Martina Dobiášová
217926@mail.muni.cz
Anna orders a cup of fruit tea and chooses the farthest corner of a tiny café. While sitting down at the table she feels dizzy but she rather didn´t admit. At first glance there is nothing unusual on this seventeen-years old girl wearing a sweatshirt which seems too large for her.
“Today I ate a white jogurt, half of apple and soup from a mug. Everybody keeps telling me I am ill but I just want to reach my dreamt-of weigh, forty five kilograms,“ Anna says. At her high
Altough she herself refuses such a diagnosis, her closest friends and realtives believe she suffers from tricky disease known as anorexia. For the others it is a curse, for her the only sense of life.
According to Jarmila Švédová, a consultant for eating disorders from civil association Anabell in Brno, anorexia is mental illness relating mostly to developed over-supllied societies which members are expected to be active, ambitious and diligent. In such cultures where the main priority is social and financial success the exaggerated emphasis on youth and beauty happens to occur. This trend is highly supported by media. Again and again the magazines and television presents todays ideal of beauty which includes also the necessity of being slim.
Dušan Fádler from modeling agency D.F.C. Fashion Club explains that there is the worldwide standard. Clothes created by fashion designers must fit every model in the world. All of them are expected to be at least
Švédová is positive about anorexia not to be anything new.: “This eating disorder has been appearing massively since 70s. But it existed even before then.“ In agreement with her words, this particular kind of illness concerns mainly teenager girls from twelve to sixteen years of age.
Experts agree on the main symptoms: the disease is characterized by dramatic weight loss. The victims, mostly young women, starve themselves constantly and fear obesity although they are skinny. Anorexics see themselves always fat. They follow strict diets and exercise to the point of exhaustion, often they feel guilt of eating. Thanks to this regime they damage their health. Problems accompanying anorexia might be for example: headaches, irregular heartbeats, stomach pains, kidney and liver damage, anemia or infertility. In the end the illness may lead even to death.
Nowadays many girls have adopted dieting as their lifestyle, they call themselves ANA and worship anorexia officially. On internet there is possibe to find number of blogs where they exchange thein experiences and advise each other how to lose weigh.
“I heard that in some countries anorexics mark themselves with certain kind of tatoo, they wear a special bracelets. I believe the feeling of belonging somewhere helps them.“ Švédová says.
“I have been on diet since my ninth grade. I exercise at least half an hour everyday, mainly in fitness centre or at home according to the videotape. If I don´t exercise enough I am angry with myself. I plan what to eat the next day and I never get over four hundred kilocalories. Earlier I was able to lose three kilograms in three days,“ Anna describes her daily regime.
According to nutrition specialists from organization STOB (the abbreviation stands for STop OBesity), while being on diet the daily amount of energy should never be less than 1000 kilocalories.
Švédová believes there are many factors that influence the rise of anorexia; social and family relations, the way in which the person was raised, the physical changes while getting adult as well as the mental qualities. It has not been neither proved nor disproved that the rise of anorexia could be hereditary. Despite the thorough media agency that provides society with the ideals of beauty, Švédová refuses it would be the main reason why anorexia is so widespread among young generation.
“The fashion trends are relevant but they function more as a starter that as the main cause. The emphasis on appearance, importance of being slim and fear of getting obese concern from 60% to 90 % of people but only a few of them become ill,“ she explains and adds that the victims happen to be introvert people with lack of confidence and self-esteem.
Although Anna does not consider anorexia to be a disease, she knows there is something wrong with her life. “I hate people telling me I am either skinny or fat. I resent everything,“ she admits. Anna runs to scales every morning. She has tried various methods how to avoid hunger and speed up the loss of kilos. “I tried chewing icecubes but with no effect. Another time I wrapped my belly and thighs into food foil to sweat.“ Anna found a lot of these tips in magazines or on the internet.
In fact desire for unhealthy skinny body is not the reason but the result. Mental anorexia is psychical disorder and usually originates in traumatic experiences, for example from early childhood. Bakalová believes that in many cases the relationship between a child and a mother could be the key factor.
František David Krch, the specialist on anorexia from General Teaching Hospital in Prague, points out that nearly two thirds of his patients have a traumatic life experience.
Victims often feel helpless and inferior. The illness gives them back illusive power to act because their weigh appears as the only thing in their lives easy to control. The disease becomes the way how they protect themselves. Anna´s story is just one from many:
At the time she was born her parents were both seventeen. They married and had another child. Her mother found new partner soon and everything went wrong.
“He used to beat us up. Nobody knew. And one day it came to the worst. He killed my baby brother,“ Anna remembers.
She has been living at her grandma´s since she was three. None of her parents has legal right to raise her, they are both alcoholics. She sees mum twice a year; on Christmas and during summer holiday. Her father got into debts and he decided to undergo medical treatment.
As Anna tells her story she describes the worst moments of her life that lead to the rise of illness. As a little child she was forced to face the worst events that even many adult people could hardly imagine, speak nothing of handling them.
“No one has ever forced me to visit psychologist but I have already considered it myself. Sometimes I feel it would help. I am not able to think about anything but food,“ Anna says as she is playing with a spoon nervously.
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