"Genetics provide the gun, environment pulls the trigger"
NOTE: Out of respect for the writer, name and identity will not be included.
"Before I talk about my experience with mental health, here is a little background about me: I graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 2015 with a Public Health degree, specializing in Social and Behavioral Health Sciences. I am an advocator for Eating Disorder Awareness; an advocator for the illness that haunted me from my childhood all the way through my teenage years. Even though distorted eating is common on my maternal side of the family, it always made me curious on why I, out of everyone in my family, am the only one who ended up developing long-term eating disorders, chronic depression, and bipolar disorder type II. I did not know the tremendous impact my environment had on my mental wellbeing until I took an upper-division eating disorder class at my University. A particular quote I will never forget from that class is: "Genetics provide the gun, environment pulls the trigger". So, here is a story of my environment.
I was born and raised on a farm in the rural area of Vung Tau, Vietnam. Despite receiving no maternal care during her pregnancy while working over 60 hours a week, my mother delivered me as a fairly healthy baby.
As a child, I was calm and easy-going. I was very active thanks to the various farm-work I was required to do. The foods I ate were always fresh from our farm, or the market. My relationship with food itself was relatively normal despite my difficulties with keeping down the food after consumption. After being forced to move from my birth country to America with my mother to "reunite" with "family members", I have never met, I experienced severe culture shock and developed a sense of abandonment. My inability to speak English at school and at home eventually made me the prime target for bullying. My weight suddenly became a topic of discussion which gradually sullied my relationship with food and eventually myself. As my mother became more absent due to work obligations, my days spent outdoor became minimal and the foods I ate drastically became less fresh.
My parents' constant absence means that I was always in the care of my older cousins. As my cousins grew older, drugs became prominent in their lives. Even though I abstained from the drugs, I was constantly around it. This eventually lead to multiple events that caused me to develop PTSD symptoms and triggered my first episode of eating disorder behavior at the age of eight. 'Til this day, it still baffles me that despite being in horrendous discomfort mentally and physically, I was somehow in deep denial of my illness until my early 20s. After being in a rehabilitation treatment center for my eating disorder and other various mental disorders, I started to recognize that my little sister has almost identical eating behaviors as me when I was younger. In fear of her developing an eating disorder, my mother and I try our best to cultivate a mentally and physically healthy environment in our current household."
"Before I talk about my experience with mental health, here is a little background about me: I graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 2015 with a Public Health degree, specializing in Social and Behavioral Health Sciences. I am an advocator for Eating Disorder Awareness; an advocator for the illness that haunted me from my childhood all the way through my teenage years. Even though distorted eating is common on my maternal side of the family, it always made me curious on why I, out of everyone in my family, am the only one who ended up developing long-term eating disorders, chronic depression, and bipolar disorder type II. I did not know the tremendous impact my environment had on my mental wellbeing until I took an upper-division eating disorder class at my University. A particular quote I will never forget from that class is: "Genetics provide the gun, environment pulls the trigger". So, here is a story of my environment.
I was born and raised on a farm in the rural area of Vung Tau, Vietnam. Despite receiving no maternal care during her pregnancy while working over 60 hours a week, my mother delivered me as a fairly healthy baby.
As a child, I was calm and easy-going. I was very active thanks to the various farm-work I was required to do. The foods I ate were always fresh from our farm, or the market. My relationship with food itself was relatively normal despite my difficulties with keeping down the food after consumption. After being forced to move from my birth country to America with my mother to "reunite" with "family members", I have never met, I experienced severe culture shock and developed a sense of abandonment. My inability to speak English at school and at home eventually made me the prime target for bullying. My weight suddenly became a topic of discussion which gradually sullied my relationship with food and eventually myself. As my mother became more absent due to work obligations, my days spent outdoor became minimal and the foods I ate drastically became less fresh.
My parents' constant absence means that I was always in the care of my older cousins. As my cousins grew older, drugs became prominent in their lives. Even though I abstained from the drugs, I was constantly around it. This eventually lead to multiple events that caused me to develop PTSD symptoms and triggered my first episode of eating disorder behavior at the age of eight. 'Til this day, it still baffles me that despite being in horrendous discomfort mentally and physically, I was somehow in deep denial of my illness until my early 20s. After being in a rehabilitation treatment center for my eating disorder and other various mental disorders, I started to recognize that my little sister has almost identical eating behaviors as me when I was younger. In fear of her developing an eating disorder, my mother and I try our best to cultivate a mentally and physically healthy environment in our current household."
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