University health, psychological services aim to help students with eating disorders

Editor's Note: This article is the first in a three-part series about eating disorders to mark National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. This article focuses on the signs of eating disorders and the help available to those with the disorders.

Across the nation, college campuses -- including Penn State -- are banding together this week in honor of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week to present a message of prevention. Their challenge: to prevent the onset of body image disturbances and eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia.

"When a person's life becomes centered around food, weight and exercise and when decisions are based on how much they have eaten, on what the scale says, or on how much exercise they can fit in -- an eating disorder may exist," said Joanna Moyer, director of Women's Health.

The two prominent eating disorders in the United States are anorexia nervosa and bulimia.

Students suffering from anorexia nervosa do not eat properly, refuse to maintain a normal body weight, fear they will become fat and have absent or irregular menstrual cycles.

Classic symptoms of bulimia are recurring episodes of binge eating, lack of control over eating, regular use of self-induced vomiting, laxatives, diuretics, fasting and excessive exercise to prevent weight gain, and over-concern with weight.

Besides possibly feeling depressed or suicidal, students with eating disorders are often overachievers and perfectionists, according to a brochure from the University's Center for Counseling and Psychological Services. These students have a need for control, poor self esteem and feelings of shame, it said.

"At Penn State, like a lot of college campuses, eating disorders is an issue," said Mary Ann Knapp, consultation and education specialist at CAPS. "Food is a comfort and can act as a sedating drug for some who turn to it to deal with the anxieties of academic and college life."

Students who admit they have a problem can seek CAPS' psychological services, focusing on improving self esteem. The services are available on a group or individual basis. CAPS also refers students to private practices in town clinics and on campus like the University's Nutrition Clinic, 235 Ritenour.

Certain biological, psychological and social factors put students at a greater risk for developing an eating disorder, Knapp said.

Biologically, students have an increased risk if they have a family history of depression, obesity or alcoholism. Additional risk factors are if families are perfectionists, dysfunctional or overprotective. Antidepressant medication is often used in treatment and can be helpful in controlling binge-purge cycles, Knapp said.

Students with eating disorders may encounter complications with psychological development, according to a CAPS brochure.

Anorexics attempt to gain control over life circumstances when they had little control in past, or they try to avoid the complexities of maturing physically and emotionally. Bulimics are often less passive than people with anorexia nervosa, more socially active and more likely to date. They may have low self esteem and higher level of anxiety. Bulimics may also use alcohol and drugs. They may use the binge-purge cycle to relieve anxiety and emotional stress.

Social factors may also contribute a greater risk of acquiring an eating disorder. In a culture that emphasizes body image, there is an increasing number of teenage girls who resort to extreme diets or purging to make their maturing bodies conform to society's expectations, Knapp said.

"The culture sets up expectations for unrealistic thinness," she said. "Bodies are battlegrounds and eating disorders are rampant when social expectations pressure people, especially women, to be thinner than they would normally be."

A physical exam, nutritional information and psychological services are the components of eating disorder treatment.

Nutritional information is available at HealthWorks, 19 and 20 Ritenour. Jill Oravitz and Emily Burrell, HealthWorks peer educators, said the main purpose of their eating disorder program is education and referral. Educators show students how to approach a friend and what to expect when confronting an eating disorder.