd forgotten what accurate representation it had of eating disorders. I struggle with an eating disorder roller-coaster. The aspect of control eating disorders bring is really intense. I developed epilepsy when I was young, and my medication made me gain a lot of weight. I felt like the one thing I could control in my life was eating. After being hospitalized, I was able to have a less unhealthy relationship with food for some years, but I started really gaining weight thanks to my degenerative neuromuscular disease. It doesn't help when you start from a place of obesity and people constantly tell you how you look so much better. They don't see what's going on behind the scenes, they just see the result. Any time I try to lose weight my brain just goes, "Starving yourself is easier and faster." I'd get down to a better weight, then my brain would say it's okay to eat more than 300 calories a day. Of course, all the weight would come back. I've decided that until I get to a healthier mental health situation, I'm not even going to attempt losing weight. It won't be healthy and it won't last.
I am so proud of you for taking care of yourself and for choosing to eat!!!! ♡♡♡♡
@@Dionaea_M Thank you. ❤
Man skins is so nostalgic for me too! It really was an intense experience watching it for the first time as a teenager. Will you do more reactions to this show? I feel like there are tons of mental health topics throughout even just the first couple seasons
I work in an NHS children's hospital and we do actually occasionally have a man come in and play harp. 😂 But yes, definitely not the norm in most places.
In my experience, preoccupation with food can also be constantly critiquing what others are eating and telling them how they need to eat in a pretty intrusive way. As someone who was on the receiving end of that, it can make it difficult to spot any signs that something may be wrong because of how upset you are with the other person who is in need of help.
Thank you for mentioning Refeeding Syndrome. I’ve never seen a psychiatrist talk about such physiological issues as Refeeding Syndrome, but it’s really important for people to know about (especially if they’re health professionals who treat patients with EDs in hospitals: Refeeding Syndrome is so dangerous and must be treated quickly and appropriately). Fear of Refeeding Syndrome is actually what drove me to choose recovery for my own ED (and then get professional help [i.e. a treatment team] when “all-in” wasn’t working). I wanted to control my treatment options, and if my family found out about my ED and forced me to inpatient against my will because they thought that was best for me*, even though I didn’t think I was emaciated enough to need inpatient, then I wouldn’t have control. Although, I think my underlying fear was of dying. And also of becoming a stat...I didn’t want to add to the statistics of deaths from AN. Anyway, that’s all a side tangent. I feel like Refeeding Syndrome isn’t much talked about, when it comes to treatment for restrictive EDs, so I’m really glad that you brought it up!
*my dad is a GP and my parents are generally overprotective of me. From a physiological medical standpoint, I assumed my dad would take the lead on involuntarily admitting me to hospital, seeing how malnourished I was
The part about not eating being a symptom is very important- when I didn’t eat it actually had nothing to do with being skinny, I was crying out for help that I wasn’t getting at home or from other people around me.
Luckily I never got too sick, at least as far as the eating disorder but it did end up damaging my relationship with food and with my body because losing weight and being sick was my proof to the world that I needed help and that the people that dismissed me when I asked for it were wrong, not me.
Being skinny wasn’t about being pretty, it was about being noticed and feeling validated in my pain. People could have sat with me at the table and made sure I finished my dinner or sent me to the hospital if I continued to get worse, but what I needed was for someone to acknowledge the thing that was making me starve myself.
I needed someone to get me out of my home situation, I needed to be told “you are not making this up, you are trying your hardest” and yes, I needed to eat, but not eating was very much a symptom of the illness, not the illness itself.
It'd be really interesting to see you analyse Effy in season 4 and the unusual treatment she got and how it made it worse. Thanks for teaching us :) Love your vids Dr. Elliot!
Dr. Carthy! I just wanted to thank you! I've been struggling with depression and anxiety for years now. I was in a very dark place, but didn't dare to ask for help, or felt like I am not worthy of it, thinking maybe the world would be better without me.
Your videos made me realise I'm not alone, and there might be a way out of this.
I asked for medical help, I spent 2 weeks in the psych ward, and learned a lot about myself. I just been released a few days ago, and I know I have a long way to go. However I feel like with the help of my doctors and family I can start taking my first steps out of the dark place I spent such a long time lingering.
