Inside Exeter: Campus Faces Eating Disorders

According to the health center, five to ten students are treated per year for eating disorders. An eating disorder, characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating habits, includes anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, purging and food addictions. In addition to these, other unhealthy eating habits have been noticed on campus, like sporadic eating patterns, low self-esteem and body-image problems and unnecessary dieting.Although low self-esteem does not directly translate to eating disorders, many students observed a low perception of body image in the community. Prep Ally Grounds said she encounters the issue very often. “I have a scale and almost every night, someone comes in to weigh themselves. Even if the person is not overweight at all, they are always looking at themselves in the mirror and saying ‘I am so fat.’”Those who have had an eating disorder while at Exeter are often very secretive about their condition. “No one noticed that I had an eating disorder. I hid it well,” said Susan,* who was diagnosed with bulimia during the winter of her prep year. “Only my closest friend suspected, but not enough to bring it up to me. I was the one who sought help for myself.” Elizabeth* said that in her dorm, she and others noticed and became concerned about a dorm mate. “We all knew she had an eating disorder. However, there was pressure not to tell anyone because of the implications of the ASAP program,” she said.Upper Jennifer*, who has suffered from a stress-related eating disorder, agreed. “No one notices. Some people would comment and say that they didn’t think I was eating enough sometimes,” Jennifer said, “but they didn’t go any further.”Susan* and Baxter are on their respective paths to recovery, and both have received assistance from the health services. Yet they both said that they sought help for themselves initially, as others weren’t aware of their disorders.While it is nearly impossible to directly compare the prevalence of eating disorders at Exeter to other schools, there are factors in our community that many believe encourage the disorders.Upper Callan Malone said she is familiar with students who have had eating disorders at Exeter, and their existence may stem from pressures provided by athletes. “I think there’s a big stigma that comes with being overweight at Exeter, with the immense amount of athletes on campus.”“I think it just starts with skipping a few dining hall meals and can progress into something that includes excessive working out and eating less and less, and then the stress here heightens it,” Malone said.Susan* agreed, noting that it was easier for her to perpetuate her disorder here than it would have been at home. “My mom couldn’t watch me, control my meals and notice my behaviors, and that definitely made it easier to have an eating disorder.”“I have always been a perfectionist, and being in the competitive environment of Exeter, exacerbated my preexisting tendencies and brought them to a destructive peak,” she said, although insistent not to hold the institution accountable. “I don’t blame Exeter. I think this would have happened whenever I entered a high-stress environment, like college.”Students agree that Exeter’s athletic environment also contributes to the pressures surrounding food and eating. Lower Emmaline Kim, a coxswain, also noticed pressure to stay thin in her spring sport. “Coxing can put some pressures to stay at a lower weight, and during crew season we’re usually coxing during practice, and not getting much physical activity, which makes it hard to keep weight off,” though she hasn’t noticed any seriously unhealthy habits, as health is a crucial part to success.Baxter also acknowledged a pressure she felt to be skinny while on the volleyball team. “I think that in sports I felt a lot of pressure to be skinny or look good—and I refused to be in spandex shorts until I was content with the way my body looked.”Exeter’s student listeners met last week with Tuesday’s assembly speaker Michael Prager, who has written about and struggled with food addiction, to discuss how eating disorders affect mental health and also how to recognize the behaviors and symptoms it comes with, to be better understood and noticed.Prager stressed the importance of having an accurate perception of eating disorders prevalent in society. Although anorexia and bulimia are the two disorders receiving the most publicity, others— such as binge eating disorder—are often just as, if not more prevalent among the American population.Eating disorders also affect a much larger demographic than just teenage girls. Reverend Thompson is an example of how eating disorders affect faculty as well as the students. A food addict himself, Thompson said, “Eating was what I did when I was happy, when I was sad, lonely or depressed. It’s what I did when I was feeling good, it’s what I did to celebrate and it’s what I did when I was mourning. For every situation, eating was my solution.”Senior and student listener Keunyoung Ma noted, “It’s helpful to know that someone can have an eating disorder without working out after every meal, or being the person that never eats. It can still be a serious disorder that is taking a toll on them.”While eating disorders can be difficult to notice, it is often even more challenging for those that do suffer to reach out for the help that they need, being afraid of judgment or having to face med leave.“I think there’s a certain prejudice that girls with eating disorders are just ‘too self-conscious’ or ‘being dumb,’” Malone said. She raised the point that “People don't really understand the motives behind it.”One anonymous student agreed, commenting,“One of the major problems with eating disorders here is that students are afraid of reaching out, or just simply talk about it with sources of help. Students are generally concerned about others discovering about their eating disorders.”Yet Ma and other student listeners encouraged anyone with a problem to reach out to their student listeners or the health center as soon as they felt comfortable doing so. “A lot of people are afraid to go get help,” she said, “but confidentiality is possible to maintain, and asking for help will not make your condition worse.”