Although eating disorders disclosed among SJSU students are relatively low, the university offers a variety of resources for those who are suffering, a Student Health Center official said.
Jennifer Waldrop, wellness and health promotion coordinator and nutritionist at the center, said that college is a time of profound change in students' lives.
She said that through college, some students thrive and others become overwhelmed, which she said is a cause of eating disorders, in addition to depression and anxiety.
Freshman English major Katherine Reed said she doesn't want to eat when she's emotionally drained.
She said the pressure to feel attractive leads people to start changing their eating habits.
On the other hand, Tina Nguyen, a junior health science major, said that when she overloads herself with things, she starts to eat more.
"I didn't realize I had a problem until more people talked about it," she said.
Nguyen said cultural pressure also contributes to the need to be thin.
"A lot of Asian girls don't eat a lot because they like to keep slim," she said, "Asian girls are used to being told they should stay thin. Even if you advise them to eat, they get used to refusing food to keep their image of looking thin."
Waldrop said bulimia and binge eating are the most common eating disorders among college students, compared with anorexia.
A bulimic student purges by vomiting, using laxatives or compulsive exercising, while an anorexic student severely restricts food intake and strives for weight loss, she said.
Waldrop said binge-eating is characterized by episodes of eating large quantities of food.
"Binge eating often occurs in secret and is followed by feelings of shame and disgust," she said. "Binge eating disorder often occurs with depression."
According to the Department of Mental Health Web site, it is estimated that 8 million Americans have an eating disorder - 7 million are women and 1 million are men.
Eating disorders at SJSU<\b>
According to the 2009 National College Health Assessment survey, which asked SJSU students if they've been diagnosed with an eating disorder by a doctor, 0.4 percent of students said they were diagnosed with anorexia and 0.2 percent of students said they were diagnosed with bulimia, out of the 30,000 students surveyed.
Waldrop said the numbers are low because the survey asked students whether they've been diagnosed with an eating disorder, rather than asking whether students had symptoms of an eating disorder.
"Students may have symptoms of an eating disorder, such as restrictive eating, loss of periods, using laxatives, vomiting or overexercising, but do not recognize these behaviors as red flags," she said.
Troy Rabanal, a junior computer science major, said he is surprised about the percentage of students with eating disorders.
"I thought it would be higher, because students are really conscious about their image, and their peers also pressure them to be conscious of their image," he said.
Nguyen said the university shouldn't be concerned about eating disorders because the numbers are relatively low.
"The percentage of students with an eating disorder shows we're not in a danger zone," she said.
Waldrop said individuals with eating disorders often try to hide their eating disorders.
"Some may hide it by becoming a vegetarian or a vegan, which is a socially accepted means of restricting food groups," she said. "Of course, this is not the case for all vegetarians or vegans, but if someone you know is a vegetarian or vegan and has lost weight and shows other red flags of an eating disorder, this is cause for concern."
She said from her experience, fewer than 5 percent of students at SJSU are vegetarians.
Waldrop said the survey does not include students who suffer from binge eating, because binge-eating disorder has not been officially diagnosed as an eating disorder.
"Binge-eating across the U.S. is about 1 to 5 percent of the population," she said. "We can assume the statistics are similar at SJSU."
Waldrop said there are several resources on campus that address eating disorder issues. "At San Jose State University, we understand that eating disorders are serious, and complex illnesses that affect the mind and body," she said. "For this reason, we use a team approach to treat eating disorders. The clinicians and registered dietitian at the Student Health Center collaborate with the psychiatrist and psychologists from counseling services. By working as a team, we can address eating disorders on all levels."
Ellen Lin, assistant director of clinical services, said the counseling service at SJSU offers one-on-one counseling, as well as workshops to help those struggling with eating disorders.
"Somebody who suffers from eating disorders usually has some kind of body image issue … and it's really a symptom of some underlying struggles," she said. "There's often self-esteem difficulties, and not having effective coping skills to sort of self-soothe. So we have workshops that may not directly be addressing eating disorders but on helping with stress management and learning coping skills."
Lin said a student with an eating disorder would have to come into the counseling office to get assessed.
The assessment, which is available Monday through Friday, takes about 20 minutes, she said.
"During the initial assessment, the student will fill out paperwork to give their background and history, and it will ask what's been going on that has brought them in and whether or not they've had previous counseling," she said.
Lin said the counseling service will give the student an idea of how counseling works.
"Usually, counseling sessions are 50 minutes, and depending on their severity, the counselor may want to meet weekly at first, and depending on how the student is doing, the counselor and student could decide on how frequently they do meet," she said.
Lin said sessions are not more than once a week.
"They would also have to follow the session limit that we have for counseling," she said. "That is six sessions per semester with a senior staff and eight with a trainee."
Lin said the counseling service then refers the student to the Student Health Center.
"We usually do refer them to get a physical over at Student Health to get a baseline of their health or if they've been struggling for a long time to get a clearance that health-wise they're OK to continue," she said. "Sometimes the students don't realize that they have some symptoms that may not be visible."
Lin said the student in question would be asked to go to the campus nutritionist.
"Often, students will have misconceptions about what they can and cannot eat and how the food will impact their body size," she said. "So our counselors here try to work as a team with the Student Health professionals."
Lin said that in 2008, 307 out of 1,392 students who visited the counseling service reported that they had body-image issues, while 109 students said they had eating disorders.
Lin said counseling is important in the recovery process because eating disorders are essentially psychological disorders.
