Appearances
This week, I’d start to think about the structure of the zine. So, a zine has 16 pages in total, including double-sided paint. And each page is A6 paper size.
Process of making zine
A4 paper in total, folding and tailoring
Paper size guide
Each page is A6 size
I set up a 16-page A6 Indesign document.
The content structure includes:
- Coverpage – Page 1
- Foreword – Page 2
- Characters – Page 3
- Day 1 – Page 4
- Day 2 – Page 5
- Day 3 – Page 6
- Day 4 – Page 7
- Day 5 – Page 8
- Day 6 – Page 9
- Day 7 – Page 10
- Day 8 – Page 11
- Day 9 – Page 12
- Day 10 – Page 13
- Postscript – Page 14 to Page 15
- Backpage – Page 16
Content
Before starting the content part, I watched a documentary by researchers from the Eating Disorder Centre of Shanghai Mental Health Centre.
This short documentary film, “Bon appétit” (Eat Well), was co-produced by the SMHC Eating Disorder Clinic and Ivy Ding, a senior in high school. From Ivy’s point of view, the film focuses on people with Eating Disorder (ED) and tells the story of their journey of physical and mental recovery with the help of the Shanghai Mental Health Centre (SMHC) and the community. No man is an island, click on the film, one click public service, care for the ED people around you and me.
In this video (7:28), I find out that Dr. Chen-Director of the Eating Disorder Center, has mentioned:” A relatively effective treatment for eating disorders in adolescents called Family-Based Therapy (FBT). This method leverages the closeness and cohesion inherent in Eastern cultures, making family intervention particularly suitable in China. Parents often maintain a relatively close relationship with their children before marriage, a cultural aspect from the West.”
The Maudsley Method, also known as Family-Based Treatment, can be characterized by an intensive outpatient treatment where parents are integrated as an active and positive role. The primary purposes of including parents in this approach are to incorporate and encourage participation in their child’s recovery journey. This therapy method was originally formulated by Christopher Dare and his colleagues at the Maudsley Hospital in London in 1985. Formerly proposed as a method for the treatment of anorexia nervosa in adolescents, it was devised as therapy that would occur in the home environment with therapeutic supervision by a trained professional. Since then, the Maudsley Family Therapy approach has been adapted for bulimia nervosa, binge eating, and for older patients as well. Generally, this treatment has three phases which occur over a period of 6-12 months, directed by a family-based therapist, and which involve the entire family in weekly sessions. Parents are guided in the fundamentals of helping their loved one eat (and/or prevent purging and over-exercising) and siblings are supported in collaborating with the patient. Sessions periodically entail a family meal under the guidance of a therapist who can assist in recognizing the various dynamics of the family around the meal.
The Three Phases of the Maudsley Family Approach are as follows: Phase I – Weight Restoration: In Phase I, a professionally trained therapist concentrates on the various effects associated with anorexia nervosa, particularly physiological, cognitive, and emotional. A major focus of this phase is the restoration of the patient’s weight and the “re-feeding” component. A crucial psychological feature of this primary phase is substantiating the illness. Phase II – Returning control over eating to the adolescent: Phase II encompasses the patient learning to progressively regain control over their individual eating habits again. This typically commences when the patient’s weight has reached approximately 87% of their ideal body weight. Phase III – Establishing healthy identity: This phase is initiated when the patient is sufficiently able to sustain their weight above 95% of ideal body weight independently and refrains from engaging in restrictive eating behaviors. Focuses of treatments are primarily on the psychological consequences the eating disorder has had on the patient and the establishment of a healthier identity.
So, how do we make a change? According to the Transtheoretical Model and Stage of Change, TTM, also known as The Stage of Change Model,
The zine will focus on the Phase III of FBT. Of course, a small zine will not wholly change people, but I hope that zines can bring positive thoughts and warmth to people. It mainly focuses on “right mindfulness” (Buddhism), which means developing an accurate and precise awareness of the present moment uncoloured by ideas, memories, beliefs, expectations, etc., just the experience.
Venerable Nyanaponika Mahathera explains in The Road to Inner Freedom: Right Mindfulness is the quality of awareness. It ensures complete awareness of all activities of the body as they occur, complete awareness of all sensations and feelings as they occur, complete awareness of all activities of the mind as they occur and complete awareness of all mental objects when the appropriate situations arise. This attitude of complete awareness brings about powerful results. It sharpens to the finest degree man’s powers of observation, induces the deepest calm and ensures that nothing is said or done or thought unguardedly or hastily, mechanically or without deliberation. He who develops this factor is able to take count of every single and minute activity of the mind, even such activities as are generally considered to occur when the mind is passive and receptive; so penetrating and powerful is his sense of awareness. (70)
Guide
Based on the above research, the zine’s content is divided into two parts: internal thinking and external connection. I set a ten-day journey with readers. The internal thinking part helps readers to focus on the right mindfulness. The external connection parts encourage readers to reach out to the outside world and build a comfortable, trusting external environment.
Characters
For the characters in the zine. I created six gentle and friendly animal characters. Have these characters lead the reader through self-healing activities
I got in touch with the Chinese eating disorder charity “ED HEALER,” and I will have a videoconference with the founder Qinwen and other members of the organisation on the 26th of October to discuss the zine. I will also participate in a painting exhibition about eating disorders in cooperation with Shanghai Mental Health Center at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. At the end of this year or next year, I will also participate in an exhibition of paintings about eating disorders in collaboration with ED HEALER and Shanghai Mental Health Center.