Should Obesity Be a 'Disease'?

You can probably already guess what the article is going to be about based on the title, so why don't you go ahead and think about it before you go on- Do you think obesity should be considered a disease? Click here to read the original article (whose title I stole) written by Crystal L. Hoyt and Jeni L. Burnette. 

The American Medical Association labeled obesity a "multi-metabolic and hormonal disease state." The pros of this decision: calling obesity a disease provides a clear warning of the significant health risks associate with excessive weight. Plus it sparked interest and more research is funded aimed at finding medically driven remedies. 

What would the psychological ramifications be, though, of marking obesity as a disease? "Would it empower people to fight back, or lead fatalistic acceptance of being overweight?" What do you guys think? 

Well, the writers of this article were as curious as we are, so they decided to go out and experiment! Using random assignment, controls, and all that good stuff indicating a sound scientific experiment, they went out to see what kind of message this new A.M.A decision is sending. Their findings? The new "disease" label increased body satisfaction among obese individuals (they speculate this is because it removed the shame of obesity as a moral failing. Agree/Disagree?). They also found that suggesting one's weight is a fixed state- like a long term disease- "made attempts at weight management seem futile, and thus undermined the importance that obese individuals placed on health-focused dieting and concern for weight." 

There are two issues at conflict here, really. On the one hand, we don't want people suffering from obesity to feel ashamed of themselves and self-blame. On the other hand, we want to promote weight loss. What is the best way to fight against obesity? The writers of this article aren't completely sure, so it's okay if you don't have an answer. But it's still an interesting issue to think about. Like the article said, when there's a combination of physiological and psychological conditions, there will be complications and trade-offs. It's all nice and swell when we're reading our dandy psych books and we read about bio-pshycho-social models in theory. But what about real-world applications? Things aren't always so simple. Unfortunately. 

As we know, there are many different factors that go into obesity. Based on your knowledge on obesity from class and the new factors added by this article, I shall ask you again- do you think obesity should be considered a disease? I can't make up my mind about this one. I see both sides. I think they definitely need to conduct more studies. If it's true that people with obesity who see obesity as a disease don't try to live healthier lives, then I think that it might be counter-intuitive to have the label. I guess we'll see what happens! I'm sure this won't be the first we'll be hearing of this in years to come...