Body Image / Eating Disorders
The college years can be an exciting time of new opportunities and increased freedom. However, the transition to college can also present challenges as students adjust to living away from family, negotiating new relationships and coping with academic pressures. Another challenge of college life is assuming more responsibility for eating habits, including making choices in Reeve Union, Blackhawk, or your Residence Hall and deciding when to eat in the middle of a busy schedule. The transitions of college and the increased autonomy in all of these areas can be very demanding.
For those individuals predisposed to developing an eating disorder, the stresses of the college environment can contribute to a troubling sense of a lack of control. Individuals who develop eating disorders often substitute internal control of eating and body weight as a way to deal with feelings of powerlessness over the external environment. In addition, preoccupation with food and body image may serve as a distraction from problems and a way of numbing difficult feelings.
Many college-aged women don’t meet criteria for an eating disorder but are preoccupied with losing weight and dissatisfied with their bodies. Up to a third of college women have “disordered eating” habits, such as using diet pills or laxatives, not eating at all to try to lose weight, or binge-eating .
What is Body Image?
What is an Eating Disorder?
How Do I Help My Friend?
More information about Eating Disorders
What is body image?
A woman's body image encompasses her physical appearance, size, and shape. Issues of body image are found everywhere, whether one is conscious of it or not. Our body image is formed out of every experience we have ever had - parents, role models, and peers who give us an idea of what it is like to love and value a body. Image is formed from the positive and the negative feedback from people whose opinions matter to us. It is also the way we ourselves have perceived our body to fit or not fit the cultural image. (From Wellesley College Health Service).
- How do you perceive your physical appearance?
- How do you feel about your appearance?
- How do you feel about your body?
- How do you think others see you?
With a positive body image, a person has a real perception of her size and shape and feels comfortable and proud about her body. With a negative body image, a person has a distorted perception of her shape and size, compares her body to others, and feels shame, awkwardness, and anxiety about her body.
A woman's dissatisfaction with her body affects how she thinks and feels about herself. A poor body image can lead to emotional distress, low self-esteem, dieting, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.
Why are so many women unhappy with their bodies? Women in the U.S. are under pressure to measure up to a certain social and cultural ideal of beauty, which can lead to poor body image. We are bombarded with media images of female bodies that are extremely thin and with flawless features. These images can reinforce an already negative image a woman might have of her body, leading her to believe she is overweight and not able to meet the American standard.
Other pressure can come from people in our lives. Family and friends can influence a woman’s body image with positive and negative comments. Doctors can also have a powerful impact on body image. Their comments, in particular, might be delivered as health advice but can be misinterpreted and affect how a woman perceives and feels about her body. As a result, the way women feel about their bodies can impact their physical and emotional health. Women with a poor body image may try to lose weight in unhealthy ways, restrict their eating, develop eating disorders, and have low self-esteem.
Despite these challenges, there are things women can do to overcome these challenges and feel better about themselves:
Replace your negative thoughts with positive ones. Focus on things you like about yourself.
- Surround yourself with people who have a healthy perspective about food, weight, and their bodies.
- Eat healthy foods. This can help your body get healthier.
- Get active. Women of all sizes can be active. Exercise can help you feel better about your body and give you more energy.
(Special thanks to www.4woman.gov. for this content)
What is an Eating Disorder?
The idealization of thinness has resulted in distorted body image and unrealistic measures of beauty and success. Cultural and media influences such as TV, magazines, and movies reinforce the belief that women should be more concerned with their appearance than with their own ideas or achievements.
Research has shown that many normal weight and even underweight girls are dissatisfied with their body and are choosing inappropriate behaviors to control their appetite and food intake.
An eating disorder occurs when the focus of a person’s everyday life revolves obsessively around food and weight. Some people try to starve themselves. Others compulsively overeat, and still others combine bingeing and purging.
Eating disorders often develop as a way to deal with the conflicts and struggles of life and may be used as a way to express control when life itself seems out of control.
Developing and nurturing a positive body image and a healthy mental attitude is crucial to a woman's happiness and wellness.
If you are struggling with an eating disorder or concerned about someone who is and would like to talk to someone, please contact us at the University Counseling Center.
More information about Eating Disorders
How do I Help my Friend?