I'm so glad you touched on the permeability of ED diagnoses. I've been diagnosed with both anorexia and bulimia, and it is SO WEIRD how what feels like essentially the same disorder, are treated so differently by people. I feel like more restrictive ED features get romanticized almost whereas there was so much more shame around bulimic symptoms. Like in my head, it all just felt like one disorder, but people treated me so differently depending on what exactly my diagnosis was. It was just really weird. Also being a trans man with a "girl's problem" made treatment weird at times, too. 🤷♂️
All I could think of throughout this was "please do My Mad Fat Diary too!" The therapist in it is certainly more human than this lady :) (Would love it as a full series react)
Yesssss, I'd love it if he did My Mad Fat Diary too!
I was just about to comment this! It's such a good show and I feel like it portrays people with mental illnesses very respectfully, compared to most shows out there!
YES!
The mental care of the past was more effective though.
Literally. Modern psychology and psychiatric workers are beyond useless, they are actively enforcing and supporting mental illness..
That's the reason I quit my psychology major. I've never felt so defeated and depressed by what I was passionate about.
The entire fkn system and the mental help institutions are utter GARBAGE.
They resemble now a school more than a medical field with cool kids clubs.
We are culturally decaying and the institutions make things WORSE, as they make everything cool and hip. Like wtf
No wonder teenagers and young adults feel like they have mental illnesses and turn them into a personality.
They say that more than 50% of people have some kind of mental illness, depression, anxiety or whatever.
A cold doctor will treat you as a patient that has a problem that needs to be fixed. Your modern clinicians will treat you like a teddy bear that needs cuddles and it's not your fault, it's the world that doesn't accept you and your delusions. You should chase your delusions and accept them, then force everyone else to accept them too.
The whole "gender" shitshow is spilling over into everything in the psychology field. They call it "affirming care". They will bomb you with wired questions when you are just a child and don't understand anything to confuse you. Once you are nice and confused, they will give you a solution: "you are not actually a boy. You are girl inside. That's why you sad after your dog died. Don't tell your parents about this, hide it. I will write a letter and we will secretely start you on hormone treatment and once you are a bit older, we will butcher your body and have you on heavy, expensive medications for the next 40 years old of your life up to 45years old, while you are constantly going back to the hospital due to massive complications", they say to a 5 year old that was sad because the dog died.
Then they keep going "you don't have a problem. It's the world that doesn't see you as pretty. You are healthy at 40kg with bulimia and you are healthy at 200kg as you are addicted to food. But you are pretty and you are healthy".
Meanwhile obesity is skyrocketing alongside depression and suicide, especially among the tons of transexuals that were groomed from when they were children, because one day a 3 year old boy picked up a pink teddy bear instead of a car.
Most of the times we can fix most problems by fixing a parent or the modern psychiatrist.
The psychiatrist is not there to be your friend. It's not there to make you feel good. The goal is to try and fix a problem, not make the problem a part of your identity. And that is exactly what modern health workers do. Aside from pushing their own ideologies down the throat of mentally vulnerable people.
We need to make psychology scientific again. You don't need to be friends with a patient that you have on your operating table as a surgeon. On the contrary, having a connection with a person as a doctor is BAD and leads to a wrong diagnosis. I've seen that first hand as i had to diagnose myself as my doctor thought she knew me and she downplayed some symptoms. "don't worry, it's just some anxiety. You don't have an actual problem". Yeah, my ass. Turns out i had a deficiency in potassium or magnesium (tip: same sex doctors are the way to go. Make if you are male and female if you are female. My female doctor SUCKS. She doesn't understand the male psyche or body. Always thinking male problems are tied to mental health like with women).
And i won't even go about how female psychiatrists are even worse, which sadly is the vast majority. That's why the field went to shit in theast 30 years, as more women started outnumbering the make doctors and turned the institution into a goddamn joke. Just like how female teachers ruined school since they started running them, turning school up to high school completely centered around girls.
