“For a well-known TV show we are looking for girls between 20 and 25 who suffer from eating disorders”. So she recited the announcement of a casting, complete with an e-mail address to which you could write to be selected. And then accept or discard, based on who knows what perverse parameters.
An announcement that after the protests of hundreds of people, on social media and in newspapers, was withdrawn. The director denounced the episode on her Instagram profile Maruska Albertazzi. But how many others of this kind are on the web and go unnoticed? Misleading messages that can harm many young people, who are increasingly hostage to a stereotypical image.
“These forms of spectacle do not do justice to the 3,000 people who die every year in Italy from eating disorders (Dca) – he explains Laura Dalla Ragione, psychiatrist and psychotherapist, director of the Eating Disorders Network Usl Umbria 1 and lecturer at the Biomedical Campus in Rome. they are often considered just a pursuit of thinness. It is still thought that people die to be models “.
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The dangers of miscommunication
“Those who are sick are often not aware that they have a problem because communication, in general, tends to normalize extreme thinness, which becomes a widespread and winning model, accepted, in fact, as normal and which unfortunately is the parameter on the basis of which kids are judged “, comments Dalla Ragione again.
Body positivity
Fortunately, something has changed in recent years. The movement of body positivity is growing, there is extreme sensitivity on the themes of body shaming and the acceptance of different bodies. “But it is not enough – admits the psychiatrist – The model of the perfect physique is too rooted in our culture. Girls grow up with Barbie dolls and we know that their aesthetic sense is formed in the first seven years of life. Fortunately, a conscience has spread. criticism. The one that raises social media against those who criticize Vanessa Incontrada, and the one that made so many people protest for this shocking casting “.
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Here’s how to talk about it
Often we oscillate between two opposing attitudes: “Either we refuse to discuss food problems because we all feel responsible for the problems of adolescents, or we risk trivializing the complexity of these diseases – reflects Leonardo Mendolicchio, psychiatrist in charge of UOC Rehabilitation of nutrition and alimentary disorders of the Piancavallo Auxological Institute -. You cannot improvise as experts on TV because it becomes dangerous. A good example is the docu-series Fame d’amore in which the children tell their experiences but in a protected environment, while they are treated and surrounded by the therapists who follow them “.
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Social media enter the anamnesis
Social media are big defendants because they are factors of diffusion and amplification of DCs. “Especially Instagram, TikTok and some WhatsApp groups – underlines Dalla Ragione – Here you will find advice on any method to lose weight, from vomiting to hyperactivity up to challenges, crazy challenges that push emulation. These contents are seen by the youngest, children from 10 to 13. When we do anamnesis to patients we now immediately ask which sites and social networks they frequent, which influencers and groups they follow. In this way we understand their level of involvement “.
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Eliminating social media is impossible but its effects can be mitigated. “The platforms are the mirror of what we seek and communicate, we must educate children to use them, be vigilant and if they have obsessions (food, exercise) it would be advisable to stay away from these topics on social networks – concludes Mendolicchio -. But without judging. We try to be disciplined and courageous and devote our emotional resources to them to support them. Legislative action may also be needed to allow institutions to monitor and possibly censor certain harmful content, but this would not solve the problem. Family and schools must be at the forefront to prevent DCA “.
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