Disordered Eaters Education and Advocacy

Anyone who’s followed this blog for more than a day knows we’ve been covering how society still views the way we dress to blame us for being sexual assaulted. Today, I’d like to veer in a slightly different direction.

I wanted to take today to address eating disorders and how they effect victims of sexual abuse. Since body image and perceptions tie in with the ‘way we look makes us victims’ concept, I felt I’d include it here. I am an active supporter of a group named Disordered Eaters Education and Advocacy, which can be wonderfully shortened to DEEA when you’re in a hurry.

DEEA is rather new, but it shows great promise to those suffering with eating disorders and who are looking for help, or help for friends who happen to be suffering with an eating disorder.

DEEA’s mission consists of three main goals:
1) To provide life-coaching to those in recovery from an eating disorder;
2) To supply resources on eating disorders, including facts, facilities, and support groups; and
3) To educate young people on the truths of eating disorders.

This is sadly a problem that is still swept under the rug in modern society. With a nation obsessed with focusing on diets, obesity, and a confusing idea of what weight is considered ‘sexy’ it’s no surprise eating disorders have taken root here.

Now, granted, this latest generation has become much more open about eating disorders, thanks in part to celebrities like Demi Lovato, but getting help for those suffering with eating disorders is still a confusing jumble of overwhelming information. Eating disorders are preventable and treatable, but without the information, most people never get the help they need. DEEA has set out to change this.

DEEA will help sift through all the information for you and get you exactly what you need in order to recover. DEEA basically takes your hand and walks you step by step through what you need to do and how you need to get there, while educating the next generation about the myths and truths surrounding eating disorders.

Here are a few examples of truths DEEA hopes to educate people about:
1) Anorexia nervosa has the highest premature mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder, typically resulting in death due to psychological complications - such as suicide.
2) As many as 11 million Americans suffer from an eating disorder, 10 million of which are women.
3) As of 2003, 40% of newly identified cases of anorexia are girls, ages 15-29.
4) The majority of people with an eating disorder do not receive adequate care. Many times, this is because so many insurance companies do not recognize eating disorders as a chronic or fatal illness.
5) More research funding goes towards schizophrenia, which is suffered by 1/5 the number of people suffering from an eating disorder.
6) There are many causes of eating disorders such as; family influences, sports, history of sexual abuse, certain personalities, and emotional disorders.

Now, what does this have to do with R.I.S.E.? Glad you asked!

Many people who suffer from sexual abuse turn to an eating disorder as a coping mechanism. Eating disorders give a false sense of control to someone who felt that control had been taken away from them. In fact, young girls who are sexually abused are more likely to develop eating disorders as adolescents. And when trying to control their body image fails to heal their psychological damage, the result often ends in suicide. Heather, the girl R.I.S.E. was inspired by, was anorexic. When she couldn't gain control from not eating, she turned to suicide. Luckily, she lived, but there are many who go through these same motions, and sometimes it doesn't end so well.

I’m going to take a moment to get very personal here. When I was younger, I was overweight for my age. After being raped multiple times, my body image was completely and totally messed up. I refused to eat. I was too depressed to care. When I did eat, my body packed on the pounds after being in starvation mode for way to long. I began to embrace that and over-eat, my reasoning being ‘society views fat girls as undesirable, if I was undesirable then I wouldn’t continue to be raped or hurt.’ Now, years later, I’m still dealing with trying to control a healthy weight.

I bring this story up because I want to point out that even if you are truly a big person, eating disorders effect you too. I could have easily gone the other route and become unhealthily thin if I thought it would have worked to my advantage in stopping my abuse.

And for my male R.I.S.E. followers, DEEA also wants to shatter the myth that it's only a woman's disease. In fact DEEA wants to expose the fact that over 1 million American males suffer from an eating disorder, and they often don’t get the help they need because male pride gets in the way.

If you are interested in learning more, or to take advantage of one of DEEA’s services (assistance in searching for resources, life coaching for those in recovery, or educating youth audiences) by contacting DEEA through email at disorderedeaters.eaa@gmail.com, you can visit their website at: http://disorderedeaterseaa.vpweb.com/.

You can also visit their facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Disordered-Eaters-Education-and-Advocacy/214694088541006?sk=info