Tennie McCarty was a program director at a drug and alcohol treatment center when she first heard the term “bulimia.” Having struggled with her own weight and relationship with food since childhood, Tennie says she felt “relief” at the realization she could seek help for what she was going through. After her diagnosis and treatment, she brought this new experience to her work as an addictions specialist. Today, Tennie is the CEO of Shades of Hope, an all-addictions treatment center specializing in eating disorders, and her book of the same name, which comes out March 5, shares her practical, holistic perspective on the subject. In light of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, February 24 – March 2, TWLOHA talked with Tennie about how our culture can create an environment that offers understanding, supportive solutions for eating disorders.
What is a common misconception people have about eating disorders?
For a lot of people, if someone has an addiction, then they think, “Just stop. Just stop doing that. Quit doing that.” If I could’ve have just stopped on my own, I would have years before, but I couldn’t. Because the biggest fear that I had was gaining all the weight back that I had lost. It’s so much with eating disorders; it’s so much. It’s about the body, the food, and wanting to look good, but when we really get into recovery, it’s much more basically rooted than that. And that’s why we must look in the past and look at core issues of what’s driving the addiction.
What do you think of some of the more current challenges in our culture for those who are struggling with their relationship with food—entertainment, diets, “thinspiration,” and other trends that encourage unhealthy habits?
There is just so much information out there, particularly for young kids. There’s this and that which support anorexia and bulimia. It’s sad that there’s no regulation at all… It doesn’t work over a long term. [But] there is hope for recovery if people can recognize they have a problem and get some real help.
Why do you think there is additional stigma when it comes to men and eating disorders, even though it’s estimated that 1 million men have them?
I lead six-day intensive treatments, and I keep it to six people. I have four women and two men. If you had them behind the screen and didn’t know whether it was men or women talking, they all sound exactly alike. There’ll be some variation about the issues, but by and large, it’s that people want to be thin, or their weight bothers them, and somebody said something in their childhood about their body, and it’s all about that. We’re seeing many young men now, particularly in certain athletics where they have to meet a weight check, like wrestlers. Men do have eating disorders, almost as much as women. I think that they have just never been given permission to go and seek treatment.
As a parent, you’ve also dealt with having daughters with eating disorders. What would your advice be for people who are concerned about someone in their life?
Come from love and tell them they’re concerned. “When I see you losing weight and not eating, I think you have an eating disorder, and I feel very sad and scared. What I would later like for you to do is to seek help, and what I intend to do is to keep supporting you until you do.” Just come from a very loving place of concern. No one ever intervened on me and said, “I feel pain watching you suffer.” And so if the family members and friends will own their pain, they let the person see that their loved one is really scared to watch them practice an eating disorder.
Why do you think things like National Eating Disorder Awareness Week are important, and how would you encourage people to get involved and point to help and hope?
Bring it out of the closet, start talking about it and [getting] assessments. Eating disorders have a beginning stage, and there’s a middle stage, and then there’s a chronic stage. If people can catch it early on, it’s so much better. And I think with education and awareness of the eating disorders, people can go to treatment, and there’s no shame about going. We’re hoping that’s what’ll happen with eating disorders— that people will start talking about it more and get the secrets out. We’re as sick as we are secretive.
If you or someone you know are struggling with an eating disorder, here are some resources that may help.