There's a reason bulimia is a female problem and depression/suicide is a male problem. We are completely different. Yet most psychiatrists are female, coming fresh from university taught mostly by women and they have NO IDEA how the male brain works.
i love mmfd
It's really interesting to hear about the potential pathologies, thoughts, and feelings behind the symptoms of anorexia. Usually it seems that it's only thought about in terms of its symptoms as if that's the whole of it, as opposed to what's driving it. I really don't know much about eating disorders, so thanks for this great video that sheds some interesting light!
On another note, many years ago I actually did go to a psychiatrist once who was super cold and literally took out a DSM IV and just went by and ticked boxes. My mother was a social worker so we had the DSM at home and I was thinking "Um, I have a DSM and I can tick boxes too...why am I seeing you exactly?"
He then took a call during our session from a patient, and it sounded like she was in distress from being dependent on benzos (that was my guess) and was in withdrawal...and his attitude was basically "stop calling me, I'm not going to write you another prescription" and hung up. Zero empathy. I felt so bad for that poor person on the other end of that call. Needless to say I saw him precisely once and never went back.
There are terrible professionals in every field... unfortunately we find this people in mental health care when we try to seek help sometimes.
About EDs motivations: I once heard some anorexic girls are trying to recover a lost childhood, and somehow deeply feel like they don't want to grow up so part of trying to be skinny has to do with that. Some are trying to be socially accepted and in a movie I watched it seemed to be something related with mother neglect and the wish to be taken care by the mother. In Cassie's case it seems to me to be in a way a cry for attention, specially because those notes start showing up telling her to eat, because this is part of her fantasy, that someone will take care of her/ is secretly paying attention to the fact that she's hurting herself that way and it seems like a reproduction of the lack of affection of her parents. Food is often related to affection, so for her she wouldn't eat to represent the affection she doesn't receive, but she actually wishes to. She wishes to eat and to receive affection.
There are a few cases of anorexia related to sexual abuse as child, but I don't know much about it. I think bulimia is more related to the idea of guilt or having to keep up with feelings or realities (or maybe even a toxic type of affection or violence) that you can't deal with so you wouldn't feel like you really need to put all that out. You can stay with all that inside of you. Or maybe you'd feel like you don't actually deserve to eat, that could serve for either anorexia or bulimia.
In my case, I have eating compulsion. I always felt like I wanted my mothers love but she would always suddenly cut me off emotionally out of no where, for no reason. And it made me feel unstable about affection, so I felt like each time I had an opportunity, I should desperately take all that I could. I did the same with food. Specially when she was not emotionally available. So I would eat desperately as if I would never have food again, because I wanted affection and I felt like I was about to lose it anytime. Now I'm medicated, but like for other reasons, but it ends up my compulsion is way lighter.
I'm really sorry that happened to you. I think there needs to be a way to report this kind of thing, something more than just a bad Google review. I think doctors need to be evaluated too, for their own mental health and their patients but to my knowledge there's nothing like that required.
It's kinda creepy and good at the same time when he knew to say "It makes you hungry" before character said it.
Did he actually know the next line or actually KNEW the patients reaction? (And did tv show actually got the psychology right?)
He might have subconsciously remembered the line from the show, as he mentions watching Skins when he was younger. I know when I've rewatched Skins I've remembered a lot of the dialogue even though I hadn't seen it in many years. It was one of those HUGE shows in the UK that a lot of teens loved and talked about at school as it was airing, I can't really think of anything comparable in terms of cultural impact, at least during my teens.
It's also very possible that he just knew the reason an ED patient would have that reaction. Could be both!
