Thin

"I Used To Have A Personality"--"Thin" Deftly Examines Those Who Have Sacrificed Life To An Eating Disorder
Through the years, I have had several friends with anorexia and/or bulimia--so when I saw this HBO documentary, I thought I'd give it a look. "Thin" tells the story of Florida's Renfrew Center which is a treatment facility for eating disorders. Following four women specifically, we see some of their emotional highs and lows and the Center's process of recovery in great detail. I've always associated eating disorders with younger (college or high school age) women, so for me it was fascinating to see the diverse cross section of older and even well-established women facing these issues.

The women are candid and it seems as if we have an all access look into their lives. Particularly interesting to me is how supportive friendships can be formed--but in some cases, those can also be enabling. One clique, in particular, starts to take on a negative image when they start disregarding the rules. The sincerity of some of the women wanting to get well is always a...

Impressively done and very graphic
As someone recovering from an eating disorder, I have noticed that there is a continuing problem with much of the eating disorder literature and media available today; while it effectively serves as an educational tool for those trying to understand the dark world of eating disorders, it can often serve as a trigger for those trying to recover from an eating disorder. However I have found that Lauren Greenfield's work, both on her Thin documentary and book, does not do this. In fact, Greenfield's work is the first piece of information on eating disorders that has truly repulsed me from the very condition of having an eating disorder. This is the first time I have ever felt this way, and that is very significant, because the difficult part of breaking away from disordered eating is actually seeing that it is a repulsive act.

For this reason, I highly recommend both the book and the documentary for those who actively want to recover, and need inspiration, and to those who...

Glimpse into Eating Disorder Thinking & Treatment
I definitely agree that this documentary is limited in it's portrayal of the "reality" of eating disorders and treatment. For several reasons, this still isn't the ULTIMATE look into the lives of eating disordered patients, though it's the best to date. Patients do die as a result of eating disorders, 7%-10%, a fact that is not made out as a very serious in this film, any one of the women portrayed were on the brink when they arrived. You lose the fact that most eating disorder patients, patients with symptoms as serious as those of Shelly and even those with less serious symptoms, spend their ENTIRE LIVES fighting. Spending years in many different types of treatment, being treated, inside & outside residential treatment centers, as if they should "just eat" because family members and friends don't understand. As frustrated as those around us can get, understanding the thinking seems to be harder than most any other "mental" illness, because why can't we "just eat?" I think this...

Click to Editorial Reviews