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OA
News and Information for the Professional Community
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2002
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2002 Highlights:
Inside
This Issue:
Why Should You Refer People to OA?
The
Functional Family:
Another Corrective Emotional Experience
Compulsive overeating is a symptom of a larger disease centered on an inability to leave isolation and enter into loving relationships with others.
Originating in childhood relationships, the overeating wreaks havoc in all areas of compulsive overeaters’ lives. Physically, they are unable to ascertain how to care for their bodies. They vacillate between ingesting huge amounts of food to depriving themselves of essential nutrients, while trying numerous ways of controlling their weight. Emotionally, they believe the only relationship they can count on is the one they have with food. Because they have not learned how to relate effectively to others in their families of origin, they struggle with all other attempts at relationships. Spiritually, they envision their God as critical and condemning. Even after years of religious training, they are not able to believe in a loving, supportive God that will be there for them. Racked with shame over their compulsive behavior, they settle into solitary lives. It doesn’t occur to them that others might be experiencing the same symptoms.
When compulsive overeaters enter psychotherapy, they can expect a corrective emotional experience with another person. Ideally, they will have the time and finances to stay in treatment until this occurs. In the real world of managed-care insurance, long-term treatment often becomes a luxury they are unable to continue. This is where Overeaters Anonymous comes in.
When compulsive overeaters add OA to their treatment, they become part of an extended family with full exposure to the benefits of recovery. The new family resembles a functional family that focuses on relating to one another and caring for its members. As the initiates bring their dysfunctional behavior to the group, they learn new ways of coping and relating to others. The elders are at the top of the hierarchy of the new family. They exemplify the promises of recovery.
Next are the parents. The sponsor often undertakes the role of surrogate parent. In this relationship, the initiate experiences what it is like to be treated with love and kindness. During the long hours between weekly therapy sessions, it is often the sponsor who is there to listen, support and educate the initiate. Other group members create relationships similar to those of siblings or aunts and uncles. The group meetings provide a refuge, a place to which the initiate can retreat and be refreshed. This new family provides the opportunity to have an additional corrective emotional experience.
The complex disease of compulsive overeating requires much more than the therapeutic setting can provide. It requires long, arduous hours of reparenting, education, emotional fixes and crisis intervention. It often takes the first several years of recovery just to assess the wounds of the initiate. Guidance and learning then occur through listening to fellow members in both the group setting and in fellowship, working through the Twelve Steps and developing relationships with other members of the clan. In essence, the initiate needs to grow from a childlike state to adulthood. This is the transformation sought.
The Fellowship of OA and the treatment by the mental health professional are both needed for substantial healing to occur within the compulsive overeater. Each plays a separate role. Neither is more important than the other. Together they offer the best combination of services for this serious disorder.
—
Clinical Psychologist
I am writing as a friend of an OA member to share my thoughts about the program. I have known M. for 27 years. During that time, I have seen him struggle with his weight and have seen his eating habits bring stress both to him and to his marital relationship. Over the last decade, he has attended OA consistently, and I have observed changes in his eating and in the rest of his life.
M.’s eating habits have changed to a commonsense, disciplined approach incorporating basic rules that have become habits for him. These habits are so ingrained that he maintains them with little effort. Further, through sustaining those changes over a substantial period, his appetites have adapted, and he no longer craves fat and sugar. I have seen him sample “treats” to satisfy his curiosity, and he now finds them unpleasant. This is a startling contrast after years of watching him eat various forms of fat in quantities that were sometimes disturbing to see.
M.’s weight has responded to his change in eating habits, and he has gradually gone down to a size he’d last seen in the 1960s. At the same time, he has developed more interest in exercise. It has been exciting to watch him discover abilities he had believed were beyond him and to see him develop pride in the body he had always been ashamed of. With these changes has come a joy in activities that formerly frustrated him, such as long walks and bike rides. Because of his fitness and increased confidence, the two of us recently were able to participate in an organized, weeklong bike tour. The tour was a wonderful experience for both of us and may lead to many active holidays in the future. Sharing a common interest brought us closer.
In
addition to the physical changes, M.’s personality has also changed.
