ANOREXIANERVOSAA PSA PROJECT BY VIOLEITA CHAIDY

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ATAnorexia nervosa is an eating disordercharacterized by weightloss or lack of appropriate weight gain in growing children.

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G• refusal to eat• denial of hunger, even when

starving• difficulty concentrating• obsession with body size and

shape• skipping meals• making excuses for not eating• eating only a few certain foods

considered safe, usually those low in fat and calories

• adopting meal or eating rituals, such as cutting food into tiny pieces or spitting food out after chewing

• weighing food SIG

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EWhen you first hear the word ‘anorexic’, what image comes into your mind? a skiny bony girl ? this isn’t wrong because it is the general image of an anorexic person, but truth is, anyone can fall victim to anorexia.

In fact, men who suffers from anorexia is twice more likely to die than a women who’s in the same mental condition.

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For research, I wanted to know how they feel, I wanted to know their pain , so I went on tumblr and from there I learned about their tricks, their feelings, and their habits.

I read that one only eats 200 calories per day. In case you do not know how little that is, one tablespoon of butter is 102 calories

I read that one have fasted for 42 hours and have lost 4 pounds alreadybut she’s still holding on because her goal is minimum 53 hours of no eating

Their whole body is fragilebecause they’re just made of skin and boneseven sitting down can give you intense bruises

They can feel their heartbeat withoutputting their index finger on their wristbecause their veins are so close to the surface of their skin

Some refuse to lay downbecause the body burns less calories when you’re lying down

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THE damage is real it is FATAL

Do you know that your stomach starts digesting itself because of its low ph acid when you starve yourself for too long ?

Purging causes electrolyte imbalances that can lead to irregular heartbeats and possibly heart failure and death. Electrolyte imbalance is caused by dehydration and loss of potassium, sodium and chloride.

Kidney failure is possible if they’ve suffered for too long because of dehydration

Your body starts to burn muscles and tissues when you run out of fats and what is your heart made off? muscles.

They cannot eat after starving for too long because their body is not used to it, its painful

DEATH from overdosing laxatives

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I learned that anorexia can be a result of depression , self harm, and a way to suicide

I learned that starving is also a form of self harming and it HURTS, all you feel is nausea and dizziness and tiredness. but when you’re so determined, you still refuse to eat even after your body craves it

They suffer from Body dysmorphia disorder which is a disorder that causes you to never be satisfied with your body image

Its sometimes not because the pressure of society, it’s because they feel better when they’re skinny, and note that their definition of skinny is not our skinny, it means weighing only 20-40 pounds.

“I’ve never looked at a picture of a model and wanted to look like them. I just see myself and want to look less like me.” 

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They can become suicidal and I read that one has attempted suicide by overdosing after starving themselves for days because it would damage the liver even more

Not every sufferer wants to get better, sometimes they want to stay that way. Sometimes, they’re so attached to their disease that when parted from it, they don’t feel like themselves.

They’re 25% more likely to injure themselves& are 31% more likely to commit suicide.

why suicide?They believe that they aren’t good enough, they strive for an unrealistic body image , and at times like this, experience of repeated failure may lead to feeling worthlessness and suicidal thinking

They may be malnourished and are not thinking clearly

They feel like their suffering is a burden to their family

They feel like they’re going to die anyway so why not die in their own hands right now?

They do not want anyone to worry about them and they do various things to decrease your suspicion, they’ll eat infront of you normally and then exercise excessively after, or sometimes, purging.

They want you to know that it’s not a result of just one disease, sometimes its a combination of two or more, such as BED and bulimia.

They do not want you to point out whether or not they’ve gained or lost weight, THEY KNOW ALREADYAPPLIES TO ALL MENTAL HEALTH illnesses, THEY CANT JUST EAT

Yes it is hard to eat, but it is harder to live with themselves if they do. It causes an extreme anxiety which means non-stop critic in your mind.

In my survey, i’ve put one important question and the question is 

“Do you think that anorexia is just a problem of mindset?”

and  36.8 % answered yes

honestly if it is a problem of mindset, they would’ve been able to heal easily in a day, but it isn’t. It is a problem of chemical imbalance inside the brain although there’s no physical test to prove it HO

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LIDEA 1 From my personal experience, I know that looking at motivational posters seems useless, its like seeing another bullshit on the wall saying that recovery is possible and that I can get through it. But in recovery, every little thing matters. For example, succeeding on finally gaining a pound IS a winning achievement.

So instead of targeting and going for the long way to 80% recovery, I’m aiming to make posters that congratulates them for their little achievements.

IDEA 3 “I’m more than my illness”

They may be anorexic but they’ll not let it define them , they’re a daughter, a sister, and someone important though their mental may not be well.

IDEA 2 3 series posters that represents 3 steps of their disorder : the start, the suffering, and the recovery.

My point is allowing them to suffer first, suffer until you wake up and realize that what you’re doing is wrong because most ana don’t actually realize what they’re doing is wrong. Or they do, but they can’t help it. But when they see their own body pass the voices that keeps telling them to torture themselves, they do, they have this  small ‘wake up’ moment when they realize that they want to heal .

Which leads to recovery, because recovery is never gonna happen without a strong desire

AND in the recovery posters, I don’t want to put all smiles and suns as relapses often happen during recovery, and it is important to know that it is okay to relapse.

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