IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
Written by Nina Greenberg - 11/28/2020
Mental health affects every single person; we’re all impacted in different ways, and we all find different coping mechanisms. While we can identify a large variety of different defined ‘mental disorders,’ one of the more commonly diagnosed issues are eating disorders. Eating disorders affect people of all races, ethnicities, backgrounds, body types, weights, and genders. They are classified as serious medical illnesses marked by severe disturbances to a person’s eating behaviors, often accompanied by obsessions with food, body weight, and shape.
Though eating disorders most frequently develop during adolescence and early adulthood, children and people over the age of forty may also struggle with an eating disorder. School curriculum typically highlights the eating disorders anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder; however, the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) acknowledge an additional nine disorders. Many people also suffer from pica, rumination disorder, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), muscle dysmorphia, other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED), compulsive over eating (COE), Prader Willi syndrome, diabulimia, orthorexia nervosa, drunkorexia, and/or pregorexia.
While these may be lesser known, they still impact people on a day to day basis, with an estimated twenty million women and ten million men in the United States alone struggling with an eating disorder. Among teens ages 13 to 18, 3.8% of females and 1.5% of males are reported to have an eating disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. With college-age students, the percentage of people with an eating disorder is even higher, with a range of 8% to 17%, according to the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment. When All For Us Magazine model Makenna Myrick opened up about her own experience, she revealed that “having an eating disorder is something that people don’t really realize,” and that “it doesn’t have to be [that] you’re super skinny or super big.” In fact, less than 6% of people diagnosed with eating disorders are medically underweight, according to National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.
In Makenna’s case, she notes that her eating disorder often felt “all-consuming,” and “restrictive,” taking both a “mental and physical” toll. People often associate all eating disorders with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. However, each eating disorder carries its own symptoms, and each requires a different recovery. Makenna explained that her disorder “manifested in not only what I ate but also over exercising.” She goes on to say that she felt mentally consumed by questions of “do I look okay,” or struggling with “being an athlete and knowing that [she] didn’t eat enough before practice or a big race.” More than one-third of Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association female athletes were found in a NEDA report to have attitudes and symptoms that place them at risk for anorexia. After transitioning into recovery, Makenna reflected that those questions transformed into “did I eat enough today” and “was I nice enough to myself today,” reminding herself that “[she was] a runner, [and she had] to eat.” And after a while, “once [she] started getting better times after eating more, it became easier.”
While discussing her experience with recovery, Makenna gave us some advice for others going through similar hardships. “My big motto in life and in recovery - especially with eating disorders - is that you can’t finish, you can’t win the race if you don’t put your first foot forward. You have to take your first step forward in recovery.” She adds that “there are things in life that we can’t control, and sometimes our body is one of them.”
Unfortunately, not everyone has access to recovery resources or help. BIPOC are less likely than non-POC people to be asked by a doctor about eating disorder symptoms. Furthermore, reports show that they are half as likely to be diagnosed and receive treatment. Makenna believes that “everyone should go to therapy. You don’t have to have an innate, quote on quote, ‘mental health problem.’” There are many online resources for people who cannot access in-person assistance or treatment during their recovery, a few of which are linked under the All For Us Magazine’s mental health resources tab.
Makenna concluded her interview and conversation about mental health by explaining how far she’s come thus far in her experience. “I definitely learned a lot about the actual disorder. I thought I was alone in my feelings...and I didn’t really realize it was a problem until someone called me out about it,” she explains. “An eating disorder doesn’t define anyone; it’s just a problem that they need to deal with and that people need to help them out with.”
For more information and resources, check out https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/eating-disorders/index.shtml, https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/help-support/contact-helpline, and https://anad.org/our-services/ :)
Authors Note: A big thank you to Makenna once again for sharing her experience with us. I know her story will help others and inspire people to seek out help as needed.