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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/13/obese-depression-weight-psychology-judgment-fat-shaming
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| Why are obese people depressed? Because they live in a hostile world | Why are obese people depressed? Because they live in a hostile world |
| (about 2 months later) | |
| Obesity and depression: a chicken-and-egg situation that baffles and beguiles medical health professionals in surgeries and academic journals equally. Which truly comes first in this ouroboros of NHS resource drains – the incapacity to feel fully and interact with the world around you, or getting the 12-pack box of doughnuts instead of just the three because screw-it-I-deserve-some-happiness-today-don’t-I? | Obesity and depression: a chicken-and-egg situation that baffles and beguiles medical health professionals in surgeries and academic journals equally. Which truly comes first in this ouroboros of NHS resource drains – the incapacity to feel fully and interact with the world around you, or getting the 12-pack box of doughnuts instead of just the three because screw-it-I-deserve-some-happiness-today-don’t-I? |
| That depression is more common in those who are overweight is known in medical circles probably about as well as tired chicken-and-egg allusions are among regular folk who didn’t have the requisite level of smarts to take a Hippocratic oath. The first issue so often flows into the other, and back the other way around too, becoming all tangled up together in the everyday without us even noticing. | That depression is more common in those who are overweight is known in medical circles probably about as well as tired chicken-and-egg allusions are among regular folk who didn’t have the requisite level of smarts to take a Hippocratic oath. The first issue so often flows into the other, and back the other way around too, becoming all tangled up together in the everyday without us even noticing. |
| Jokes about eating loads because you’re sad. Hackneyed scenes of depressed women eating ice cream while crying on TV. Office kitchen talk with the annoying co-worker you avoid who says things like “I look so fat today” (when they don’t) and “OMG I’m depressed” (when they aren’t) as conversation openers. And why? Is it just because the Kitchen Person is completely thoughtless? Sorry – wrong question. I mean: what links obesity and depression – does the first issue cause the second? | Jokes about eating loads because you’re sad. Hackneyed scenes of depressed women eating ice cream while crying on TV. Office kitchen talk with the annoying co-worker you avoid who says things like “I look so fat today” (when they don’t) and “OMG I’m depressed” (when they aren’t) as conversation openers. And why? Is it just because the Kitchen Person is completely thoughtless? Sorry – wrong question. I mean: what links obesity and depression – does the first issue cause the second? |
| It’s tempting to think that. It’s easy to think a person is depressed because they aren’t trying hard enough to get better, that they’re lazy and their weight is a signifier of that. I mean, I hope that’s why people think and say these things of others, and not because of cruelty, or judgment, or disgust about weight issues … | It’s tempting to think that. It’s easy to think a person is depressed because they aren’t trying hard enough to get better, that they’re lazy and their weight is a signifier of that. I mean, I hope that’s why people think and say these things of others, and not because of cruelty, or judgment, or disgust about weight issues … |
| With ‘food deserts’ everywhere, it’s no wonder so many Brits are obese | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett | With ‘food deserts’ everywhere, it’s no wonder so many Brits are obese | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett |
| Hippocratic-oath-type university folk have tried to figure this thing out for sure, publishing a study on the influence of higher BMI on depression. Research led by the University of Exeter and the University of South Australia examined data from more than 48,000 people, and the results are in: “The psychological impact of being obese is likely to cause depression.” The suggestion from Dr Jess Tyrrell and her colleagues is that the health issues related to being fat don’t cause depression – in other words, eating 12 doughnuts doesn’t cause depression. Fat and clinical sadness don’t feed off each other in self-destructive slivers. It’s the mental impact of being overweight that’s the problem. And you know what doesn’t help the mental impact? That annoying person moaning in the work kitchen. | Hippocratic-oath-type university folk have tried to figure this thing out for sure, publishing a study on the influence of higher BMI on depression. Research led by the University of Exeter and the University of South Australia examined data from more than 48,000 people, and the results are in: “The psychological impact of being obese is likely to cause depression.” The suggestion from Dr Jess Tyrrell and her colleagues is that the health issues related to being fat don’t cause depression – in other words, eating 12 doughnuts doesn’t cause depression. Fat and clinical sadness don’t feed off each other in self-destructive slivers. It’s the mental impact of being overweight that’s the problem. And you know what doesn’t help the mental impact? That annoying person moaning in the work kitchen. |
| Judgment of the overweight makes overweight people depressed – it’s a groundbreaking idea, isn’t it? Get this – if you’re a person with a healthy BMI and you’re scoffing about feeling “fat today” next to an overweight person (who’s now realising you see them as lesser/objectionable), you’re a public health hazard. You’re the mental health equivalent of eating a box of doughnuts every day. You’re poisoning the wellbeing of those around you. | Judgment of the overweight makes overweight people depressed – it’s a groundbreaking idea, isn’t it? Get this – if you’re a person with a healthy BMI and you’re scoffing about feeling “fat today” next to an overweight person (who’s now realising you see them as lesser/objectionable), you’re a public health hazard. You’re the mental health equivalent of eating a box of doughnuts every day. You’re poisoning the wellbeing of those around you. |
| Equally, let’s say you work in the film industry, and you’re involved in producing films where the plus-size female lead has to sustain a head injury – actual brain trauma (the plot of both I Feel Pretty and Isn’t It Romantic) – in order to be confident enough to have a successful romantic life. To be loved. And those watching are invited to laugh at the ridiculousness of an overweight woman believing she’s worthy of love. If you’re involved in those films, you could possibly, or even probably, be contributing to an environment that negatively affects the mental health of your audience. Perhaps your film posters should contain a health warning. | Equally, let’s say you work in the film industry, and you’re involved in producing films where the plus-size female lead has to sustain a head injury – actual brain trauma (the plot of both I Feel Pretty and Isn’t It Romantic) – in order to be confident enough to have a successful romantic life. To be loved. And those watching are invited to laugh at the ridiculousness of an overweight woman believing she’s worthy of love. If you’re involved in those films, you could possibly, or even probably, be contributing to an environment that negatively affects the mental health of your audience. Perhaps your film posters should contain a health warning. |
| And how about all those well-meaning charity or government-funded campaigns to fight obesity in the UK? The ones that result in accusations of body shaming, and which make people feel bad; the ones that don’t really work? Is the impulse to help enough to justify the negative impact, the hum all this adds to the white noise of negativity overweight people are surrounded by already? | And how about all those well-meaning charity or government-funded campaigns to fight obesity in the UK? The ones that result in accusations of body shaming, and which make people feel bad; the ones that don’t really work? Is the impulse to help enough to justify the negative impact, the hum all this adds to the white noise of negativity overweight people are surrounded by already? |
| You may not agree that any of those things are cruel or harmful. You may not think they cause depression. But the research suggests that they may. Something needs to change: people need to be kinder to each other, to put it simply. And should it really take a medical research study for us to consider that idea? | You may not agree that any of those things are cruel or harmful. You may not think they cause depression. But the research suggests that they may. Something needs to change: people need to be kinder to each other, to put it simply. And should it really take a medical research study for us to consider that idea? |
| • Phoebe-Jane Boyd is a content editor for an online media company | • Phoebe-Jane Boyd is a content editor for an online media company |
| Obesity | Obesity |
| Opinion | Opinion |
| Mental health | Mental health |
| Health | Health |
| Depression | Depression |
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