Featured websites: March 2004 Archives
Whilst looking at the website of the Canadian National Eating Disorders Information Centre, NEDIC, I came across an interesting online exhibition, entitled 'Beyond Compare' and sponsored by Dove. It consists of photographs of women, taken by women, which are all on the theme of beauty.
I felt uncomfortable about some of the images, some of which show very stereotyped ideas of beauty, including some very underweight women.
But other images clearly challenge traditional ideas of beauty, and show women of all ages and colours, revelling in their diversity.
I particularly liked an image of an older woman doing her make up, entitled 'Mirror (Close Up)' and taken by Margi Geerlinks (look carefully as there's more to this one than meets the eye). Also a wonderfully powerful image of Aung San Suu Kyi, taken by Brigitte Lacombe.
Have a look at the exhibition and let me know what you think.
Gurze Books are the only publishers I know who specialise in books on eating disorders. They
offer books at discounted prices, plus their website also contains many free articles about eating disorders, newsletters, and a range of useful links.
I wanted to mention a resource available on the
The site contains a wealth of information and advice on mental health problems including pages on different problems, seeking help and what different professionals do. The are pages on both anorexia and bulimia too. I must confess a vested interest as I was involved with writing some of the material as part of a campaign on mental health issues which Radio1 ran last year, called 'Mental Health: Read the Signs'.
If you don't happen to have a copy of the DSM-IV criteria or the quick reference on you, it's useful to know that all the DSM-IV criteria, including the ones for eating disorders, are available online from Behavenet. As well as listing the criteria, they also suggest various useful literature and weblinks for each condition.