"It has a lot of physical ramifications and negative physical consequences including death … but the physical part is more the symptom of the eating disorder," she said. "There is usually an underlying psychology component that is very important. Even if you force-feed somebody, they can continue the behavior once they leave the force-feeding environment, unless we address the psychology component of it …You have to help them see that their body size, or body shape or the way that they look is not representative of who they are."
Causes and Consequences of Eating Disorders<\b>
Jennifer Waldrop, the wellness coordinator, said the causes of eating disorders are complex.
"One of the things that can trigger an eating disorder is a big change in life," she said. "So a lot of times, the transition that goes along with moving away from your home and starting a completely different life in college can sometimes just provide that spark or trigger that can start an eating disorder."
Waldrop said there are also genetic, psychological and social components involved with eating disorders.
People who are depressed or have anxiety or mental-health issues put themselves at risk of developing an eating disorder, she said.
Waldrop said the emphasis on being thin or having a certain body type also contributes to the development of an eating disorder.
"Once you have all of that in the background - those risk factors - then you have that life event that triggers, that starts the process," she said.
Waldrop said eating disorders are also coping mechanisms.
"Sometimes when you get to college, you don't have those old support networks that you used to have, and you just become overwhelmed," she said.
Waldrop said health consequences depend on the eating disorder, but some can be life threatening.
"Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness," she said. "Bulimia can be life-threatening. Any time you're purging, you're losing electrolytes in your body that helps keep your heart beat regulated."
According to the Department of Mental Health Web site, a study by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders reported that 5 percent to 10 percent of people suffering from anorexia will die within 10 years of having the disorder.
Sidebar: A San Jose native shares her struggles with eating disorders
Lindsay Newman, a San Jose native and Chapman alumna, said she struggled with eating disorders at a young age.
Newman said that when she was 9, she started becoming a compulsive eater.
"I have always had an odd relationship with food," she said. "I simply used food to express my emotions, and I used food as a symbol of happiness, and I was someone who didn't know how to turn that off."
When Newman was 15, she developed anorexia and bulimia, which continued on and off into her 20s.
Newman said she is 5 feet 8 inches tall, and her lowest weight was 114 pounds.
She said bulimia is an awful, messy and haunting disorder that can lead to anorexia.
"It's truly the feeling of 'Oh my God, I messed up, and I feel like I ate too much, and I need to get it out of me,'" she said. "And you don't feel good doing it … you hate the bulimia so much that you almost teach yourself to be anorexic, so that you never have to feel like you have to go through that again."
Newman said she's been in recovery for a year and a half.
"Recovery is difficult, because the physical actions of the disorder are different from the mindset," she said. "They told me during recovery that sometimes it will never fully go away … there is always a chance of relapse, and I keep that in mind and my personal goal is to never relapse."
Newman said she likes being in control of things and having an eating disorder was her way of taking control of her body in an extreme way.
"When you can control something, and you see the effect of it in yourself, it's a very interesting feeling," she said. "And I know for me, I lost control of it and it developed into an eating disorder."
Newman said she didn't seek help until her junior year in college, when her well-being was at stake.
"I'm very prone to having ovarian cysts, and I had one that burst," she said. "I was rushed to the emergency room, and they were trying to flush the toxins out of my system, and my body was so weak from the eating disorder that it was essentially dying."
Newman said she recovered, but the ordeal scared her to the point where she decided to seek assistance.
"It sounds very weird to say, but I just kind of got scared and I knew it was out of my control and I was going to die - if I kept going as I was going, that I wasn't going to survive, or that something permanent was going to happen," she said.
Newman said asking for help was a hard thing to do, but that when she did, it was empowering.
She said she is now stricter with her eating and workout habits.
"I have to preplan 10 times more than I ever did having an eating disorder or overeating, because I want to keep myself organized and on track, so I really am super strict about what I'm eating," she said. "I like to plan it out the day before to make sure I'm getting the correct supplements and vitamins."
A year after Newman began her treatment, she started getting involved in the Miss America Organization.
Newman said pageants are controversial, but from her experience, she found that the organization has helped her with her body image.
"(The organization) really encourages you to be the best version of yourself," she said. "It gives me back that control in a very different way."
Newman said she was Miss Redwood City last year and competed at Miss California last summer.
Newman said her platform to compete in pageants is about body-image issues.
She said she partnered with the Eating Disorder Resource Center in San Jose to put together a presentation on issues about body image.
The Eating Disorder Resource Center is a nonprofit organization that serves the Silicon Valley area, said Katie Clark, assistant to executive director of the center.
Clark said the organization's mission is to raise awareness and promote recovery of eating disorders.
Clark said a support group is a vital tool in the recovery process of an individual suffering from eating disorders.
"Many people who are suffering from eating disorders face a great deal of stigma and shame," Clark said. "This can make it particularly difficult to seek treatment and work toward recovery. A support group can provide relief, options, hope and a sense of community through connection and sharing experiences with others who understand."
Newman said it's been great working with the Eating Disorder Resource Center to come up with a presentation that could help others struggling with eating disorders.
"I feel like if I had seen my presentation in high school, I probably would have had the courage to seek out help much sooner," she said. "It's been a long journey, but the thing about eating disorders that is hard to understand is that it's a disease, and you can always relapse, so you have to stay very tight on recovery … and that's kind of where I am right now - just keeping myself on track and trying to reach out as much as I can."
http://media.www.thespartandaily.com/media/storage/paper852/news/2009/11/18/News/University.Helps.Students.With.Eating.Disorders-3835444.shtml
Chatboard (1)