Abstract On July 21, 2013, I attended my first Overeaters Anonymous. Overeaters Anonymous is a worldwide support group for those who are extremely overweight, even morbidly obese; moderately overweight; average weight; underweight; still maintaining periodic control over their eating behavior; or totally unable to control their compulsive eating. This paper describes my experience and thoughts of attenging.
What is the purpose of an OA meeting?
An OA meeting provides a place where members can achieve recovery and share it with others. The primary purpose of an Overeaters Anonymous meeting is to carry the message of recovery from compulsive eating to those who still suffer. Each time an OA member shares his or her experience, strength
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Sponsors are OA members who are living the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions to the best of their ability. They are willing to share their recovery with other members of the fellowship and are committed to abstinence. Sponsors help with recovery on all three levels: physical, emotional and spiritual. By working with other members of OA and sharing their experience, strength and hope, sponsors continually renew and reaffirm their own recovery. Sponsors share their program up to the level of their own experience
What did the meeting that you attended teach-what was the topic/step on that date?
The meeting opened with the Serenity Prayer. We went around the room as the ten people who attended introduced themselves. We took turns reading from an AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) book. Alcoholics Anonymous uses the same basics in recovery. A list was passed around during the reading for everyone to sign their names and give their phone numbers. The telephone is an important tool in OA for getting and giving support and reminding you that you are not alone. After reading for 20 minutes members shared their thought, experience, strength and hope. Each member had three minutes to express themselves. A bag was passed around for optional member contributions to help pay for additional book or other helpful material. The meeting ended with the OA Promise, “I Put My Hand in Yours,”. Everyone stood in a circle and held hands while saying the
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After attending the meeting I left with a new view on overweight people. After seeing the tears and emotions of the people who expressed their feelings I have a better understanding of overweight people. The people who attended this meeting were suffering from a disease. One person used a great analogy. The food is their allergy. When they eat the food they have a negative reaction. One of the main reactions discussed was how they would willingly eat the food but they never knew how much they would need to satisfy that craving. Most people said the craving was never satisfied.
The only negative aspect of the meeting was the only attendees were there for being overweight. No one was there for fear of eating. These types of people would be able to help me out more if I continued to attend. I have a history of anorexia. I did not feel comfortable discussing my feelings in front of all these people who suffer from the opposite problem.
Did your beliefs change about overeating and OA meetings after attending the meeting? How so?
My beliefs did not change about overeating. I am aware that people are overweight for different reasons. My mom was an emotional eater. I’ve watched her get upset and just eat and eat. Then later that day she would regret eating all that be beat herself up for
I attended an open Overeaters Anonymous meeting on Wednesday, September 2, 2015. Members gathered in the basement of Overbrook Presbyterian Church on N. High St. in Columbus, Ohio at 7:00 p.m. The meeting lasted a little over an hour. Upon entering the room, everyone sat around a large, rectangular table that was sparsely populated for the size of the group. The number of members fluctuated between twelve and fifteen, as some individuals came in late and others came and left before the conclusion of the meeting. By way of demographics, all group participants were middle-age. The ratio of females to males in attendance was approximately 4:1 and the perceived leader of the group was female.
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has been around for more than 75 years. The biggest controversy about AA is if it is effective or not. Some people find AA to be an effective aid to sobriety; others find AA to be damaging and can lead to increased drinking. AA meetings are groups of people with the desire to quit drinking that help one another achieve and maintain sobriety. These meetings may include readings from the Big Book, sharing stories, discussing the traditions and 12 steps, and celebrating members’ sobriety. Because AA is anonymous, many people feel that participating in a study would be a breach
...ethnicity or culture; it happens to anyone such as, doctors, lawyers, teacher, judges, students and many more. My observation of the meeting was that every member seemed to really listen to each other’s sharing, where each member shared an experience, and others could relate to that particular experience or had similar experiences, such as struggling with promiscuous behavior or relapses in attending meetings, but they still stuck with the program because they wanted change in their lives. No one was rushed in their sharing, and everyone was opened and friendly. It was a cohesive group. I felt a sense of that openness, when I was introduced to everyone, and included at close of the meeting, where everyone one formed a circle, held hands and recited the serenity prayer. Overall, it was a new and knowledgeable experience Another Chance gave me.
After speaking with several individuals, the first time they attended a meeting, they felt scared, alone and confused. However, after leaving, they had hope. Hope that tomorrow would be better than today. Hope they can make it another 24 hours without taking a drink. Because the individuals attending the meeting, are encouraged to take it “one day at a time”. More importantly, they have hope because they now have a social network they can rely on, relate to and connect with personally.
