I stumbled on to this discussion and continued reading the thread out of fascination.....
This woman clearly has some mental health issues. Aside from the obvious obesity, she clearly may have some physical issues, too, which are only contributing to this overall situation. That is most unfortunate and I really do hope that she is receiving both medical and psychological help, as she certainly is demonstrating that she is very needy, very in need of help outside of herself and her own little world.
It's interesting, isn't it? Onlookers recoil in horror at the sight of a very obese, morbidly obese, beyond-morbidly obese, individual and shudder. Someone who is 400, 500, 600 pounds or more just isn't a lovely sight.
On the opposite end of the spectrum onlookers also recoil in horror at the sight of a very emaciated individual, someone who is skeletal, skin-and-bones..... Someone who is an adult, even a short one, weighing in at 40, 50 or 60 pounds just isn't a lovely sight, either.
Funny how very often the emaciated ones (those suffering from anorexia nervosa, which is a clinical diagnosis outlined and fully described in the psychiatric literature and the DSM -- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual -- issued on a periodic basis by psychiatrists) -- do wind up in a clinical setting, either a medical floor or a psychiatric floor...... It's pretty clear to even the most naive of laypersons that there is something wrong when a person seems to be starving him/herself to death and is presenting as skeletal.
Funny that when someone is going to the opposite extreme and stuffing him/herself to death that it isn't acknowledged in the same way and that very often it is only when someone has really gone to extremes such as weighing several hundred pounds over mere "overweight" status that anyone really takes notice. When someone presents weighing 600, 700, 800 pounds, yes, that is suggestive of the need for clinical intervention, both medical and psychological, isn't it?
On both ends of that spectrum, people die. Anorexics weighing 30 or 40 or 50 pounds die -- they also can die at much higher weights, closer to "normal" weights, too, actually, if the refeeding process and clinical treatment isn't handled carefully. Yes, they can die at so-called "normal" weights due to some underlying psychological issues never being addressed at all or not being addressed successfully even as the weight is seemingly restored.
Undoubtedly many people who have gotten to the point of morbid obesity or beyond that also have died, even during the process of attempting to restore weight to a healthier or more normal level....and again, chances are that this is due to the underlying psychological issues never being addressed or being inadequately addressed.
Sad, isn't it? Going to extremes in any direction is not a good thing and when this occurs it usually is pointing to significant underlying issues in an individual's life which really need to be addressed along with the particular weight situation.
Don't be repelled by the severely obese person you meet or the severely emaciated person you meet; these are real people with real feelings, real issues hiding in there somewhere and the bottom line is that these are people who need help.