"Hungry for love" sheds light on the most common eating disorders
di Francesco Unali
The scientific societies of Neuropsychiatry and Neuropsychopharmacology have provided the numbers: between 2019 and 2021 the cases of anorexia among adolescents doubled and there was a +84 percent access to neuropsychiatry services, a +82 percent attempt suicide and +200 percent in suicidal ideation, or thinking about suicide. Signs of a very fragile youth that runs the risk, more than in the past, of "generating" adults in difficulty. Tackling the topic of eating disorders today means taking an interest in tomorrow's society. Also for this Fiorenza Sarzanini, deputy director of Corriere della Sera, said in a meeting in UCBM his personal story and his book "Affamati d'amore" on the stories of eating disorders known in the centers of Pontremoli, Varese and Todi together with the professor Laura Dalla Ragione.
You wrote a book that comes out of clichés because it starts from you, when you were a successful young journalist and a sportswoman. Suddenly what had happened?
Something in me went haywire. It was anorexia, but for a year I didn't realize I had a problem, even if what I ate didn't hold it back. I was stubborn in not wanting to eat, mine had become a form of self-control and self-destruction that didn't make me feel the need to ask for help.
Many years later you decided to make your experience public.
I wanted to send a message of hope to the sick and their families, even in the face of the silence of the institutions, and talk about it to the media. Today eating disorders are increasingly common but are not recognized by the National Health Service: anorexia is still assimilated to mental illness. This mechanism scares families and makes it more difficult for many to find the help they need.
In the book you explain the words that should never be said to someone who suffers from this disease.
You should never tell an anorexic "how much do you weigh?" because anything about intimacy increases these people's anxiety. When I wasn't eating these phrases stopped me even more from touching food. I believe that in order to really help these people, one must go to specialists without fear.
As a girl you had that great role model that was your dad Mario. How important was it to have a human and professional role model?7
I would like to say that both my parents with their support gave me the strength to face my problem and solve it: the support of family and friends is important to continue to have a perspective and to get out of it. And it is important that schools provide information on these issues so that anorexia is no longer a difficult disease to fight.