You're very right on how the media portrays anorexia and bulimia as separate disorders, when in fact they have a lot of overlap. This was actually something I didn't realize until I developed an eating disorder (EDNOS/atypical anorexia) and was in contact with a lot of other people with eating disorders online (not through pro-ana, through a legitimate support forum) and in treatment. I thought anorexia was just restricting and nothing else, and I never intended to binge or purge but I ended up doing so. Eating disorders actually fall into many categories. The one restrictive eating disorder that I've observed most commonly from my own experience is a combination of anorexic and bulimic behaviors to some extent, for me it was primarily anorexic behaviors but the bulimia sometimes came up as a reaction to restriction. There are actually very few anorexics who just restrict the whole course of their illness and never binge or purge. The vast majority either have the binge-purge subtype or will eventually switch between the restrictive subtype and the binge-purge subtype if they were originally just restricting. Also, unfortunately anorexia is still diagnosed based on weight (so even someone with pure bulimia who was underweight would be diagnosed with anorexia, but someone who was a normal weight and was just restricting wouldn't), but there are a lot of people who are not underweight with restrictive eating disorders who either lose weight due to restricting or maintain weight due to restricting and binging/purging. In fact, only 6% of people with eating disorders are clinically underweight according to ANAD. Then there's people with overeating disorders which would be the bulimia/BED category (like the two subtypes of anorexia, people switch between bulimia and BED a lot), for them their main "drug of choice" is binging and/or purging and any restricting is just a necessity. For the aforementioned restrictive eating disordered people, it's the opposite. I know I'm probably oversimplifying things and I am not a doctor or expert by any stretch, but I just wanted to put in my 2 cents.
I did not know that show, but having severe ED (starting with anorexia when I was 15) I was alomost waiting for you to make some content on that.
And I can't tell you how much it touched me to hear you say that "the not eating is a symptom". It is so really really PAINFUL and exhausting how most of my family members (and people in general) just don't get that, not then when it started and still not now 20 years later. I also have depressions, anxiety issues and personality disorder... still they think (and say) "just eat normally and all will be just fine". My ED has changed, but I still can't overcome it. Besides, looking back I was depressed, self-hurting and a lot was just wrong long before I started a diet (that sort of never ended), but my problems were only faced when a teacher forced made me go to the shool psychological service due to seeing me get thinner and generally worse.
I've been hsopitalized a few times in several psychosomatic hospitals and psychiatric units, and all used group therapy's as well. Totally can relate to that, having patients with completely different issues in one group.
Concerning all the different psychiatrists and/or nursing auxiliaries I've seen over the years, I can only say there are really good and empathetic ones, but also ... others.
I really got the feeling that in some mixed units, eating disorder patients were especially annoying to some staff members.
Too many incidents to go into details...
Anyway, the earlier times all that need for control and calories counting etc. was exhausting. But yeah, at the same time it was less terrifying then the rest of my life I guess, and gave me (the feeling) of control, to have found one single thing that I won't let them take away from me (like all the rest of "me").
As I said, it is different now, just has become "normal" to me.
I'm glad you mentioned the certain fluidity within eating disorders, mentioning Bulimia too. But just as non-eating, throwing up in itself is just a symptom. It can happen in Anorexia as well. More and more misunderstandings to face 😒
But I'm already really damaged, in so many ways. My body too, to a point a recently got reclassed into temporary invalidity.
That's why just to all of you who know how it feels like, I whish you the strength to find the way out of ED before it is too late. Even if (just like me back then) you might just not be able to really "believe" that the ED is not the solution. But If I only manage to make a single one doubt for only a moment, this would already be better than nothing.
And to those who managed to overcome it, you can be SO PROUD of you. You won a terribly difficult and hard war 👍
I have to say one thing... the scene with Cassie messing with the food taught me, a back-then active anorexia patient, how to make others think I have eaten at all.
Exactly but wouldn't her clinic realize that
I'd love to know what you think of the anorexia representation in Red Band Society. It and skins were my main intro to understanding what anorexia was actually like, rather than just what it was
I would love you see you do more Skins episodes. Grew up with Skins, even though I'm in the US, but loved the characters so much.
Love it! Skins was an amazing show that touched on so many issues when I was a teenager!!
Just wanted to say, thank you for making videos! I have my first appointment with a psychologist in a week, and I was honestly really worried about opening up to a complete stranger. But binging your content has changed my whole view on what psychiatry can be! Your videos are an amazing resource, and now I can’t wait to start getting better!
i’m honestly resentful of the treatment i received when i was a young teenager. i gained weight back and was technically healthy but after i finished doing therapy i didn’t receive any help with the mental side of it and i still struggle with that
wanted to mentioned the therapist/psychiatrist cassie had is pretty much every therapist i’ve ever had evaluate me or “help” they ranged from ditzy to callous to borderline psychotic and my personal favorite the gaslighting narcissistic who was under qualified. that’s been my only experience.
