NEWSLETTER OCT 2021

Maybe it is difficult to remember or imagine when we were tweens, teens and adolescents because our mature years and responsibilities i.e. mortgages, car payments, grocery bills and all the other demands of maturity have made the clear pictures in our minds of those times more and more distant from our immediate grasps. However, we indeed, were teenagers and we had to and I do mean we had to greet, talk, interact with our friends on a daily basis. Comparing notes on everything from school events, grades, boys ( or girls), clothing styles, sports and all the many hugely important ( to teenagers) things in our lives were almost as important to us as breathing–we thought.

Again, please bring your imagination to bear, yet again, on how crucial physical interactions i.e verbal contacts were to us in those days. What happens, however, when the possibility of getting together disappears? What takes the place of those contacts? The pandemic, for more than a year, has erased the possibilities of normal teenage getting together, of social affirmation–an affirmation so important to teens.

Pediatricians and other medical professionals predicted that social isolation, reduced physical activity, increased social media exposure would result in disordered eating. Preoccupation with weight gain fueled by the anxiety and stress of decreased social contacts and isolation would increase eating disorders. Surprisingly, health care professionals were, themselves, shocked by the fourfold increase in teens who began having serious emotional difficulties related to eating disorders. In such places as The Lehigh Valley Health Network, The Kentucky Center for Eating Disorders or The University of Chicago Eating Disorder Program and many other eating disorder Centers across the country, they were finding many teens whose preoccupation with body size went beyond a healthy concern with body image. So many were having to be referred for help that they and their families had to travel outside their home states for treatment because they were overwhelming the local treatment centers. Despite outward changes in body size (upward or downward), it is not always clearly obvious that a person has an eating disorder. Only when weight and body size preoccupy a young person so obsessively that these thoughts limit and negate life choices, someone in the family must begin to look for help for the young person.

Eating disorders come in all sizes, racial, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. No individual cultural or racial group dominates these numbers despite popular assumptions to the contrary. Eating disorders have become equal opportunity employers. Unfortunately, teens who come from cultural backgrounds where seeking mental health help is frowned upon will find seeking professional care much more problematic . In these situations where people are discouraged from getting mental health care, sometimes, people resort to other means for relief: alcohol, drugs, nicotine, opioids. While any of these measures may give temporary relief, these solutions rarely lead to lasting help. They can even bring serious consequences with long term use. Again, in situations where getting mental health care is stigmatized, there are online forums created for teens with eating disorders, anonymous peer to peer accountability might be useful to help teens get useful help for their lives.

While teachers, counselors, school social workers play a role in identifying these disorders, the pandemic loss of employees has compromised how much time these people can contribute when they are being overwhelmed with so much work already. Contact the National Eating Disorders Association Helpline, call or text 800-931-2237 for help.

Much of the material for this essay has been adapted from an article in the Washington Post, September 7, 2021 entitled, “How are The Young Coping Through Eating ?” by Lala Tamnoy, who is studying the neurobiology of addiction medicine in a combined Ph.D and M.D. program..

Priscilla R. Ramsey, Ph.D.