Eating disorders are crippling Midd

Author: MICHAEL JOU '06

Among all mental illnesses, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate.

Middlebury College has a serious problem with eating disorders. The residential staff is quite aware of it. The custodial staff finds trashcans filled with puke. You possibly know someone who has an eating disorder, whether it be anorexia, bulimia or over-eating. If you've ever looked around campus, you know which girls are probably anorexic. If you go to the gym, you know which person has been there far too long, on one too many machines.

If you live across the hall from a bathroom - like I do - you hear people throwing up in the toilet even on weekdays.

It is ironic how Middlebury, a college focused on health and wellness, balanced lifestyles and personal awareness, allows students to slip through the cracks. More than 25 percent of college-aged women engage in bingeing and purging as a weight-management technique - Middlebury would not be spared from this statistic and probably exceeds it. Various support groups have been established on campus, but have ended because students do not wish to talk about their disordered eating. That does not mean, however that disordered eating is not present.

Eating disorders come from high-stress environments, and Middlebury is the perfect pressure cooker. With physical image such a valuable commodity on campus, along with tough class loads and extracurricular activities, students quickly become stressed.

And psychological stress often lies behind mental illnesses such as eating disorders. Though anorexia in general is characterized by rituals and the refusal to eat, the psychological aspect of anorexia addresses the perfectionist desire to control one's appearance since everything flies out of control. Bulimics also have rituals and usually gorge themselves (binge) and then purge with laxatives or self-induced vomiting, described as a symbolic process that often mirrors stuffing oneself emotionally, and then purging the emotions from one's mind.

The following statements may help identify character traits of people with eating disorders:

"Even though people tell me I'm thin, I feel fat."

"I lie about what I eat."

"I spend a lot of time daydreaming about food."

"I weigh myself several times a day."

"I exercise too much, or get too rigid about my exercise plan."

"I have taken laxatives or forced myself to vomit after eating."

"I don't think I look good in my clothes."

Eating disorders, however, are not easily diagnosed or cured. They require a multi-disciplinary approach since they combine symptoms of low self-esteem and depression and affect physical well-being as well as mental psychology. Athletes are also at risk, and female athletes may eventually suffer from the Female Athlete Triad which involves disordered eating and the loss of the menstrual period and bone density. Since the formation of bone density is laid down during college years, female athletes need to eat correctly to prevent osteoporosis and fractures that may cripple them later.

If you suspect someone of having aneating disorder, you have several options, including talking to this person or even walking him or her over to the Health Center. However, the majority of people with eating disorders have no desire to talk about their behavior and prefer relationships in which friends do not try to become involved in the details of the disorder or the recovery process. In this case, your best plan of action is to tell the dean of your commons. Deans can set a meeting with the person to "check in," and confidentiality is always respected. If you believe that someone in your hallway has an eating disorder, notify your CRA of the potential problem.

The Health Center unfortunately does not have the ability to make students go see them. However, if anyone is interested in raising awareness about eating disorders on campus, please contact me or Terry Jenny at the Health Center.

For more information about eating disorders, please consult the following Web site, http://mentahealth.about.com/od/eat.

Also, please know that men are not immune to media stereotypes. Stating that eating disorders only happen in females would be hiding the whole truth of the problem:

- An estimated 10 to 15 percent of people with anorexia or bulimia are male. And among men suffering from eating disorders, 10-42 percent have identified themselves as homosexual or bisexual, which is higher than the overall base rate of homosexuality in the male population - six percent.

Newsweek recently published a lengthy article detailing the rise of eating disorders in children as young as nine years old. In a country, and a college, that puts so much pressure on image and appearance, one can never be too careful. Looking good is great, but not when it starts to control the rest of your life.

I extend my thanks to Janine Clookey, Missy Foote, the Health Center and the Counseling and Human Relations Center for their assistance in writing this article.