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Eating
Disorders
The college years can be an exciting time of new opportunities and increased
freedom. However, the transition to college can also present challenges as
students adjust to living away from family, negotiating new relationships and
coping with academic pressures. Another challenge of college life is assuming
more responsibility for eating habits, including making choices in the dining
hall and dorm and deciding when to eat in the middle of a busy schedule. The
transitions of college and the increased autonomy in all of these areas can be
very demanding. For those individuals predisposed to developing an eating
disorder, the stresses of the college environment can contribute to a troubling
sense of a lack of control. Individuals who develop eating disorders often
substitute internal control of eating and body weight as a way to deal with
feelings of powerlessness over the external environment. In addition,
preoccupation with food and body image may serve as a distraction from problems
and a way of numbing difficult feelings.
Who is vulnerable to developing an eating disorder?
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (1993), over 5 million
Americans suffer from eating disorders. Over ninety percent of these individuals
are women, with 1% of adolescent girls developing anorexia and 2-3% of young
women developing bulimia. The mortality rate for anorexia is higher than for any
other psychological disorder; 1 in 10 anorexics will die from the effects of
starvation, including cardiac arrest, or from suicide. Up to ten percent of
individuals with eating disorders are male, and many of these men suffer from
problems with binge-eating. The mean age of onset of an eating disorder is most
common in the college-aged years (age 17 for anorexia; 18-20 for bulimia).
Many college-aged women don’t meet criteria for an eating disorder but are
preoccupied with losing weight and dissatisfied with their bodies. Up to a third
of college women have “disordered eating” habits, such as using diet pills or
laxatives, not eating at all to try to lose weight, or binge-eating .
An important contributing factor to college-aged women’s increased risk of
developing eating disorders is young women’s sensitivity to sociocultural
messages of the importance of being thin as essential to attractiveness. In
reality, the figure of the average college-aged woman is much larger than the
cultural ideal as depicted in the media. Yet young women are prone to
internalizing societal expectations of the female body and may experience shame
and feelings of failure in not “measuring up” to the images seen on television,
film, billboards and magazines. In addition, women often struggle with
assertiveness and speaking up about feelings and needs. Without a voice to
express important aspects of the self, an eating disorder may serve as a form of
communication to oneself and to others that something is very wrong. An eating
disorder may be a way of expressing frustration and pain without directly
talking about underlying feelings and emotional conflicts. Many women with
eating disorders may be deeply troubled by the preoccupation with eating and
body image, but lack awareness of the emotional struggles that also contribute
to the relentless pursuit of thinness.
Athletes represent another subgroup of the population at increased risk of
developing eating disorders. Athletic competition and demands for performance
may lead to perfectionism in many areas, including the body. Athletes who engage
in sports that emphasize slenderness or in which lean body weight is a factor in
performance (e.g. track, rowing, gymnastics, diving, wrestling, figure-skating,
dance, cheerleading) are particularly vulnerable to developing an eating
disorder. Often, moderate weight loss in these sports may improve performance
which further reinforces unhealthy eating practices. However, eventually
athletic performance becomes compromised by the factors of emotional exhaustion,
physical fatigue, poor nutrition and medical problems that are part of an eating
disorder.
What are the symptoms of an eating disorder?
Although many individuals worry about food and body image, there are specific
criteria used by mental health professionals to diagnose an eating disorder:
Anorexia
- refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight
for age and height
- intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat
- distorted body image, undue influence of body weight or shape on
self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of low body weight
- amenorrhea in women (absence of at least three consecutive menstrual
cycles)
Bulimia
- recurrent episodes of binge eating
- recurrent use of laxatives, diuretics, enemas, fasting or excessive
exercise to prevent weight gain
- self-evaluation unduly influenced by body shape and weight
When to seek help
Sometimes, a specific event may trigger the initial onset of eating disorder
symptoms (e.g. a diet that gets “out of control,” leaving home, a negative
comment about one’s weight, death of a loved one, quitting a sport or other
activity, relationship breakup, family problems). Warning signs of a problem
with eating may include the following: obsessive preoccupation with food or body
image; compulsive exercising; binge eating, purging and/or strict dieting;
inability to stop eating; secretiveness or shame about eating; feeling out of
control; depression; low self-esteem; social isolation. It is important to seek
professional help if you suspect you have a problem with food or weight. Eating
disorders can often be prevented if an individual seeks help in the early
stages.
Where to get help
The University Counseling Center provides professional, confidential
psychological and nutritional counseling for eating disorders. The Counseling
Center can also help with confidential consultation and referrals for off-campus
treatment. The Counseling Center is located in Room 206 Health Services Building
(610) 519-4050.
Further Information
For further information, see the following web sites:
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or reprinted without permission of Villanova Counseling Center.
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