Since the story broke, we've been hearing the term "tanorexia," a clever spin on anorexia. I consulted my dictionary for the origin of anorexia. It comes from Greek - an meaning "without" and orexis meaning "appetite/desire." So an anorexic has no appetite and a tanorexic has an appetite for tanning.
Back in the old days people went to the circus if they wanted to see a freak show. These days, they put the freak show on television, and call it "Strange Addictions." http://tlc.discovery.com/videos/my-strange-addiction-videos/ While there is no end to the weirdness, it seems to fall into three categories - stuff people eat or drink, what people do to their bodies, and obsessive behaviors/habits.
There are people who eat plastic, drink urine or gasoline, or eat dirt. Eating dirt is not new. It's actually quite acceptable in primitive cultures or economically depressed parts of the world. The theory is that earth provides nutrients that are lacking in the diet. Street vendors sell mud pies in Haiti. The recipe is mix some dirt with water, strain out debris and pebbles with cheese cloth, form into pancakes and fry in a pan. I worked in a day care center in the late 1970's. One of our kids ate paper. Lot's of kids taste test junk mail, you say? Well, our tot preferred toilet paper, dunked in the bowl and wrung out before savoring.
It's a crying shame the way some people mutilate there bodies. Joan Rivers looks like an amateur along side Jocelyn Wildenstein. Ms. Wildenstein might to suffer from Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), an excessive concern with her body image. Her many plastic surgeries have left her looking pretty scary.
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| Joan Wildenstein |
There's a guy who has transformed himself into a cat through plastic surgery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ7zyNnEeyM There's another guy who turned himself into a Smurf.
There are also women out there who can't stop enlarging their breasts. I refuse to put up one of those pictures.
I used to say my father was addicted to television. He turned the set on at noon and planted himself in front of it until bedtime. My mother had to threaten him to get him to take a supper break. They're calling addiction to one's mobile phone "crackberry." I've criticized Mike for spending too much time playing games on his computer, while he simultaneously watches TV and doodles with his cell phone. I also have to beg him to come to the dinner table. I think a crackberry-like condition is common to all males, and is of no concern. Sex addiction is another story. Bill Clinton, David Duchovny, and Tiger Woods were afflicted. They would have been written off as philanderers and drummed out of business a hundred years ago. Now they get to go to fancy rehabs and resume their normal lives once they've completed the program.
There are lots of theories on what causes addiction. Psychoanalysts believe addiction develops as a defense against anxiety. And who is the source of most anxieties? Mom, of course! If you don't want to blame your mother, blame your genes. As they say, "Drunks beget drunks." Or maybe your brain is wired in such a way that once a pleasure center is turned on, it won't turn off. Some think that environment is the root of addictive behavior. Perhaps your neighborhood, school, or workplace is where an addiction got started. Mental illness is also blamed for addiction.
Deviance has always fascinated me. When I see a kid with thirty piercings and stretched out earlobes, I want to know why? I have read just about all the gory stories (true crime books) that the library owns. My habit continues as I watch murder and mayhem on Discovery ID. I think we all have our quirks. Sadly, sometimes our quirks have us.
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