Ok so first of all, I’ve sealed with many psychiatrists and they were (almost all of them) like the one he talks about at 6:31 . My current psychiatrist does it. It is still extremely prevalent in my country, I’m lucky enough to even have access to medical treatment, and that is what it looks like.
If your in the UK and struggle with EDs and its symptoms BEAT are available to talk with through multiple means. you arent alone.
I'm pretty sure she had a substance order to help deal with her eating disorder and depression/anxiety that came before and or after she developed the ED. She wants control because other things in her life are out of control.
I've had a psychiatrist write me a prescription for antidepressants, schedule another appointment for a months time and fill out a form for me to sign within 8 minutes of meeting me.
I literally sat down said "Hi, I'm ___."
The second appointment I was supposed to have with him never happened. I never saw that doctor again because I was referred to a different doctor because the medication he prescribed to me, I was allergic to. I almost died because he was "too busy" to check my file.
Psyhiatrist forgot my name twice during like 10 mins 💀
I loved this show when I was younger. Degrassi the next generation and lizzie Mcguire had the biggest impact on my childhood.
Another film I watched recently covers anorexia really well, as well as the effect it has on family. It's called "To The Bone". I would recommend Dr. Elliot review it.
Thanks to finally analyzing skins, been waiting for this!!
I've had refeeding syndrome. The NHS has poor services for eating disorders. I now live in and out of general hospital getting electrolyte infusions and have done for years. Ive been told I can't have a dietician as im "complex". It feels like I've been left to die tbh. Eating disorder services say they cant see me as my physical health has declined to an extent that i have other comorbidities. What is sad is that I couldnt access services before despite trying and when I did I was told I wasnt sick enough
I haven't seen skins, but now I'm a little intrigued, thanks.
I watched Skins when I was younger and hyper identified with Cassie in a lot of ways when I was at the height of my own eating disorder. And overall, I really enjoyed this video, as I enjoy most of your content. But there were two points I just had to bring up:
1) I can't believe that you didn't discuss how physically dangerous it is to drink a ton of water before a weigh-in. Like, this is one of the more dangerous eating disorder behaviors, and people watching this video could come away just thinking it's a trick to make yourself feel full (which, of course, it can be, but in the context of that scene it most likely was not)
2) When I was in in-patient programs, I *absolutely* had experiences like the psychiatrist depiction here. The therapists were generally fantastic, the nutritionists and dieticians were mostly great, but the psychiatry and patient intake/discharge meetings were often horrendously cold, callous, and dehumanizing. Nothing against psychiatry in general, obviously its super important, but the bedside manner between the average non-psychiatrist psychotherapist and the average psychiatrist is VASTLY different in my experience
I also assume that the person checking the discharge order is not the same person Cassie would have been working with, most likely the assessment is informed by her direct therapist.. So she really would have no connection to Cassie
I fell into disordered (restrictive) eating when I was in college and it was really scary. It gave me the appearance of being in control when actually I was losing more and more control (over my eating and my life, really).
I love Skins and specially Cassie! Was legit in love with her charscter in my teenager years
Love your analyzes!!! I'd love to see you reacting to My Mad Fat Diary, it's such a good show!
I'd love to see your take on Centaurworld, especially Season 1 Episode 8. The entire show is a really great kid-friendly exploration of loss, trauma, friendship and found family, but S1 E8 is an allegory for a suicide attempt, and friends talking you back from the edge.
Could you talk about ARFID? It’s one of the least spoken about eating disorders
Love your videos! When I watched it I felt so bad for Cassie, it’s interesting seeing you analyse this
if you reacted to "to the bone", a movie on netflix, it would be super interesting!
Regarding the guy in therapy who mentioned voices, I interpreted said voices less as actual voices that he is hallucinating and more like self-talk or what he imagines other ppl are thinking. More social anxiety, less schizophrenia.
I thought this as well. I assumed he had body dysmorphia
what do you think about the relationship between anorexia and autism?
Remember watching this when first came out. That one Tony and Maxxie scene was... enlightening for me 😂😂😂.
