Messages By: steiwhleur

Dr. Phil,

I worry about the safety of the children!  If their parents are physically abusive towards each other, they could turn that abuse onto the children in a heartbeat.  I think this show is going to be a little over the top.  Are you really trying to help a family who, in my opinion, should stay apart, or are you trying to get  viewers all riled up to watch the start of your new season??  Please remember that the safety of the innocent children should come first.  Of course I'll be watching because you've gotten ME all riled up!  Hope it all works out for the best.

Sanjay and Jacquline should be ashamed of themselves.  Their "relationship" is sickening.  Sanjay thinks he's scored big-time....and so does Jacquline.  He hets a bimbo trophy to show off and she gets cars and money and all the material things she wants.  She sounds like a brat who was spoiled by her parents and she seems to have a "daddy complex."  She's looking for the love and attention that maybe her own father didn't give her.  This relationship won't last.  Trust me....a younger companion usually turns out to be too much for the older companion!

I am a  married 35 year old female and I thought that my disordered eating was a thing of the past.  I had been bulimic for two years -- starting in December of 2003.  I finally got past that part of my life only to start restricting my food intake and becoming anorexic.  I am 5'2" and three and a half weeks ago I weighed 87.5lbs.  I am now in a new kind of therapy called DBT (dialectal behavioral therapy) and I am working with a dietician.  I now weigh 90.5lbs, which is encouraging.  I have to eat a minimum of 45 grams of protein every day(which is not as easy as it  sounds).  Food consumes most of my thoughts -- am I eating enough, does this have enough protein in it, etc.  I struggle with the emotional aspect of gaining the weight.  My sense of control has essentially been taken from me.  I have to follow my therapist's, psychiatrist's and my dietician's rules and that's VERY hard to do most days.  I resent the weight that I've gained, but at the same time I understand that I must gain the weight to avoid harming my internal organs and potentially being hospitalized. 

I hope other women read this posting and understand the mental battle people with eating disorders go through every minute, every hour, every day.  I've had other women say to me  "Oh I wish I could be as small as you!"  If they really understood what is going on in my life they would never make such an insensitive and shallow remark.

Being extremely thin is not the answer.  I'm not happier or richer or better than anyone else just because of my weight. Eating disorders have cost me a lot -- strained relationships, my job, my health, my looks.

Eating disorders among the 30-something crowd is on the rise.  What exactly are we looking for?? 

Your comments are ridiculously shallow and hurtful and just plain IGNORANT!  I am anorexic.  I did not get this way for vanity purposes.  It's my reaction to many bad things happening in my life, depression, my need for absolute control, my need for perfection, and my black and white thinking.  To me you are either fat or thin...no in between.  Eating disorders are very complex psychological disorders that take years from which to recover. 

Don't make comments on subjects that you know NOTHING about.....or bear the brunt of many nasty (and very informational) e-mail replies such as mine!

I graduated from an upper-middle class high school in 1990.  I thought I had learned what needed to be learned so that I could go on to college.  WRONG!  In college I had to pay for REMEDIAL math classes!!! I was so angry.  But then I looked around at who was in my remedial class and they were all students from North Hills High School!!  I wanted to bill the high school for my remedial classes, but my parents said I should just drop it.  I wish I had sent the high school a bill.  Maybe it would have caused them to take another look at their sub-par cirriculum!!

That was all hapening 16 years ago!  I now live in New Mexico and the schools here are horrific.  Graduates can't read, write, do math, spell....nothing!  My niece is in the 9th grade and probably reads on a 4th grade level.  She can't spell correctly if her life depended on it...and it does.  No one wants to hire someone too stupid to spell or add or divide correctly.  And her speaking is just as bad.  She sounds like a dullard.  This will haunt her for the rest of her life.  People will assume she's an idiot, not the kind, sweet, beautiful girl that she has become.

New Mexico ranks 43rd out of 50 for our inadequate schooling, yet our govenor refuses to address it.  Yes he's trying to throw money at the problem, but we need to start requiring more from the teachers and principals before we can make such demands on our children.  New Mexico also has a "don't ask" policy about if a child is an illegal or an American citizen.  Therefore our schools are flooded with illegals who only speak Spanish.  This adds to the teachers' burden---the teachers must learn and teach Spanish to "accomodate" these illegals.  No wonder we rank so low!!  New Mexico is like a 3rd world country in many ways.

Home schooling sounds like the way to go so long as the parents meet all the required credentials and they are diligent about teaching at home.  Home schooled kids should have some kind of network so that they can be around like-aged kids.  That way they can learn the socialization skills needed out in the real world.

For our retirement we are looking to go to the mountains of Montana -- maybe we'll find some smart people like us up there!!