No.2 Eating Disorders in College: The Thin Line Between Healthy Living and an "Unhealthy Obsession" - Women Compus - Women Campus

At this point, Amy decided to take more extreme measures: “I remembered my friend in high school talking about bulimia, and I went on some 'pro-mia' sites to get pointers,” she said. “I had my own bathroom in my apartment; so after every meal, I would go and purge what I ate. There were some meals I would keep down, but I would make those small meals for fear of gaining weight. I ate so I wouldn't pass out and freak everyone out.”
 
According to Anderson, women don’t develop eating disorders with the intention of causing harm to themselves, but rather as a subconscious attempt to protect themselves. “However, the need for control around weight may in fact impede a person's ability to get better,” said Anderson, “So yes, in some cases the perceived benefits of weight loss may trump the risks of the condition.”
 
Which was the case for Elizabeth*, a student at Western Michigan University. “I was fascinated by the fact that I could be the skinniest, hottest b**** around,” she said. “I lived off of coffee, Tums, apples and water. Water was my best friend. After a couple of weeks, I couldn't eat; I had no appetite and food disgusted me. I was smoking way too [many] cigarettes and I would lie to everybody about my eating habits. I'd say I had already had lunch, when in reality I was at Starbucks getting a Venti dark roast,” she said.
 
In a national survey conducted by Self magazine in 2008, sixty-five percent of the 4,000 women ages 25 to 45 who responded to the survey were identified as disordered eaters and ten percent were found to have an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia—which makes you wonder what the numbers would be if the survey were conducted with women in college.
 
The Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama in Birmingham published a press release in which Associate Professor of Psychology Mary Boggiano, Ph.D., explained, “To keep from gaining weight, some [college] students engage in risky behaviors such as excessive dieting or purging food. In many cases, people learn about the risky behaviors from other students in their dorm or over the Internet, so that obsession about weight can become infectious.”
 
Case in point: Elizabeth, who would watch “thinspiration” videos online every morning to remain motivated in her goal to lose weight. “I did it for attention,” said Elizabeth, “I wanted people to notice me.”
 
Never mind the social and academic stress that are integral aspects of the college experience; add to those factors the “infectious” obsession with weight and body image that pervades amongst college women, and you have the fundamental ingredients for an eating disorder.
 
“I weigh myself every morning,” said Amy. “If a see my numbers go up I freak out and eat one meal that day and puke it up. I run in the mornings and go to the gym at nights. I avoid mirrors—especially when I am in my bathroom to shower, in my bikini, or in my room when I am changing. I hate seeing myself because then I scrutinize what I am and what I am not.”
 
According to statistics published on aplaceofhope.com—the website for a treatment center in Washington state—ninety-one percent of women surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting, and twenty-two percent had dieted "often" or "always".
 
“I think college definitely played [a role] with the eating disorder,” said Amy. “I see all these skinny girls at the bars wearing nothing walking around—I envy that. And at college, everyone is too busy wrapped up in school or their own things to notice that I have this disorder. My parents aren't around to ask me questions,” she said.