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OA
News and Information
for the Professional Community
|
2007
|
2007
Highlights:
Also in
This Issue:
Why
Should You Refer a Patient to OA?
I am an addiction psychiatrist and group psychotherapist in Chicago, Illinois.
I am grateful to treat many compulsive overeaters recovering from this
addiction who use the program of Overeaters Anonymous (OA).
My colleagues in addictions medicine have often witnessed the miracle of a hopeless alcoholic receiving the gift of sobriety by practicing the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Unfortunately, many practitioners in my field continue to deny that compulsive overeating is a deadly disease like alcoholism: a chronic, progressive, relapsing disease for which recovery is possible.
Obesity is the most obvious symptom for many compulsive overeaters, but the havoc in their lives results not only from this physical manifestation, but also from their futile, obsessive attempts to control their weight, their relationship with food and their bodies.
The miracle of Overeaters Anonymous is that with the use of the Steps, Traditions and tools of this program, compulsive overeaters can achieve physical, emotional and spiritual recovery. Through the eight tools of OA, the overeater receives support in developing a plan of eating, finding support and guidance in meetings with other recovering compulsive eaters, using a sponsor, writing, making outreach phone calls, discovering OA literature, enjoying anonymity and giving service. Each of these tools challenges the compulsive overeater to let go of the previous beliefs and dysfunctional behaviors that led to despair and could lead to death.
Yet this program is gentle, demanding no timetable for the changes that restore the suffering overeater to sanity. OA invites each member to embrace new patterns by offering examples of recovery through the many compulsive overeaters who share their experience, strength and hope in meetings and as sponsors.
I am never surprised when patients whom I refer to Overeaters Anonymous come to me with reasons why this program will not work for them. I hear these resistances with gratitude and often ask these patients to make me a list of their dissatisfactions. The lists always provide an excellent road map for the dysfunctional characteristics of their relationships with food and people. I ask my patients to attend six meetings before they decide if OA is right for them, and by the time we begin to examine their ambivalence, most have begun the process of attaching to some part of the program that works for them.
As I strive to support my patients’ participation in OA, I also find that their OA-program work provides a vital system of checks and balances in their work with me. I learn about their recovery process in tandem with them.
As a group psychotherapist, I am particularly sensitive to the dynamics that allow a group to work well and those that tend to disrupt or destroy a group’s work. The wisdom of the Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous (adapted from the Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous), which govern OA meetings and the Fellowship as a whole, has impressed me. These Traditions safeguard the well-being of each individual member as well as the Fellowship.
— J.D.R., MD, FASAM, FAGPA
I
am a general internist in practice for more than 27 years.
I have had a compulsive eating disorder since I was seven, when I weighed 110 pounds and first put myself on a diet. I lost and regained weight many times. Nineteen years ago I became a member of Overeaters Anonymous. My continuing recovery in that program has enabled me to maintain a healthy weight for the first time in my life.
In my medical practice, I see people with all types of compulsive eating disorders. Depending on their diagnosis and stage of recovery, many are overweight, some are normal weight, and others are malnourished. All suffer because of the disease of compulsive overeating or undereating.
I have found that a broad-based support team is necessary for lasting recovery. While many professionals may be helping a person suffering from compulsive eating, OA has been especially valuable to many of these patients.
Compulsive overeaters established OA, but anorexics and bulimics find acceptance and recovery there too. Often, when all else has failed, sufferers will join OA, look at themselves with honesty for the first time and rediscover a desire to get well. As their recovery progresses, their nutritional conditions improve. Solving nutritional problems goes a long way toward solving other medical problems, including type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, electrolyte disturbances and osteoporosis. The list goes on and on.
Why does OA work when nothing else does? I believe it is the power of shared experiences among peers, done in an honest, willing and moving way. This can be far more convincing than diagnoses, which come from professionals and can feel judgmental. And suggestions for change received from fellow sufferers are easier taken than prescribed instructions.
In OA, a nutritional plan of eating is a “tool.” No one plan of eating fits all; each member creates his or her own plan. Another tool is sponsorship. Connecting with an individual sponsor is as important as connecting through meetings with groups of fellow sufferers. These tools and others lead to a comprehensive state of physical, emotional and spiritual recovery called “abstinence.”
