Body Image Awareness Week kicks off today with a screening of a new PBS documentary about eating disorders.

The Counseling and Student Development Center is hosting the event.

The video is called “Perfect Illusions,” and it examines the effect that eating disorders have within families. It focuses on three women with eating disorders and their recovery processes.

“It also talks about some of the underlying factors in developing eating disorders,” said Jennifer Panning, a counselor at the center. “One of which can be dynamics in the family. For instance, when families focus on a child’s outward appearance.”

The video’s educational message is communicated in tragic ways.

“One of the people in the video actually committed suicide after being anorexic,” Panning said. “Her mother is now campaigning for eating disorders treatment to be covered by insurance.”

Sometimes students are the victims of false body image. The pressure and torment that some people feel over their bodies is common for students.

“There are a number of people on campus who are currently struggling with eating disorders,” Panning said. “There’s a good number who just struggle with body image identity and understanding that it’s OK to make peace with the body shape that you were born with, and also to value other things about a person rather than just appearance.”

Panning hopes that the theme of this year’s Body Image Awareness Week, “Listen to Your Body,” will help people to be in tune with their bodies.

Barbara Fouts, the assistant director of the Counseling and Student Development Center said that the center is always available for students, even late at night. The center always has a counselor with a pager on call ready to deal with a crisis.

“We tell students, if it feels like a crisis for you, then call,” she said. “Everybody has a different level of what is a crisis, but what is common are students who are feeling depressed or anxious, or are really needing support and cases where a student is feeling emotionally overwhelmed.”

Body Image Awareness Week gives the counseling center a reason to take their information to people, rather than waiting for people to come to them.

“One thing that we’ve gotten away from is teaching people how to listen to their body,” Panning said. “We want to teach people about … being mindful of the emotional reasons we eat. Obviously food serves a lot of purposes, not just nutritional and a lot of times people can turn to food for comfort or when they’re lonely or depressed or bored or anxious, any of those reasons.”

Tonight’s video will be followed by a discussion facilitated by Panning. For students who are interested, this may be the only chance to see “Perfect Illusions” because it will not be shown on Chicago’s PBS station.