Mom: My Daughter was Bullied into Anorexia

A woman has filed what experts believe is a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the Pittsburgh Public Schools, claiming her daughter developed anorexia because male students bullied the girl about her weight, forcing her to leave the district.

But those experts - including the head of the National Eating Disorders Association - say linking bullying to anorexia is oversimplification, at best.

"With eating disorders, we say you're born with a gun and life pulls the trigger," said Lynn Grefe, chief executive officer of Seattle-based NEDA, who has never heard of a school being sued over such a scenario.

Generally, people who develop anorexia already have issues with anxiety, obsessive-compulsive or perfectionist behavior. Bullying could trigger anorexia in those people but not others who are taunted about their weight, Grefe said.

"The person's often a real high achiever, and if you put those people in a situation and then their world comes crashing down, they get triggered," Grefe said.

That's essentially what's described in the 10-page federal lawsuit Pittsburgh attorney Edward Olds filed Friday on behalf of an unnamed woman whose middle-school sixth-grader began to be bullied 2006-07 by three boys who called her "fat."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/19/health/main5252786.shtml

I was bullied about my weight in elementary school
ended up on speed in high school in an effort to lose wieght .

Starved myself for a year ... Got super skinny but also quite
the addiction to kick .

Been clean for over 20 years . Finally quit the ciggs about 5 years ago .

when I was manic.

the eating disorders, or that it would never affect anyone else in that way. That's all I am saying.

No one become Anorexic simply because they are made fun of at school. This is a complex disease with many underlying causes. There can even be genetic links associated with it. I had this disease and so has one of my daughter's and neither one of us developed it because others thought we were fat and made fun of us. I find this suit laughable. It should be thrown out of court.

contribute to eating disorders. It did in my case. Not that I was fat at that time or teased for that (I was harassed for a lot of other reasons) but just because I felt like I had no control over anything I turned that need on myself and controlled my body instead.

Now I can't speak to the legitimacy of the lawsuit or not, but apparently the school wasn't on the ball with dealing with this child's bullying situation, and that should be a cause for concern court case or not.

"Now I can't speak to the legitimacy of the lawsuit or not"

let me do it for you.

it's a bunch of crap. it's junk law.

Which, by the way, is a life long battle.

struggle with that urge to continue our disordered eating whether it is anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating.

As a former anorexic (we're talking 40 years ago, before most doctors even knew what it was), I wholly concur. No one without the psychological preconditions for anorexia can be bullied into it because someone says they are fat. Most anorexics aren't even fat to begin with.

And with all due respect to posters above, if you lost weight taking crystal meth you are not an anorexic. You may have lost a lot of weight, but you are not anorexic. Anorexia is a complex of co-morbid psychological conditions, and is largely about extreme self-control and perfectionism (delusional, both).

It's an illness, not something someone bullies you into.

stressor that contributes to the situation.

That's essentially what's described in the 10-page federal lawsuit Pittsburgh attorney Edward Olds filed Friday on behalf of an unnamed woman whose middle-school sixth-grader began to be bullied 2006-07 by three boys who called her "fat."

The girl was in a program for gifted students, made straight A's and was active in community and volunteer programs, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit contends a guidance counselor did nothing to stop the bullying. The next year, in seventh grade, two other boys joined in the daily harassment.

"Some other students tried to shame the boys about the conduct. However, no faculty member or other school official intervened," the lawsuit said.

By February 2008, the girl entered an inpatient treatment program for anorexia nervosa because "her weight was dangerously low."

Look at the situation: a high achieving, type A person is already at risk. A 6th, 7th grade girl is in one of the most vulnerable phases of her life. Another risk. And here she is, probably not fat at all, but forced to tolerate abuse. We have enough scientific data that shows the damage potential of this situation, and yet the school did nothing. Furthermore, according to the suit, the school harassed the girl's parent when she was pulled out of the school.

Did mom try to counteract the bullying with positive reinforcement?

it sounds more like what girls do to each other.

nope, just another stupid lawsuit.

nothing is ever anybody's fault. "i was bullied... wahhhhhhh"