A Disease of the Mind

The more closely I examined the phenomenon, the clearer it became that compulsive overeating is a disease. ~ Dr. William Rader, a psychiatrist engaged in clinical work with alcoholism, drug addiction, and compulsive overeating. in Appendix B, Overeaters Anonymous, Third Edition...The poem consists of excerpts from the Appendix.

The remarkable thing about OA’s success
is that the program gets people to function
far better than they ever have in their lives.
With any other disease, you’re lucky
to get back to where you were.
Once you treat the illness,
you have the potential to be
a more “together” person than you were.
It’s exciting for physicians and others,
who have been ignoring the problem
or expressing deep pessimism about it,
to think of compulsive overeating as a disease
and to realize that it can be treated so successfully.
Just as being an alcoholic is not related
to the amount one drinks,
being a compulsive overeater
is not related to the amount one weighs.
What the overeater has to do
is turn over the control to a Higher Power.
Once it is turned over, the behavior is under control.
In most cases is that the individual
develops the compulsive overeating mechanism
for dealing with life at an early age
and then starts to push problems down with the food.
Compulsive overeating is a serious disease,
and it is devastating this country.
Overeaters Anonymous should be the treatment,
and the professional should be the adjunct.