He has become less critical, more flexible and more accepting of people
and circumstances. During the bike tour, the challenges of providing for
450 people at once sometimes meant cold showers, long lines for essentials
and sleep disturbed by noises. The old M. would have fussed at length
about the shortcomings. The new, “serene” M. went beyond not
complaining; he found joy in most parts of the week. These changes have
resulted in his being a much more enjoyable companion.
As a psychologist, I am familiar with the Twelve-Step programs that have helped so many. My awareness of OA is through hearing M. discuss his experience.
My daily work shows me how difficult it can be to change behavior. Overeaters Anonymous provides many elements that can be an important part of the change process. This includes a process for addressing the resentment and guilt that can drive compulsive behavior. OA provides social support and the important experience of realizing that other people have the same problems. The program provides strategies to guide people toward more effective ways of living. Finally, it provides a spiritual element that research has shown to be valuable in addressing personal issues. All these elements help to facilitate change.
Another
important aspect of OA is that it is accessible. Many other resources
for personal change either cost more than some can afford or they involve
a long waiting list. OA is available to anyone who has a desire to stop
eating compulsively.
In summary, my personal and professional experience both lead me to respect
OA as a valuable resource to which I refer appropriate clients.
—
Psychologist
Complementing the Professional Community
Many professional organizations and institutions work with OA members. Together they inform other professionals and the public about compulsive overeating and about the resources available in Overeaters Anonymous to address this problem.
OA does not compete with the professional community. On the contrary, many OA members consider OA a complement to the professional services they receive.
In part, OA works because it offers an ongoing support system and encourages members to help one another, thereby weakening their disease of isolation and loneliness.
OA members
provide this support solely by sharing their experience, strength and
hope with one another. OA claims no medical, nutritional or psychological
expertise. It suggests that interested members contact qualified professionals
for help in these areas.
We are updating the Courier mailing list. Please print the form below, fill it out and return it to:
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Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4020 USA
or e-mail the information below to info@overeatersanonymous.org.
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The World Service Office (WSO) of Overeaters Anonymous carries pamphlets for health care professionals. Call the WSO for ordering information and for titles of other pamphlets that may interest you, or visit our online catalog to see a complete list of OA literature.
Introducing OA to Health Care Professionals—Explains how OA complements professional care. Includes a questionnaire for clients and patients about eating behaviors. (#753K pack of 10/$1.25 plus shipping and handling)
OA Is Not A Diet Club—Describes what OA is and what it is not, and reviews why the OA approach works. (#111 $.20 plus shipping and handling)
Treatment and Beyond—Explains OA’s recovery program and eases the transition from treatment center to OA meeting. (#757 $1.00 plus shipping and handling)
Fifteen Questions—Helps your client decide if he or she is a compulsive overeater. (#755 pack of 20/$1.50 plus shipping and handling)
Lifeline,OA's monthly magazine, offers true stories of recovery from compulsive overeating. Written by OA members, these stories can complement your counseling and inspire your patients and clients.
Click here to learn more about Lifeline magazine.
Visit other areas of this Web site to read A Step Ahead, OA's quarterly newsletter. You may also order literature through the online catalog and subscribe to Lifeline, OA's monthly magazine described above.
Please let us know how we can better inform you about OA's Twelve-Step program. Please print the form below, fill it out, and return it to:
World Service Office
Attention Courier
P.O. Box 44020
Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4020 USA
or e-mail the information below to info@overeatersanonymous.org.
___ Send
me a Professional Kit with more detailed information about your program.
___ Send me two free months of Lifeline, your monthly journal of
recovery.
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groups.
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Have you ever referred a patient/client to OA?
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I would like to see articles on the following topics in future issues of the Courier:
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Overeaters Anonymous is a Fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience, strength and hope, are recovering from compulsive overeating. We welcome everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively. There are no dues or fees for members; we are self-supporting through our own contributions, neither soliciting nor accepting outside donations. OA is not affiliated with any public or private organization, political movement, ideology or religious doctrine; we take no position on outside issues. Our primary purpose is to abstain from compulsive overeating and to carry this message of recovery to those who still suffer.
You are welcome to duplicate and distribute the Courier without requesting permission from Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.
To learn more about the publications of Overeaters Anonymous, contact us at:
World Service Office
P.O. Box 44020
Rio Rancho, NM 87174-4020
Phone: 505-891-2664
Fax: 505-891-4320
e-mail: info@overeatersanonymous.org
© 2003 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All Rights Reserved