Megan’s Story: Finding Self-Esteem after Anorexia and Depression

Megan is a 17 years old teen girl who sees her self-esteem as moderate to low.  She was an obese child in grammar school and lost 40 pounds by eating healthy and swimming regularly. She was bullied and teased relentlessly because of the weight. That had a very damaging effect on her. She then swung the pendulum in the complete opposite direction and between eighth-grade and freshman year of high school she became anorexic.  As an anorexic, she counted calories and every chew. To this day she needs someone to distract her when she’s eating or she will count the calories and not eat enough. She also suffers from depression, which was obvious to me from the start of the interview. I’d say Megan was the saddest girl I interviewed for this book. She smiled once during the whole interview, and that was when I asked her what made her happy. Her response to me was “food” with a dreamy smile on her face.She has an unhealthy love affair with food. Her family situation is far from ideal, like many girls her deal with eating disorders. She has no relationship with her father, literally. Her parents are still married, although it seems they shouldn’t be based on her story. They all live in the same house, which seems to act like a prison for her mother.  It seems to be a very depressing environment.  She said that she learned a long time ago that it’s not worth trying to please her dad because it’s impossible. For years she tried and only failed over and over again in her father’s eyes. She clearly identifies the eating disorder and depression as directly related to her father.  Or rather, the lack of relationship with her father. She talked about how cruel kids can be and how she would never bully anyone because she knows what it feels like firsthand. She identifies and hangs out with a group of girls who “could be” considered bullies at her school. I’m assuming this is a strategy or defense so that she herself would never be bullied by them. She still struggles with her relationship with food and has very poor body image. When she looks in the mirror she still sees that obese child. She sees a therapist weekly and takes antidepressants. She still laments for the time when she was anorexic.

Can Acupuncture Improve Self-Esteem?

Chinese acupuncture is an ancient form of healing which began in 12 BC. The Chinese had discovered a practice of identifying key pressure points in the body and when pressed with a needle could cause relief. Today acupuncture is very common practice for many of us. People go to acupuncture to relieve headaches, bodily aches and pains, as well as a way to deal with anxieties and depression. So why can’t acupuncture improve self-esteem?  I recently brought this topic up to an acupuncturist and she agreed. She stated that acupuncture would be valuable and helpful for teens with self-esteem issues due to the positioning of their chakras i.e. energy sources and their levels. Acupuncture would be able to rebalance them for maximum health quite easily because of their age. At a time when hormones are running wild, acupuncture may be able to regulate their mood for a more balanced and productive life. Therefor, they wouldn’t experience the emotional extremes during those already difficult years that wreak havoc on our self-esteem. When looking at it this way, acupuncture for teens kind of reminds me of  a car getting a tune-up. It takes less work to maintain a new car (i.e. younger body) than an older one and you get faster, long lasting results.

So, should we be sending our teens to acupuncturists?

Sexual Harassment at Schools | AAUW

The American Association of University Women is one of those great organizations dedicated to helping women. They offer annual reports on research that they have conducted, they post insightful  articles, offer scholarship and fellowship funding for young women to attend college and just all around serve as a very credible source of information for women today. Having worked on college campuses for the past 16 years, they were always a source of information for me. Their most recent report is about sexual harassment on high school campuses. Prior to reading the report, I had no idea how prevalent sexual harassment was among high schoolers.  In addition, the report break down the differences between bullying and sexual harassment so that we have a clear understanding of the two and how they differ.  Harassment occurs in all forms; boys harassing girls, boys harassing boys, as well as girls harassing girls. The AAUW also describes  in this report the different forms of harassment that occur today among our youth in detail with proven statistics.  I highly encourage educators of middle school and high school students to read the report.  The more informed we are, the better prepared we become to handle these situations and take care of our youth.

Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at Schools | AAUW.