Remember that you cannot force someone to seek help, change their habits, or adjust their attitudes. You will make important progress in honestly sharing your concerns, providing support, and knowing where to go for more information! People struggling with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating disorder do need professional help. There is help available and there is hope!
Being a friend to someone with an eating disorder can sometimes be very challenging. It is normal to feel frustrated, worried and scared for your friend, especially if s/he isn’t able to admit that there is a serious problem. Being secretive about eating and exercising is a common characteristic of an individual with an eating disorder, and you may feel that you have to watch over your friend to make sure s/he is taking care of her/himself. The truth is that you have very limited influence on your friend’s eating habits, and it is ultimately her/his decision about what and how s/he eats. This is not to say that you should give up on or reject your friend who has an eating disorder. People who have sought treatment for an eating disorder often emphasize how important the ongoing support of their friends and family was to their eventual recovery. They say that having friends who both continued to believe in them, and also to relate to them beyond just their eating disorder was crucial in their taking steps toward health.
Should I say something to my friend?
Perhaps the first thing you may ask yourself if you know someone who you suspect has an eating disorder is whether or not you should confront the issue. Ask yourself about your relationship with that person. If it is someone you know only casually (e.g. an acquaintance in a class, someone you see only at the gym) you are probably not the right person to confront that individual. If you are concerned about someone who is a friend, however, it is important to speak to her or him.
Talking to your friend shows that you care enough to say something, even if your friend has difficulty hearing or accepting your concern. Remember that denial of any problem with food is a psychological defense that helps your friend keep her/his real pain tucked away and out of conscious awareness. Eating disorders serve the function of distracting the individual from deeper emotional issues. An eating disorder is a way of coping, and your friend may not be ready to relinquish the sense of control, power or emotional relief that s/he gets from his or her symptoms (e.g. restricting, binging/ purging, exercising).
It is important not to interpret your friend’s denial as a personal rejection. Though s/he may resist your efforts, it is still essential to confront your friend in a supportive way and offer to assist her/him in getting help. Ignoring the problem contributes to the secretiveness and denial that is part of the disorder; this may lead to serious health consequences. Many people with eating disorders initially seek treatment not entirely of their own choosing, but because others have raised the issue and urged them to seek help.
How to Speak to Your Friend
The following are some tips to consider in confronting your friend who has an eating disorder:
- Pick a time to talk to your friend when there will be no distractions or interruptions. Avoid speaking to her/him about the eating disorder at meal time, or during an argument. Also avoid confronting your friend right before a break in the semester, as this prevents both of you from being able to follow up with a discussion at a later point.
- Express your concerns directly and sincerely, but avoid criticism or judgment. Use “I statements” in which you express your concern about how your friend’s health and well-being are being affected (e.g. I’m worried about you, because along with losing weight you also seem sad lately.”)
- Educate yourself about eating disorders. Realizing that you can’t solve your friend’s problem, and understanding that eating disorders are not just about food will help you to better understand your friend’s struggle. Eating Disorders Section
- Have available resources for treatment. If s/he is willing to see a counselor on campus, have the phone number of the Counseling Center available to call for an appointment. Offer to accompany her/him to the Health Services Building, but respect his or her privacy if s/he wishes to go alone.
- Be prepared for her/him to deny that there is a problem, and/or to become tearful or angry. Know that you are doing the right thing in talking to your friend, and tell him or her that you continue to be concerned. Your words may “plant a seed” which may help your friend to get treatment even if s/he isn’t receptive at the time.
- Offer your continued friendship, support and patience.
- Don’t promise to keep secrets about the eating disorder, or promise not to tell anyone who would assist your friend in getting treatment.
- Talk to a counselor about your own feelings regarding the situation.
If you are still worried about your friend or would like more support in helping her/him, the University Counseling Center is available for consultation about how to handle the situation. Consultations with the Counseling Center are free and confidential. Depending on the level of concern, the counselor might suggest you inform someone (e.g. administrator, parents) who can take action to directly address the problem. The counselor will help you to determine what can be done to help your friend, and is available to provide support for you as well.
Taken from:
http://studentlife.villanova.edu/counselingcenter/psychtopics/eatingdisorders.html and
http://studentlife.villanova.edu/counselingcenter/psychtopics/eatingdisorders.html
Used by permission of Villanova University Counseling Center. All rights reserved.