I have actually seen psychiatrists like the one shown there (circa 2017-2020). One issue in my experience is that you never see the same psychiatrist twice, so there is no emotional connection there (whereas you usually have some continuity with therapists). I’ve seen some other psychiatrists who have been kind, but the empathy was quite generalised because we didn’t really know each other. It could also be depicted that way because there’s such a high rate of burnout amongst eating disorder professionals, which can sometimes lead to professionals in that area emotionally disconnecting before they walk away from the job. I think that’s partly why so many people with eating disorders have had bad experiences.
If you're totally obsessed with all that stuff and just knew everything he was talking about but still appreciated his deep non- superficional knowledge!! I loved the video 🖤
Would you look at to the bone at some point? I would love to hear your opinions on the portrayal of eating disorders and the treatment methods. 😊
I had some problems with food. Still do. Nothing too severe though. I know a few people who've had really intense problems. It's been terrible for them, and I can often see them having to mentally prep for meals. It must be a huge struggle to manage a condition that's so central to something you have to have to survive. When I was at my most problematic, I had dropped 2 1/2 stone. Everyone was telling me I looked good. Suddenly I was "acceptable" in the very small gay scene in my small and isolated corner of England, whereas I was too goofy, and my average size too big before then. I was irritable, angry, and exhausted, but somehow that seemed better than eating a but more. One of my close friends told me I was acting like an arsehole and my actual, non-shallow friends were starting to not want to spend time with me as I'd swing from really upbeat hunger highs to crash out depression to being annoyed with everything. I thought about a friend at the time who was really sick and struggling, and whose parents were having to move back from the Netherlands to try to support her. I knew that if I got that bad that I would feel like I would never have the strength to recover. I also thought about my poor mum who had finally retired and was happy. I kinda got a couple of bossy friends to make me eat and I made an appointment (under some duress) with my GP. I still have a not great relationship with food (I tend to overeat), but I'm a much, much happier man now.
Wow, I knew that electrolytes could get unbalanced and potentially cause heart problems, but i had no idea that could be to do with anything called refeeding syndrome or to do with insulin! Huh! Kind of surprised to learn this-- thought I'd learn everything there was to know about AN/restrictive EDs when I was recovering myself, but goes to show there is always more to learn. Love the reaction videos on this channel as you always learn something, and Elliot seems seems so friendly
The Psychiatrist's attitude is still very prevalent and I've had at least one run in exactly like this. Though admittedly I find the older the Psychiatrist and the higher case load the more common
Also my time spent in hospital there were many "one size fits all" groups. These usually were very open about there "one size fits all" approach and usually named things such as "wellness" or "dealing with negative thoughts" etc. Very generic
"growing up watching skins," I feel so old now.
The preoccupation is a massive thing. Whenever I even read or hear certain words they seem to jump out at me.
Omg, I used to watch this show all the time! This was the OG Euphoria! Also I would love to see your take on the show Physical on Apple+
I'm a guy and I struggle with and eating disorder. It's been difficult to manage especially when not having support. It's hard to find treatment. There are days I find myself wanting to just break down and cry because it consume me. Around this time last year I was at my lowest. It's hard to look back at it. My behaviors are still there. Just not as severe.
This is definitely how a LOT of psychiatrists behave, unfortunately, to this day, in other countries. In Saudi Arabia, mental illness is still very stigmatized and very little CBT happens, mostly ticking boxes and pushing pills, unfortunately. The psychiatric hospitals here are still very much "insane asylums" of old, depressing, dark, dingy, everyone looks like they're messy and neglected, it's scary. It looks like a prison. They do have some greenery outside, but...
The part about the group therapy reminds me a bit of my first anxiety group. Obviously it wasn’t as insanely mismatched as here I was just so misplaced there because everyone else could connect and seemed to have social anxiety while I had agoraphobia specifically but that didn’t get diagnoses until maybe 4-5 years later.
The psychiatrist has spoken to me for an hour, said I had anxiety and sent me to a group.
The group was nice but the issues people had I could rarely relate to and the help and advice we got also rarely benefitted me.
Years later I got a proper diagnosis, great mental health workers and all that good stuff 🙂
Could you analyse Effy's psychotic depression episode? Or even her psychosis from the extra where she's in the forest?
Hoping someday that you do an analysis of Dr. Elliot on Scrubs.
