National Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2015: Wrapping Up
Saturday marked the close of National Eating Disorder Awareness week. As I wrote in my first post, I spent last year’s Awareness Week in a residential treatment facility. Throughout the week we did various activities to mark the occasion (not that we needed any additional awareness about what eating disorders are). (Tangent — I have an amusing image in my mind of our art projects ending up on display somewhere, with someone enthusiastically telling onlookers, “Here you’ll see the therapeutic work of actual eating disorder patients. Notice the dark colors they paint with, as well as the...
Read MoreNEDAwareness: Medical Professionals
I was anorexic. My husband was in medical school. Both of us missed that I had a serious problem. Day 6 of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week is about making the medical community more aware of the signs and symptoms of eating disorders. The fact that my eating disorder went unnoticed for so long made us both aware of a major gap in medical training. My husband went to a top medical school in New York City, yet all he learned about eating disorders were “the basics.” Namely, what you would read in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. As a result, the only image...
Read MoreNEDAwareness Week: Dieting and Eating Disorders
Statistics show that it’s actually a very small amount of people that develop eating disorders — 4% of people are diagnosed with bulimia in their lifetime, and somewhere between 4.2 and just 1% of people are diagnosed with anorexia. So why all the eating disorder awareness fuss? Because this week is about much more than just the eating disorders that make it to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. It’s about addressing an entire culture of dieting and disordered eating. In the United States there are more than 108 million people who are on a diet. The weight-loss industry —...
Read MoreNEDAwareness Week: Youth and Bullying
One of the biggest misconceptions (maybe the biggest, actually) about eating disorders is that these illnesses are “about the food.” This is 100% untrue. From the outside, they may look like they are about food and weight issues — and even sufferers themselves may believe this. Ultimately, though, eating disorders are “about” much more. They’re about underlying pain and insecurities, about overwhelming emotions that you would do anything in your power to lessen. Even in those instances where the condition did, in fact, begin with a weight concern or a diet, if...
Read MoreNEDAwareness Week: Athletes and Eating Disorders
Athletes are the picture of health. Their dedication and discipline, their strength and endurance, their ability to push their bodies to their maximum potential. It’s quite enviable. Isn’t it? Not always. Looks can be deceiving. For that reason, Day 3 of NEDAwareness Week spotlights how athletes in particular are uniquely affected by eating disorders. There are a number of ways that athletes can fall victim to disordered eating or full-blown eating disorders. Some, such as those who participate in ballet, gymnastics, wrestling, and ice skating, are pressured to maintain a lean...
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