Now thanks to PSHE (or Health Ed or whatever you call it) I know of several cases where anorexia has gone too far and people have died as a result. You never learn about the cases where they turn their lives around. You never learn about the smaller cases where it is a lot more personal and small-scale- far more realistic to many young people's lives.
So what are they teaching, despite them probably wanting to deny it? If you start being anorexic, it will last a long time and will end with you losing a massive amount of weight. And they are given attention when it gets too far. Do these people do it for the knowledge that if they keep going, suddenly people start caring about them? And I think that that is what has started to click in my mind- people will start to notice the girl who is used to blending into the background behind the natural supermodels strutting around school if she does something extreme.
Another thing (I do go on a bit when I get started- sorry!) is that they say what can cause it, and what the end result is. They don't tell you how to deal with the initial temptation. Surely that's what matters? You see, if I am being tempted and I am fully aware of the risks but think that if I can moderate it and only do it for a short time, then the lessons are teaching the wrong thing. I can tell myself that I won't let it spiral out of control as I know the risks but I have no idea about the minor side effects.
As time has passed, I realised that I am going to eat, but I am going to use this feeling as motivation to improve my diet and exercise. I want to get this figure back again, but I want it to be sustainable, with me still being able to enjoy food and increase my lifespan. Don't panic- I won't do anything stupid. I'm grateful that PSHE has recognised and brought up anorexia, but it is one of the very few lessons I found vaguely useful, and even that wasn't covered to a level anyone could find useful.
