The Leader

Issue date: 3/29/06 Section: Beat

Skinny is in, well at least that's what the media tells us on a daily basis. With women becoming more and more conscience of their weight and appearance, a few have taken it to the extreme. With eating disorders on the rise in college-aged women, UWM has developed support for students that need help.

Colleen Bernstein, a registered nurse in health education at UWM's Norris Health Center, says eating disorders are common in college women because of the importance of body size and image in our culture. These almost unattainable body images are splashed across magazines, advertisements, movies and television. It's hard not to get sucked into this ideal, Bernstein said.

"The Hollywood body is a myth," Bernstein said. "Pictures of actresses and models have been airbrushed with the technology of computers. Scars disappear; moles appear; fat gets erased with the delete button."

Betsy Smith*, UW-Madison student, says she feels the pressure. Since having an eating disorder in middle school; at 5'8" and 125 pounds she still feels the pressure to try to control her weight.

"The constant bombardment of images is defiantly oppressive and engrains in our minds the ideal body, and the patriarchal society is also a huge contributor," Smith said. "Having to have the perfect body and looks in order to date somebody you like, or even get guys' attention."

Your best body is one you are happy and healthy with. The average woman is not a size 0. Bernstein recommends finding your body mass index (BMI) in order to find the ideal weight for your height. Many websites are available online in order to calculate your BMI. Bernstein also recommended a simpler calculation for women to use:

"Ideal body weight is 100 pounds for 5 feet and 5 pounds for every inch thereafter, plus or minus 10%," Bernstein said.

Although according to this calculation Smith is well in the healthy weight range, she still becomes guilty when she allows herself to indulge once in awhile. She said when she does she can physically feel herself getting chubbier.

In order to help students such as Smith the Women's Resource Center at UWM has initiated the Eating Disorder Support Group.

Dave Drajkowski, an eating disorder therapist for twelve years, has run the support group for three semesters. He was called by the Women's Resource Center because of the increasing need at UWM. The support group is a free group that meets every semester for eight weeks. Enrollment each semester is around ten people, Drajkowski said.

"In a support group you're really trying to get people to connect to each other, find support, find people that can communicate on the same level," Drajkowski said. "They also concentrate on other issues to figure out what started their problem."

Drajkowski accredits the need to feel in control behind the prevalence of eating disorders in college-aged women.

"The transition to college is stressful, you're far away from home so an eating disorder is a way to control something when everything else is out of control," Drajkowski said. "I think there's a tendency for eating disorders in order to feel in control, and that sometimes feels really good when everything else is out of control."

So how do you know if you or a friend needs help? When restricting your diet to the point of physical symptoms, such as lack of concentration or weakness, this is a sign that an intervention is needed. If you suspect that a friend might have an eating disorder, Bernstein suggests using the "I approach":

"'I am concerned about your eating habits and worried you are not getting enough to eat,'" Bernstein said. "'I noticed you use the bathroom after eating with us.'"

By using this approach emotion becomes defused and confrontation is prevented. If your friend becomes defensive step back and try again later without becoming defensive yourself, Bernstein said.

Smith remembers when she was first approached by her concerned parents.

"That scared me to hear that people noticed, I didn't realize I had a problem until my mom had said something," Smith said.

Although eating disorder cases are more common among women, men are also starting to become victims of this horrible disease. These cases are very prominent in men that are involved in sports in which they have to weigh-in, such as wrestling and bodybuilding. Drajkowski has worked with some men and believes male eating disorders are becoming an epidemic.

Along with the Eating Disorder Support Group, Norris Health Center has a counseling staff of trained PhD counselors who can screen students for disordered eating and see them in therapy for a limited number of sessions.

"We have an Eating Disorders Team, consisting of a counselor, registered dietician, psychiatrist, nurse practitioner," said Bernstein

The Eating Disorder Support Group meets every Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. until 2 p.m. in Union room 346. Drajkowski urges students to not be afraid to join the group even if you feel your case might be mild.

"There is a lot of shame attached to eating disorder and I think that sort of immobilizes people in terms of getting help or they don't get help until they are really sick," Drajkowski said. "The earlier the intervention, the shorter and quicker the treatment."

*name changed for anonymity

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