Non the age of the image, putting the invisible at the center. It is the mission of the association Animenta, founded by Aurora Caporossiwhich deals with DCA (eating disorders): those that typically appear in the body of a woman suffering from anorexia, but above all those that are not seen and yet exist, behind a normal appearance.
DCA and mental health at the Festival Invisible of the Bullone Foundation
Invisible it is also the name of the first Festival from the Foundation Bolt (from 20 to 22 October in Milan) with which the Animenta association has been collaborating for years. The common intention is to go beyond the disease, talking about it openly, in a new dialogue between generations. «A festival where adults can meet young people, where the invisible becomes visible. Where even fragility is precious and where points of view are fertile ground for the collective construction of a common good.” He explains it Bill Niada. That is, the entrepreneur who, following the death of his daughter, Clementine (due to a tumor, aged 4, in 2004), he created the Bolt.
The foundation is also one newspaper, written by adolescents and young adults who are living or have experienced serious or chronic illnesses and eating disorders.
Aurora Caporossi, founder and president of Animeta, non-profit association for DCA
Aurora Caporossi: «Talking about illness and mental distress on social media can be risky»
In this historical moment, the world is full of people talking about their illness and mental distress, and social networks are full. The substantial difference is the way.
«The speaker addresses important topics for a large audience, without knowing who his content reaches: the clinical aspects fall into the smartphones of the interlocutors totally unfiltered and this can be very risky» explains Caporossi. That he founded Animenta to promote a more inclusive and realistic narrative of anorexia (from which he personally suffered) and all eating disorders. Which are many and still little known.
Fedez talks about depression: is it good?
There are many famous people who have opened their medical records to the world. Starting – due to the resonance in current affairs – from Fedez, who spoke about the depression and hypomanic attacks he suffers from after discovering pancreatic cancer. But then there is Carolina Marconi who talks about his tumor, Enrica Bonaccorti of open heart surgery.
On the mental distress front, we heard about Lorenzo Fragola’s panic attacks, Matilda De Angelis, Ultimo and Marracash. About bulimia told by Amber Angiolini.
The power of narrative medicine
«I believe in narrative medicine», continues Caporossi: «Talking about the disease helps those who speak about it as well as those who listen. It allows us to make people more aware.” He says it well in one sentence Rita Charon, director of the Narrative Medicine Program at Columbia University, who Caporossi decided to mention at the beginning of his speech at the InVisibile Festival. «It is necessary to talk about the pain to escape its dominion».
The risks are self-diagnosis and emulation
The problem is the way. Especially when the choice to talk about one’s illness is made through social networks. The first of the risks of careless communication is, for the listener, self-diagnosis, which is very easy in the case of mental illnesses. “I’m depressed”, “I have borderline disorder”. Or you are “a narcissistic manipulator”. Expressions that were previously the prerogative of psychologists are now in common use. Useful to clear certain themes? Perhaps, but if the problem never ends up in the hands of a specialist, the usefulness is lost.
But there is also another riskespecially when topics relating to DCA are touched upon: that is the establishment of mechanisms of comparison and emulation. The story is perceived as a challenge by those who are ill, to do the same, to do better.
On anorexia and DCA, few details, lots of sharing
“For this reason, if in general having a good knowledge of the disease means providing all the details, in the case of DCA it is better, on the contrary, not to provide them at all.” The concrete data, the weight reached by the girl suffering from anorexia, the calories swallowed with difficulty, the size of the jeans: better never to give these details when communicating on these topics.
What does Animenta do instead of giving details? Collects stories, The letters to the body. Especially those who consider DCA a closed chapter, and have freed themselves from the obsession with food and the body. Organize some “virtual social dinners”, Let’s Eat Together, where to eat together and not talk about food. AND cooking workshops (the next one is November 19th). Study the national panorama to find out how many doctors still send patients suffering from DCA home because they are not “serious enough“. He also created a… pasta.
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