I thought she had narcissistic traits but wasn't a narcissist, just entitled and oblivious. She also hurt people quite a bit even tho she had empathy and felt pain herself. I always wondered if it was bad writing, or the tug of a "hollywood happy ending", or something else.
Honestly skins was my life growing up unfortunately it really does draw a lot of parallels between fiction and real life as a teenager in the 90s to 2017. In a weird way it actually helped me realise I needed help watching characters like Cassie and Effy
any psychiatrist you know don't do this because you are not their patient one on one. Every 15 psychiatrists I went to in my life were like this. Wake up.
Can you talk some more about binge eating disorder without the purging element.
I find that people who overeat and can't help themselves are constantly overlooked in the eating disorders conversation. I'd love to know more about how theoretically the health services should be able to help because I've attended things like Addictive Eaters Anonymous and found them completely unhelpful since no one there had the issue I did.
I recently got diagnosed with ADHD hyperactive/impulsive type, which was a huge surprise to me, because I’m an introvert, and actually pay attention really well, I was just really impulsive I guess (my attentiveness score was better than the average person though which was interesting), but before starting ADHD meds, I was constantly thinking about food, and what I was going to eat next, and had even tried to be anorexic, but just couldn’t. I just would eat and beat myself up about that I couldn’t even be good at being anorexic, let alone just eating normal and healthy. Now that I’m on ADHD meds though, I don’t think about food that much anymore (and sometimes actually get so involved in what I need to get done that I forget to eat), and it’s so freeing. Anyway TMI, my point is that I also really do wish people would address that obsessive preoccupation with food and not just anorexia or bulemia. I want to understand more about why I am so food centered, when I am my “regular self” and not taking my ADHD meds. Why is food such a bigger deal for some than others?
i know nothing about this specific support group, but i know there's one called overeaters anonymous, it might be more beneficial/specific to what you're saying?
I loved this show so much as a dysfunctional teenager!
I can't talk about England's mental health system, but in Latin America there actually many psychiatrists like that, very much uninterest in anything other than giving a diagnose, prescribe some pills and get their money. They're quite expensive too. A lot like other doctors, too. I have two or three friends who have been misdiagnosed because of doctors like that, and even the best professionals I've known are guilty of at least some of these behaviors
So while I understand that we gotta take clear the mental health professional's image so more people reach out for help (and Skins did like to beat them up, just look at season 4), I also think we gotta aknowledge the problems that do exist. I mean, yeah, I hope over there this is actually just a satire by now, but I grew up with Skins to here in Mexico, and this was not so inaccurate to my experience, so yeah
I love your videos Dr. Elliot
The gorgeous Tia Koffi is our featured drag queen for today. I loved her, though she was very underrated on her season x
Was she underrated? I thought she was a huge fan favourite (and rightly so).
By the judges I think, but not the fans
Hi Dr Elliott! Question. Do you know if sometimes there's an association between anorexia and the fear for young teen girls to grow up and becoming a woman?
For me I think there definitely was. I particularly struggle with getting my period back (I was literally hysterical when it happened) and having breasts/“curves” gives me major body dysmorphia. I also have a massive aversion towards ever getting pregnant or having children. I know I’m just one person but I have a long history of anorexia so I hope this can go some way in answering your question.
I'm not anorexic, but I do have an eating disorder and body dysmorphia. I discovered in my twenties that I am trans, and a lot of it is actually gender dysphoria, and when I gain weight it accentuates the more feminine shape of my body.
@@lucar9873 I hear you. I have a good friend who had an eating disorder and who is also trans. Have you started transitioning? Did your eating disorder got better?
💙🤍💓🤍💙
@@abbyhuntley3171 Thanks! Hope things are better for you now.
I know a teen girl (she's my friend's daughter) and she has anorexia. I know a lot of changes happened in her life (moving out of her childhood home, being far from her grandparents and aunties, 2 new baby sisters, the struggles of realizing she's queer) around the same time she hit puberty. I was wondering if the two might be linked.
@@anne12876 no, I have a lot of complex health issues that are taking priority. I am starting with a nutritionist counselor tomorrow for help with my eating disorder. I have ARFID with a binge eating component, made more difficult by gastroparesis that has me using a feeding tube and MCAS that causes lots of reactions to foods. I don't know if I'll ever be able to go on hormones.