OA frames food and eating in a spiritual manner, using the Twelve-Step program of recovery used successfully over the past 70 years by Alcoholics Anonymous. However, unlike alcohol, food is a mandatory component of life and an important part of human society. In addition to its basic nutritional use, food has had many sociocultural and spiritual uses throughout history.
The difference between compulsive eaters and people who use food for simple nutrition is that compulsive eaters have distorted its use with destructive behavior patterns. Using the Twelve-Step program of recovery, abstinent members embark on a journey to achieve physical wholeness while learning how to balance their physical, emotional and spiritual lives.
Based on my own experience, I believe that the group dynamic found in OA and its emotional and spiritual lessons are powerful, untapped resources in our battle against the many health problems caused by compulsive eating.
I encourage every health-care professional to consider referring to Overeaters Anonymous any patients who have issues with food, eating and weight. They may thank you for the rest of their lives.
—L.T., MD, Nashville, Tennessee
“Hearing Is Believing: OA Members Speak" CD Hear a five-minute excerpt from Hearing Is Believing: OA Members Speak…, a 20-minute CD that depicts the inspiring journeys of several OA members from despair to recovery and serenity. |
As a nurse, I have observed my colleague and friend, Nessa, maintain an 80-pound weight loss and a permanent lifestyle change for 23 years as a result of her membership in Overeaters Anonymous. Nessa had struggled with obesity, yo-yo dieting, health concerns and low self-image for years. Often I would hear her say, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Once I start eating, I just can’t stop.” Since she joined OA in 1983, she has never had to say that again.
With
no personal experience in a Twelve-Step program, I maintained a certain
disdain and professional aloofness regarding the ability of such a program
to help people with such devastating issues as alcoholism, compulsive
eating or drug addiction. After years of discussing Twelve-Step programs
with Nessa, I have concluded this type of program can and does effect permanent,
life-changing results and can be used as an adjunct to professional care.
I saw Nessa go from being a buffet-line repeat to a person who eats three moderate meals a day, with nothing in between and no personal binge foods. I saw her say “no thank you” for over 20 years to every offer of delicious desserts made by our bridge-club members. I saw her shrink from a size 22W to a beautiful size 8 and, astonishingly, maintain that size for over 20 years. I saw her become a committed exerciser who never skipped her daily routine—not when we went to strange cities for meetings, not on cruises and not when she felt just so-so.
And most important, when her students, patients and other health-care professionals at the university where we teach have sought counsel about weight issues, Nessa has shared her experience, strength and hope. It is impossible to know how many lives have benefited from her concerned counseling, but I am certain there are many.
I, too, suggest Overeaters Anonymous to my patients when obesity is a health issue. Based on my personal experience with my friend and other OA members, I recommend Overeaters Anonymous for people who need a proven, successful way to attain and maintain a healthy body weight.
— D.S., RN, PhDThe World Service Office (WSO) of Overeaters Anonymous carries pamphlets for health-care professionals. Call the WSO or go to the Literature Catalog for ordering information and other pamphlet titles.
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. (#755K pack of 20/$1.50 plus shipping and handling)
Shipping:
$3 for orders up to $18. Orders $18.01 to $100, 17% of total.
Above $100, 12% of order. Call the WSO for shipping outside the US.
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 email the information below to info@oa.org.
___ Send me a Professional Kit with detailed information about your program.
___ Send me two free issues of Lifeline, your recovery magazine.
___ Let me know about OA members in my area who could speak to professional groups.Name ________________________________________
Company/Organization __________________________
Address ______________________________________
City __________________________________________
State/Province _________________________________
Zip ____________
Country _______________________________________
Telephone _____________________________________
Email _________________________________________
Have you ever referred a patient/client to OA?
___ yes
___ no
I would like to see articles on the following topics in future issues of the Courier:
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Preamble 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 written permission from Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. Download the PDF file for easy printing and distribution.
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
email: info@oa.org
© 2007 Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. All Rights Reserved