As part of this week’s National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, the Geneva-based Tri-City Family Services will provide local agencies and schools with packages containing information about eating disorders.
Eating disorders is a subject typically not spoken about, Tegan Vaughn, a Tri-City Family Services therapist, said.
Many people also think eating disorders are rare, added Anna McCaffrey, the group’s Latino Services coordinator.
In the United States, 20 million women and 10 million men will suffer from a “clinically significant eating disorder” at some time in their life, she said. Many are between the ages of 12 and 26.
About 12 percent to 15 percent of adolescent females are estimated to have an eating disorder, McCaffrey said.
Vaughn said the disease is spread equally across all ethnicities.
In 2013, Tri-City Family Services, a nonprofit provider of mental health services, began a family-based eating disorder outpatient treatment program.
Warning signs of an eating disorder may include skipping meals, eating secretly, and individuals isolating themselves from friends and family, Tri-City Family Services Clinical Director Laura Poss said.
“We also will see clients who know vast amounts about nutrition,” she added, “which may seem like a good thing, but with an eating disorder an individual will take it to an extreme.”
“Sometimes clients will say they are vegans or vegetarians which isn’t a bad thing. However, with an eating disorder, an individual will stop eating protein entirely,” she said.
Eating disorders may develop in high-performance athletes such as gymnasts, wrestlers, and runners who begin to excessively exercise or who begin to binge, purge, and use laxatives.
Individuals who are struggling with an eating disorder also may be struggling with other issues such as anxiety or depression, Poss said.
The first priority is to stabilize an individual’s eating and weight before addressing other issues, she added.
“Scientific studies show that when a body is starving and not receiving proper nutrition, an individual’s brain function is altered,” she added.
When body weight is restored, an individual’s brain can work on other issues much faster, she said.
McCaffrey said that eating disorders can lead to significant physical and physiological complications.
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The mortality rate associated with anorexia is 12 times higher than any other cause of death for females between the ages of 15 and 24, she added.
As an “evidence-based” outpatient service, Poss said, Tri-City Family Services won’t don’t blame anyone.
“We want to restore health in a holistic way,” she added. “We do not believe there is one root cause for eating disorders. It is a very complex and complicated disorder — some of it is neurobiological, some of it may be environment.”
Cathy Janek is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News