BBC reported in 1999, just 38 months after the introduction of television to parts of Fiji, purging - bulimia - among teenage girls had gone from being virtually unknown to being something practiced by fully 15 percent of all young women. They "got it" that being "desirable" meant being thin, but didn't have the money to buy the weight aids advertised. The cheaper solution was just to put a finger down the throat and upchuck the most recent meal.
Bulimia can lead to a variety of problems. Gastro-intestinal reflux disorder (GIRD) is often the result of stomach acids burning the esophagus on their way up during purging, leading in some cases to a lifetime dependence on antacids or prescription stomach acid inhibitors. Teeth are eaten away by stomach acids. Nutritional deficiencies - particularly mineral deficiencies - abound. And in extreme cases the imbalance of minerals produced by this (particularly the lack of potassium) can cause heart attacks, such as the one that stopped the flow of blood and oxygen to Terry Schaivo's brain, leaving her in a persistent vegetative state.
As ANADThe National Association for Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Eating Disorders notes: "Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses; a woman with anorexia is 12 times more likely to die than a woman her age without an eating disorder. Individuals with bulimia risk severe electrolyte imbalances, kidney disturbances, heart problems and other serious, life threatening medical complications."
Terry Schiavo gives us, at the end of her life, a gift - a chance to use her case to share with other young girls and women the outcome of anorexia and bulimia. In a larger and more important context, it provides us with an opportunity to open a culture-wide discussion of the psychological and - ultimately - physical dangers of exposure to personal-image-based advertising and marketing, as well as the dangers of simply "treating" this largely advertising-driven problem with SSRI drugs, which can also devastate young people's lives.
Post je objavljen 31.03.2005. u 20:59 sati.