Control is a fickle thing. One minute you’re on cloud nine with all your dreams within reach, and then life throws a curveball and you feel the reins sleeping through your fingers. Many have been told that life is unfair, but life is also about expecting the unexpected. Sometimes we forget this when we leave our familiar home to a new environment filled with strangers and various new thoughts and beliefs. Some students have a hard time adjusting to this new, unpredictable, and stressful environment and may turn their attention to their bodies. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 91% of women surveyed on a college campus attempted to control their weight through dieting. In a survey of 185 female students on a college campus, more than half reported that they felt pressured to be a certain weight, many of them were of normal weight. Eating disorders are not limited to females. A 2007 Harvard study indicated that men suffering from eating disorders (mostly bulimia) were on the rise.
Those who suffer from eating disorders may also have a personality disorder. Common traits include being a perfectionist, wanting to be perceived as “good”, being terrified of criticism, needing admiration, inability to emphasize with others, and extreme sensitivity to failure. Most of us realize that there is no perfection, but those with an eating disorder believe that they can attain perfection by controlling every aspect of their lives. All it takes is one unexpected B, one unfriendly comment, one second of confusion to fuse and deepen the destructive cycle. In reality, the eating disorder controls the person and will impact the person’s daily life and most of all, their relationships with other people.
What should you do if you think your friend has an eating disorder? Talk to your friend first and let her/him know that you’re worried. If they are afraid to get help, go with them to see a doctor or psychologist. If they are unwilling to get help, seek the help of an adult. Don’t get angry or force them to eat. Always stay positive no matter what. Your friend will be more likely to respond to positivity. Help them find a way to accept themselves and become less dependent on other people’s words and actions. Help them define themselves in a way other than through their bodies and the approval of others.
Brown University’s Health education website provides more advice on how to approach a friend with an eating disorder and information on healthy eating and general eating concerns. Check out: http://brown.edu/Student_Services/Health_Services/Health_Education/nutrition_&_eating_concerns/
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Brown chapter.