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Thin, by Lauren Greenfield
"I just want to be thin. So if it takes dying to get there, so be it."
These are the words spoken by an eating disorder patient in Florida’s Renfrew Center, a residential facility for the treatment of women with eating disorders.
Lauren Greenfield's award-winning HBO documentary, Thin, takes us inside the Renfrew Center for a behind the scenes look at the recovery process of women suffering from illnesses such as anorexia and bulimia.
The documentary focuses on four main characters:
Shelly Guillory, 25 (appears on the cover of Thin)
A psychiatric nurse, Shelly has been force fed through a tube for 5 years (initially through her nose and then through her stomach). She has been hospitalised 10 times, and has contemplated suicide on a couple of occasions. She has an identical twin sister, Kelly, who also features in the documentary, but Kelly does not have an eating disorder. Shelly believes her twin sister is more popular than she is.
Polly Williams, 29
Polly admitted herself to Renfrew after a suicide attempt stemming from a variety of reasons, but which was triggered by two pieces of pizza. She admits to having always been obsessed with dieting and counting calories. Polly recalls being encouraged by her family to cut her food into small pieces, and chew slowly and drink water with meals to fill her stomach up, things that we now know are symptoms of eating disorders.
Brittany Robinson, 15
On arrival at Renfrew, Brittany had a low heart rate, hair loss and liver damage. Brittany has had an eating disorder since aged 8, when she became a compulsive overeater. She started dieting at 12, feeling that many of her peers were thinner than she was, and began purging at 15. Britney’s mother, who features in the documentary, has an eating disorder also.
Alisa Williams, 30
Alisa is a mother of two, and has been hospitalised 5 times with dehydration from using diuretics, laxatives and enemas. She has had an eating disorder for 16 years. When Alisa was 7, a paediatrician commented she was fat and put her on a calorie controlled meal plan. She later joined the air force in order to lose weight, as she thought if she lived a fast paced lifestyle she would stay thin.
When patients first enter Renfrew, they are subjected to the humiliation of bags, coats and all their belongings being searched by people wearing white protective gloves. But this is only a sign of things to come.
Renfrew is run with a regimental style regime. There are strict rules, policies and procedures that are in place to help patients make their lives more manageable. The staff members conduct random room searches, looking in everything, even inside toilet rolls to ensure patients are not hiding things they shouldn’t have (which could be anything from sharp objects to chewing gum).
Renfrew works on a level system. Every patient enters at level 1, and gradually moves up the levels. Each level affords them different privileges.
Patients are looked after by a team of therapists and nurses, and regularly attend psychologist led community group sessions.
As we watch the events and dramas of the Renfrew Center unfold, it becomes clear that people with eating disorders come from different backgrounds, are in different situations and have different problems, but in Renfrew, they all have the same goal - to get better.
It is inspiring to watch the women form bonds and help each other through their toughest moments, but at times the documentary has a haunting feel to it as Greenfield homes in on the devastating, destructive effects of eating disorder behaviours and distorted body image perception.
Many people watching the film will find it hard to comprehend why it might be difficult to eat a normal sized, nutritious meal prepared especially for them, but for women in Renfrew, it’s the biggest hurdle they will have to overcome in their lives.
Renfrew is a place of hope for those who want to get better, but it’s not a desirable place to be. The irony is the women who do end up there are highly intelligent, articulate and creative with the world at their feet, but they only want to be one thing. Thin.