Next week the Counseling Center will help to bring eating disorders to the forfront of student discussion with its participation in the National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.Assistant Director of the Counseling Center Cynthia Bryant has prepared for this coming week because of a lack of awareness on the topic.
She said students are often unaware of the dangers associated with eating disorders.
In fact, a substantial portion of students who are affected by these disorders, whether directly or indirectly, are oblivious to what is actually happening.
If someone feels they may have a problem or someone they know has a problem they can check out the Counseling Center’s free eating disorder screening. It is sponsored by the Counseling Center, and may be taken on-line or at the Center’s main office in the RUC.
“If a person is thinking ‘I may have an eating disorder’ they may want to check out these screenings,” Bryant said.
The two most common forms of eating disorders are bulimia and anorexia. The first one is characterized by binge eating followed by a period of purging. The second, and probably the easiest to check, is eating very small amounts and sometimes none at all for an extended period of time.
“Making yourself skinny isn’t the only disorder,” Bryant said.
Besides the typically thought-of disorders characterized by a lack of nutrition there is also a disorder of overeating.
This, along with numerous other topics, will be discussed at next week’s seminar held in the Tech Pride room on Tuesday at 11am with guest speaker Dr. Melina Anderson, assistant professor of human ecology.
There will also be tables set up at the fitness center, Tech Health Services and the Tech Women’s Center. Each table will have information and ways that one could find help for eating disorders.
