What's Eating You?

            The show “What’s Eating You,” documents the lives of people who experience several different types of eating disorders. You get to see them at the beginning of treatment all the way to the end as doctors, nutritionists and therapists try to help them. Each patient has story that connects to his or her eating problem.

            This show uses narrative therapy, which is “an innovative and collaborative therapeutic approach that is intrigued by the stories of people’s lives” (Daigle). The focus of this type of approach understands the stories their lives lead are based on influences from society and culture. In therapy, the doctors might work with a client on rewriting their life story in hope that they feel they have power to direct their life in a healthier and peaceful route. Narrative therapy uses the technique of externalizing the problem, which is “a way of removing the problem from within ourselves and seeing it as a separate thing that influences us and interacts wit us in ways we might not even realize” (Daigle).

            The show tackles common and bizarre eating problems from anorexia to bulimia and to eating chalk or toilet paper and many more. However, I think that Adrienne in the first episode was by far the scariest. She really did see herself as big when she was asked by her therapist to draw what she thought she looked like. Then when the therapist traced Adrienne she was shocked to see how big the difference was between the realities of it all to what she believed in her head. This show is very emotional but reveals people going through hardships that many American’s can relate to and learn from their recovery process.

            I think this show represented the narrative perspective theory by presenting the stories of these people and documented their life through recovery. This is something that would be good for some teens to see and realize being sickly skinny is not what it is cracked up to be. This show can be an inspiration to others in America who are struggling with similar issues.

References:

Daigle, Kate. "Narrative Theory." Blog: Kate Daigle Counseling. 28 Oct. 2010. Web.