The Road Within: Completed

Illnesses & our boys

Ashton: he's only 19 and has no idea how or where his OCD started from. It just randomly started when he was young. he had to do everything in 5s and then when he found out about germs, he started to obsessively fear them.

Michael: it all started in junior high when the popular boy he thought he loved called him fat and ugly. He soon started to starve himself to the point of near death. After passing out in school one day, he was sent to the hospital for help. Only 19 and spontaneous. Hates being told what to do.

Luke: a self-harmer who finds many ways to inflect pain upon himself. He found it not only a way to relieve stressed but a way to finally be in control of something in his life. He's 18 and is always seemingly happy.

Calum: a beautiful boy with a severe form of Tourettes. He's only 18 and already lived a life of struggles.

Tourettes:
It involves uncontrollable repetitive movements or unwanted sounds (tics), such as repeatedly blinking the eyes, shrugging shoulders, or blurting out offensive words.*

Behavioral: aggression, compulsive behavior, hyperactivity, impulsivity, involuntary imitation of someone else's movements, meaningless repetition of own words, nonsense word repetition, repetitive movements, swearing uncontrollably, or lack of restraint

Muscular: tic, difficulty with bodily movement, increased muscle activity, involuntary movements, involuntary muscle contraction, or jerking muscle spasms

Mood: anger, anxiety, or apprehension

Also common: coughing, exaggerated response to being startled, eyelid twitching, frequent throat clearing, learning disability, repetitive blinking of eyes, or stuttering

Anorexia:
An eating disorder characterized by markedly reduced appetite or total aversion to food. Anorexia is a serious psychological disorder. It is a condition that goes well beyond out-of-control dieting. The person with anorexia initially begins dieting to lose weight. Over time, the weight loss becomes a sign of mastery and control. The drive to become thinner is thought to be secondary to concerns about control and fears relating to one's body. The individual continues the endless cycle of restrictive eating, often to a point close to starvation. This becomes an obsession and is similar to an addiction to a drug. Anorexia can be life-threatening.

OCD:
often centers on themes such as a fear of germs or the need to arrange objects in a specific manner. Symptoms usually begin gradually and vary throughout life.

Behavioral: compulsive behavior, agitation, compulsive hoarding, hyperactivity, hypervigilance, impulsivity, meaningless repetition of own words, repetitive movements, ritualistic behavior, social isolation, or persistent repetition of words or actions

Psychological: depression, fear, narcissism, repeatedly going over thoughts, or sexual obsessions

Mood: anxiety, apprehension, general discontent, guilt, or panic attack

Also common: food aversion, nightmares, or racing thoughts

Self-Harm:

An expression used to describe the act of hurting oneself, most of the time by cutting but also burning, breaking bones, hitting yourself etc.

It is a general view that people self harm for attention which is normally not the case. People who self harm are generally depressed and has a hard time dealing with life. Self harm also mustn't be mixed up with suicide, as it's not done for dying, but for coping with life.

Most people who self harm are ashamed and hide it, but there are those who aren't afraid to go in long sleeves (if they cut their arms) This is most of the time NOT because they want everyone to feel sorry for them.

Also smoking can technically be counted as self harm, as it's a way of hurting oneself, although not as direct as other ways

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Side note: these were taken From googling the words.

Images all copyrighted to original owners.

The cover photo was taken by me in anchorage Alaska!

* it seems i have to put this here now, but as i stated i took these definitions from google and the movie. It is based on the characters. So it might not be 100% accurate, or as commentors said, the cursing half effects a small portion of people with tourettes.