The first meeting was large with approximately 12 members, including the facilitator. My initial emotion internalized was amazement in the structure of the group. The structure of the group provides structure for the members which is crucial for those struggling with alcoholism. The initial sharing was from a young member of 26 who was struggling with sobriety and shared that he recently lost a child through miscarriage. I immediately became overwhelmed in the rawness of his visible emotions (crying). As I observed other members while he was sharing his story, they were intently listening to him. When the sharer finished, the group acknowledged him and another sharer started with his name and “I am an alcoholic”. I appreciated the structure of this transition. The emotion seemed to fill the room and it impacted how everyone addressed their next sharing. The following members shared in the direction of the first sharer and related to the difficulties and provided advise. During the exchange of emotion between members, I continued to be overwhelmed with the emotions internally. The second meeting that I attended was smaller but still provided that set structure and “family” feel of group members. Emotion and exchange of emotion was present as well. I chose to attend this meeting twice because I was impressed and overwhelmed by the first meeting, I had to attend again to gain more
My experience with the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting that I went to was an interesting one. I felt a couple different feelings while I was attending the meeting. The first thing that I felt was that I didn’t belong there, because I’ve never been in the situation that these other individuals had been in. The second thing that I felt was awkwardness. I felt awkward because nobody really socialized with me, other than the occasional hello. The third feeling that I felt was of empathy for these people because recovering from alcoholism isn’t easy. I didn’t feel that I belonged in the group of recovering alcoholics at the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting.
Today obesity is talked about as a major physical health problem. It can cause diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, immobilization, and many other problems. However many articles fail to mention what is one of the most important and most destructive problems. This is the effect of obesity on one’s mental health and wellbeing. Being excessively overweight usually instills in it’s victims a sense of self worthlessness and gives them a very negative self-image. This can lead to an array of problems that affect the person in a way that is much more direct and difficult to deal with than physical problems. While the problem is known to affect men, it strikes women much more often.
“Look at her, eating at Macdonalds, maybe if she stopped eating so much she would lose some weight”. This statement is constantly made by thousands of people who do not know the truth about obesity. Humans are quick to make judgements based on what they see in front of them. If an obese person is eating, the first thing that comes to mind for many people is, “Its their fault that they are overweight”. The details of the obese individuals story are often overlooked. People do not realize that there are many factors that contribute to obesity such as; genetics, medical disorders, and the lifestyles being passed on to current and upcoming generations. Likewise, the story of a woman named Claire illustrates how a person can be deemed overweight from the beginning of their childhood. She was raised by a family who used the “clean your plate” method. Since the age of 3, whenever she was being fed, Claire would be forced to finish the enormous portions of food on her plate completely. If she refused, even due to feeling sick, Claire would be punished by being locked up in a garden room by her parents. She now suffers being morbidly obese, having a weight of 392 pounds at age 43 (BBC News Magazine, 2012). These causes are all substantial evidence that obesity is not brought upon an individual at their own fault, however, due to the circumstances they face in their life.
In today’s U.S. population, most people have an eating disorder to the extent they cannot control. Michael Pollan, a person whom someone may or may not know, creates his own theory to how people are highly considered in having such eating disorders. As a matter of fact, people are unable to access their problem and do not want to go out of their way to possibly consider to get further help to address their needs accordingly. There are many different eating disorders aggressively seen throughout society and some may have serious consequences to one’s health, nutritionism, and relationships.
Twenty percent of individuals that suffer from an eating disorder don’t seek help and die from their illness, which can be prevented by the use of treatment using things such as psychotherapy, rehabilitation centers, medications, and support from those around them. With these treatments and support systems, disordered eating can possibly be overcome and the patient can be safely restored to health. More than eight million people in the United States suffer from some type of eating disorder, ninety percent of them being women. (Divine Caroline, 1)
An ongoing issue that continues to plague schools today is a silent yet catastrophic illness known to many as Eating Disorders. What many people do not realize that not only are there several sub-strands of eating disorders, but these can include either over eating or not eating at all. The following two articles presented will proceed to offer a glimpse into the reality of both sides of this particular mental illness.
Right after the Internet became part of a daily routine in 1994, Pro-Ana became one of the strongest online groups. Some websites started out innocently but quickly turned into a full Pro-Ana. In this community, abnormal eating
In life, people are told to do whatever they set their mind to and whatever that pleases them, but no one has ever cared to menton to anyone, the pros and cons behind each action and the consequences to come for those who continue to harm themselves by walking down this path. Throughout the world and most commonly in the west side of it, obesity has begun to spread more widely than before. Not as a disease or and epidemic but in a form of their lifestyle that causes it, and most people don’t know what’s to come. Throughout many reports, there are many incidents where people who are obese have trouble trying to live their lives and have been experiencing symptoms that been changing and affecting them mentally and physically. Though many assume
“Overeating is not the cause of obesity , it is a symptom of an underlying disturbance. The changes in fat storage are the essential disturbance.” Obesely speaking :’) Compulsive over eating is a phenomenon in which binge eaters, overeat but do not purge, which usually leads them to become overweight. Binge eating is characterized by eating, in a discrete period of time, an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances, as well as by a sense of lack of control over eating during the episode. Emotional eating has become more of a Psychological phenomenon when one tends to eat feeling sad , anxious or bored. This can be understood as part of a wider cultural problem of consumption and materialistic aspect. Certain developments in the field of Science and the way Brands Market their products have made a huge impact on humans.
Worldwide more than one billion people are overweight and more than eight-million people suffer from eating disorders (Adriaanse, Ridder, Evers 1; Smith 9). Most people aren’t extremely fit. Everyone has some problem with food, to an extent. For most people the problems are under control, but this is not the case for everyone. Unhealthy relationships with food can have serious consequences.