“One of the things we say over and over at the foundation is that this is not a political issue. It doesn’t matter if you are for or against the war. What matters is that when a citizen stands up and volunteers to go and then is injured in service to their country, we do everything we can as a nation to help them heal and that extends to their families as well.”
Bob and Lee Woodruff Humanize the Hidden Injuries of War
Children displaced by the March 11 tsunami play with a therapeutic robot baby seal called ‘Paro’ at temporary housing in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture on February 11, 2012. The seal robots have been made available to people living in temporary houses erected in a baseball stadium in the port town of Kesennuma, an area badly hit by the tsunami of last March that killed 19,000 people on the coast. (AFP Photo/Kazuhiro Nogi)
“It’s a horrible indictment on what we’ve done but the truth and reality is that very little has been done systematically and deliberately by government or by ourselves to bring up the level of mental health in this part of the world.”
Dr. Frank Njenga, Kenya doctor fights mental health stigma in ‘traumatized continent’
“Doctors do know that eating disorders, which are involuntary and genetic mental diseases, like depression, schizophrenia, or OCD, follow a pattern. Patients with a certain character trait — “high harm avoidance,” in medical-speak — are more easily upset by puberty or big life events. To get control, they diet. Sounds innocent: Who hasn’t wanted to slim down before a new job or a wedding? But in certain people, weight loss exposes a genetic vulnerability to an eating disorder.
What makes the disorders so hard to treat is their way of turning the body’s normal regulatory mechanisms against themselves. Malnutrition slows the brain’s hormone production, “numbing” intense emotions. So as anorexic patients starve, they feel calmer. Hunger pangs are now a reassurance they won’t get fat. In another twist, the more weight they lose, the fatter they see themselves. It’s not a problem with their vision. The more they starve, the harder it is to keep going — the body wants to eat. So the mind produces motivation in the form of an obese reflection rippling with rolls of fat. The delusion is a rationale for continuing to starve, created by brain chemistry doctors don’t understand.” Starvation Nation: Inside a Groundbreaking Eating Disorder Facility
What makes the disorders so hard to treat is their way of turning the body’s normal regulatory mechanisms against themselves. Malnutrition slows the brain’s hormone production, “numbing” intense emotions. So as anorexic patients starve, they feel calmer. Hunger pangs are now a reassurance they won’t get fat. In another twist, the more weight they lose, the fatter they see themselves. It’s not a problem with their vision. The more they starve, the harder it is to keep going — the body wants to eat. So the mind produces motivation in the form of an obese reflection rippling with rolls of fat. The delusion is a rationale for continuing to starve, created by brain chemistry doctors don’t understand.” Starvation Nation: Inside a Groundbreaking Eating Disorder Facility
