Anorexia Nervosa is a deadly [?] illness that may affect youngsters between the ages of ten and nineteen years of age. With over one million people suffering from eating disorders in the UK alone, a deeper awareness about this disease and its effects may allow people to recognize the problem so that victims may get the help they need.

The video follows the stories of Lindsey, Rob and Constance, each of whom suffered from anorexia in different ways and for different reasons. These three youngsters discuss their illness because they feel the best way to beat the disease is to discuss it openly so that it may be [?] at an early stage.

Lindsey

Lindsey suffered from anorexia for more than four years and was fourteen years old when she was diagnosed. Like many girls her age, she was concerned about her self-image and weight, and began dieting to keep her weight down. Over time she became [?] with not eating and staying slim, and gradually this developed into an eating disorder. Limiting her food and disagreeing with people that told her she was already slim, Lindsey felt that she needed to lose more weight. To do this, she began to [?] her parents and friends by telling them at mealtimes that she was not hungry or that she had already eaten. When friends, parents and the school [?] her, she did not at first believe that she was ill, assuming that anorexia was a disease of emaciated females who never ate anything. She also did not want to [?] that she had the disease because that would result in accepting help from others, and as she explains, ‘quite often, anorexics don’t want to be helped’. Luckily, after some time in the hospital, she realized that she was indeed ill, and that by facing the problem, her parents were trying to help rather than control her.

Fully recovered now at the age of nineteen, Lindsey volunteers her time as a BEAT ambassador, travelling to schools and talking to students about the dangers of anorexia to raise young learners’ [?].

Rob

Only one in ten anorexia cases are male, in whom the disease may be caused by different triggers, such as abuse, [?] or social pressure. Rob’s story is therefore particularly interesting as it helps to shed light on the experience of a male anorexic.

For Rob, anorexia began when he went to Secondary school, where he became very depressed after the sudden death of his friend’s parents. Feeling [?] about the strong bond that he continued to have with his own parents, Rob began to [?] himself socially and withdraw from eating, which he felt was a form of treating himself that he did not deserve.

While visiting his uncle’s house, Rob’s condition was noticed by his aunt after Rob rushed to the toilet after eating chocolate.

Rob explains that his moods were becoming very serious and extreme at that time, swinging from feeling fine to [?] in a very short period of time. Rob also began to cut his arms and stomach with a knife and when the disease finally came to head and he became ‘completely desperate’, he showed what he had been doing to his mother who was [?]. With his mental and physical health worsening quickly, Rob was admitted to hospital in a frenzied condition, although the hospital was not at first sure how to diagnose or help him.

Finally Rob was admitted as a patient in a psychiatric hospital where he was forced to eat three meals a day, snacks and puddings without argument. Once he was able to eat, he began putting on weight again and was lucky to develop a strong relationship with a hospital worker with whom he could talk about his problem and learn that the thoughts and feelings that he had been having when he was ill may have been based on misguided assumptions that he is now able to [?] and overcome.

Constance

Constance was also fourteen years old when she was diagnosed with anorexia, and spent seven months in hospital to overcome this illness. In her case, running was the [?] as she wanted to be the best at this sport in her school.

As anorexia is often misdiagnosed, Constance was told that she had chronic fatigue. In order to help her overcome this, the school delivered meals to her dormitory on weekdays, but Constance would not eat the food and threw it away.

Her friends began to notice that she was starving herself despite her constant exercise, but it was a school nurse who noticed the symptoms of anorexia in Constance, which included having a very ordered room, making lists of miles she had run each day, and a general perfectionism that comes with always wanting to be the best in everything she attempts.

After Constance asked her mother to stop feeding her when she was at home on weekends because she felt that she had become overweight after not running, her mother suddenly [?] the depth of her illness. Soon after this, Constance went to a unit for adolescents with eating disorders, where she remained for seven months When Constance was given a naso-gastric tube through which she was force-fed, she realized that something was seriously wrong with her and that eating through such a tube is not the natural way for humans to be nourished.

Although Constance missed the beginning of the new school year, her friends did not forget her, and continued to call and write to her which kept her spirits high, which she states was ‘a really important part of my recovery’. She also feels that her stay in the hospital helped her to discover herself, and that recovery is all about self-[?].