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Extreme Weight Gain And Childhood Trauma
The worrying link
Let’s talk about extreme weight gain and its roots in childhood trauma. Most of society sees people in large bodies, and in particular morbidly obese people, as lazy, greedy, undisciplined, and completely lacking in willpower.
You only need to watch an episode of My 600lb Life to see that. This is a show that revels in its participants’ fatness and defines them by it. There is no discussion of any of the things that might make them amazing people; they’re fat, they’re disgusting, and that’s it.
Enter Trauma
One thing it does show, however, is the fact that every single participant suffered some sort of abuse when they were younger. Every. Single. One. A large number were subjected to sexual abuse and/or rape. Some had physically abusive parents. Others had parents who were using drugs and were physically abusive, verbally abusive, or allowed their children to see them being abused.
If the percentages were lower, it would be easy to argue that that isn’t the cause. If only 50% or 60% were abused, then what was the cause for the rest? It’s not, though. Every single one of them suffered abuse and described turning to food because of it.