Now that you’ve reacted to this I’m like totally better, for sure!
My favourite RUclipsr reacting to my favourite series ❤️ best weekend ever.
YEEEEEEEES finally skins. i can't wait for u to finish 1st gen and get into 2nd gen and get more into Effy and her BPD
@8:00: "People with eating disorders need something much, much more catered." - That's a bit of an ironic statement there.
Organize, never eat, loving food, not eating it, looking it/touching it/smelling, but never eat it. that's how i was, i could also be very ditzy and empty headed, idk how to explain it. healed now and can eat everything again withoout guilt
Also RE the voluntarily you arent actually allowed out. I have agreed to go inpatient and been told if I even walked to the front of hospital for a coffee I'd be discharged. Ive never felt free to make choices or allowed to
I used to adore Cassie and love seeing her again in GOT
I just got discharged from hospital by drs exactly like this
When do you find time to research, prepare and record all these videos considering that you probably have long shifts at your health center? I am amazed!
The psychiatric hospital I was in didn’t have group therapy, we had a group room but therapy was normally separate.
Was really hoping he'd address the narcissism of Cassie's parents and their neglect that led her to having the eating disorder
please make video about effy from skins? (prt. 2)
I just imagined him reacting to ranboo's lore on dsmp and now I need that-
Even though psychiatrists/doctors are not trained to and more often don't just "check boxes in the DSM," the sort of cynical view that media often has of mental health care stems from the fact that cynicism, paranoia and distrust are such a common symptoms of severe mental illness, at least in my opinion.
can you talk more about eating disorders portrayed in tv/film? please
Could you react to the Skins Episodes of Effy in Season 4 (Psychotic Depression)
Hi Dr. Eliott Carthy, Great analysing videos.
I wonder if you can you do a analysis on Effy Stonems (Skins) therapist John Foster, in season 4, episode 7 and 8, and also a video on your analysis of Effy's mental state.
Best Regards
7:58 idk but where I live you’re privileged if you have the chance to be in that group of people who at least HAVE treatment. I was hospitalized various times, for various reasons, including ED and we where all in the same group all time, it didn’t matter if more complicated patients (more aggressive and so on) we’re making the rest of us uncomfortable, which then lead to us getting worse. Maybe the punishment was for them to be isolated for some time, not being with the group. Still, we where the privileged ones, that is the best mental health clinic in the country.
Hey i really love these,could you do an episode of criminal minds?
Skins was marketed as this hyperreal series, and I never felt attached to it except as a piece of media. I didn't want their friend group, because it was toxic, and most of them I found to be awful people. And I didn't care for the sex, drugs, partying either.
But a lot of my school mates did. And watching this made them want to do stupid things, too. So idk, I guess I find it complicated. In a way it glamorised having these troubles and dealing with them in the worst ways, but it also starred actual teens and involved them in the writing and character building. Which is nice. Instead of seeing adults pretending to be teenagers.
i don't mean to sound rude, but it's not "adults pretending to be teenagers", it's ACTING. there are reasons why a show would decide to cast older people playing teens.
@@hannalowercase5928 acting is pretending
@@AllTheArtsy not at all, acting is representing.
for some reason I thought you were reacting to “The Skin I Live In” a disturbing , horror and thought provoking film starring Antonio Banderas.
I really want to know your thoughts on that one .
Can you review Effy and her psychotic depression?
Hey doc, sadly a lot of psychiatrists are like cassie's and worse. It's only a lucky or rare few who get good psychiatrists. If you want proof of a cold hospital look at England's Springfield Hospital in Tooting. The reviews speak for themselves. It's a shame and I hope things will get better there
Also how would you really know how a patient is treated by psychiatrists? You might be nice, your colleagues might not
I'd love to see you react to the new season of euphoria, lots to talk about
Maxxi was one of my awakenings too 😂 i think its important to note when you first meet cassie she's absolutely blitzed on pills hence the tweaky behaviour and why she passes out on the trampoline
in the first scene they are at a party and cassie is most likely drunk/high
She's not high because she said that weed makes u hungry and she's anorexic