Holden Rowe
Staff Writer
The Cameron University Student Wellness Center hosted an Eating Disorders workshop at noon on Oct. 15 in the Wichita Room.
The Student Wellness Center is a student service designed around student health, both mentally and physically. Students can receive a wide range of services including therapy and massages at no cost. Recently, the wellness center has begun a series of workshops in an effort to raise awareness for various issues, starting with eating disorders.
Jill Melrose, the director of the Student Wellness Center, expressed her desire to cover eating disorders.
“I think it is a hidden problem that we do not always see, and therefore, when we do not see it, we are able to not talk about it and deal with it,” Melrose said.
During the workshop, Melrose covered Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa as well as the Binge eating disorder. Anorexia is an eating disorder classified as a refusal to eat and an unrealistic perception of current body weight. Bulimia is characterized by a cycle of binging and purging, where the person will overeat, and then purge the food from their systems. Roughly five percent of American citizens are diagnosed with anorexia, and roughly six percent are diagnosed with bulimia; approximately 75 percent of people diagnosed with anorexia are female.
Despite this figure, Melrose emphasized that males also suffer from eating disorders.
“Males are less likely to be diagnosed early, and sometimes it is even ignored in males,” Melrose said. “A lot of times in sports, a guy has to lose a lot of weight really quick, and so we are used to those sorts of things. One in ten people with an eating disorder is a man.”
Melrose said the Binge eating disorder is a disorder in which the person feels compelled to eat. She spoke on some of the statistics about this less widely known disorder.
“It is an equal opportunity disorder. It gets every race, every gender, and every socioeconomic group,” she said. “These people are usually always overweight or obese, and they are always planning the next meal. Their whole life revolves around food.”
Melrose said advertisements can cause eating disorders. She said the media often portrays unrealistic images of women.
“We’re talking about very unrealistic goals here in the first place. Forty-seven percent of girls in ages 11-17 wanted to lose weight because of magazine pictures that they saw, so that’s how important that societal pressure is,” she said. “Forty-two percent of first through third grade girls want to be thinner, and that is really sad.”
Melrose closed the discussion by pointing out how serious an issue eating disorders can be for those who suffer from them.
“Twenty of those with anorexia will die prematurely from complications in their eating disorders. So when you see someone who has an eating disorder, it should be an alarming thing to you, and it is not something you cannot talk to them about,” she said. “It’s not something you can ignore, because literally, their life is in danger.”
For more information about eating disorders or for future workshops, students can visit the Student Wellness Center located in room 101 in North Shepler or can call their number at (580)581-6725.