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> She still wants it to go slower, as a challenge, as a goal, to show how strong she is in fighting her own body's will to live.

I closely know an 18-year-old who decided to show his body that there are no limits in sport. He trains an insane amount of time (more than professional athletes) despite his body not following up.

He had a heart alert, and the cardiologist told him that the next time they will meet at his cardiac arrest, if he is lucky.

This absolutely did not change his mind.

He is intelligent, has ample opportunities to go forward in whatever he would like, lives in Western Europe, comfortable life and what not. He could be an excellent amateur athlete, competing at university level and doing well but he just wants to get his body past the breaking point.

The only hope is that he will mature enough to realize this in a few years, hopefully survive by then without serious impacts on his health.

Everything I the head, and this is an uncharted world.



Over-exercising is also a symptom of anorexia. A kid in the same ward, 12 or 13 years old, presented anorexia by obsessively exercising.

The desire to take it past the breaking point definitely puts them in dangerous-thinking territory.

At 18, though, I'm not sure how much help you can force on them. I'm vaguely concerned that, if my daughter has issues past 18 then what can a parent force given we're no longer a legal guardian? Could she call the police and we're arrested for some kind of restriction of liberty or kidnapping or something? She has literally said that she can't wait until she's 18 so she can leave and follow this starvation pursuit outside of our influence.

(the disease is horrible in that they literally are thinking and believing these things and there is no way to reason with "it" that doesn't reinforce the position - this is the first thing I've come across where logic and rationalisation are useless tools).


I was not correct with past the breaking point -- it is more with no regard to a breaking point, he is not suicidal at all, just believes that he can do more.

He is very happy with his body and eats a ton (and healthy) to build muscle and strength. It is just that this is way, way too much in terms of effort and time spent on exercising. There are plenty of articles on the topic of people of all ages who got addicted to sport and needed professional help to break the dependence. At least they wanted help.

His parents are not looking at forcing him to do anything, this is not in the picture at all. They want to help him. He has a good relationship with them and is leaving the house to study as expected (and normal)


Did he by any chance watch One Punch Man?


Yes he did but this was not the trigger. The trigger is much more complex with being the second in the brotherhood, needs to be different from the rest, and - certainly - influences from anime etc.

I realized how difficult it is to relate to someone's mind without being the adult who tells you everything (and therefore you do the opposite)or to try to find ways to slow down the madness.

I hope that time will help him to mature.


Curiously, I wonder if the most recent webcomic chapter’s philosophical themes may be of help:

https://cubari.moe/read/gist/Z2lzdC9mdW5reWhpcHBvLzcxMjRhZjU...




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