Yes, GH, I do remember that incident and ultimately Frank did what he felt was right and stood up for it. I'm kinda in that situation right now. Yes it is a problem, I can see it with my own eyes, and if it should ever begin to manifest itself in more overtly physical ways, I would definitely put the life of my W before our R. Obviously there are long term effects of this. I guess at this point, the only saving grace is that at least she is maintaing a calorie intake and hasn't resorted to other methods of losing weight (e.g. exercising all the time or other "purging" methods). On the surface, she appears to be holding up.
KML, thank you so much for your informative post too. Everything you posted makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, her family history is predisposed to depression and she exhibits the classic symptoms of someone with an OC personality. Its not quite OCD, but more in lines with OCPD or perfectionism (i.e. no repetitive tasks but an obsession with cleanliness, hoarding, etc.)
I know it is not something she chooses to do....she looks at herself and notices that her bones stick out in places they probably shouldn't, but that doesn't stop her from having the opinion that her "butt looks too big in those jeans."
Thank you sooo much for the reading quidance because I think I need to have some insight about what I'm up against. To be truthful, I have no idea what brought her out of the episode when she was a teenager...I remember her telling me that some of her family members were pressuring her parents to have admitted to a facility (and to this day she holds a grudge against those people) but I believe what ultimately did it for her was the fact that her father nearly died of a heart attack. This was significant enough event for her to change.
As for family support, I know that a couple of her sisters have expressed concern for her and have tried to talk to her about it, but mostly they haven't made a real push for anything above and beyond mentioning it to her and then telling me to tell her to "eat a sandwich.". Great stuff. She hasn't seen her parents in nearly 5 months so they don't have a real clue as to what she looks like (although they have heard from other family members about it). The thing is, I don't know how much support they would be...and this is a whole other story in and of itself.
In the end, yes, I am very concerned and will do what I can to protect the life of my W and my D's.
Thanks again for your insight, it is greatly appreciated.
"Achieve success, but without vanity; Achieve success, but without aggression; Achieve success, but without gain; Achieve success, but without force." Lao Tzu
