The Rocket

Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: News

Media Credit: MCT Campus [Click to enlarge]

The campus community came together Tuesday to discuss how psychological, social and other various pressures play major factors in eating disorders among college students.

Johanna Kandel, executive director of the Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness, shared her personal struggle with eating disorders, treatment and the recovery process.

During the presentation, titled "Stepping Off the Scales," Kandel discussed warning signs, how to get treatment and how to support those with eating disorders. The presentation was held in the Spotts World Culture Building auditorium at 12:30 p.m. and given again at 5 p.m.

Anorexia, bulimia and binge eating were topics of discussion with the audience.

"I think that students just get overwhelmed by the amount of stress placed on them with schoolwork, extra activities and jobs," freshman exercise science major Crystal Burnick said. "It also makes a difference for some students that after moving out on their own they make their own eating habits.

"They probably feel like they can get away with eating poorly because their parents are not around to make them eat properly."

There is social pressure for both men and women to look a certain way, Kandel said.

"It has been embedded in people's minds that guys should be muscular and women should be thin," Kandel said. "The media depicts that the 'perfect' girl should look like Barbie, but if Barbie were real, she would break in half because her waist is too thin and her chest is too big."

Some students feel that the media's outlook on beauty doesn't affect them.

"I know that make-up artists contribute to make the models look the way they do," senior psychology major Bambi Haag said. "I do know that other people, especially younger girls, are affected by what they see on TV."

Students don't feel that they have to be gauntly thin like the models of the media but rather felt pressure from other students on campus.

"This campus seems to emphasize athletics and working out," Emily Green, a freshman undeclared major, said. "I see that there is more of a push to be fit and healthy, not necessarily to lose weight."

Kandel said the best way to help someone suffering from an eating disorder is to be their friend.

"I can't tell you the number of people who told me what I was doing was wrong and how to fix my eating disorders during the 10 years I struggled with it," Kandel said. "What I can tell you is that there was hardly anyone who ever asked what they could do to help.

Sometimes people just need to know that a friend is on the other end of the phone."

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