Students With Eating Disorders

Introduction

Right now there are students on every college campus slowly killing themselves. Every day they are getting closer and closer to death. Most have become experts at keeping their condition hidden and walk around looking just as any other higher education student. Some show no signs or clues of this slow death. Many of these dying students are active on campus and have 4.0 GPAs, others dart around campus going unseen, but both are inflicting painful self-induced deaths. This may sound extremely dramatic, but that is exactly what eating disorders are, for these students and for anyone who has an eating disorder death is one of the most undeniable and likely outcomes. This is not what the “normal” or “typical” college student looks like, but eating disorders affect a large population of the higher education population; and overlooking the importance of this sub-culture could and has had an impact on any and every institution across the nation. Student with eating disorders is a sub culture student affairs professionals should be aware of and educated on. There are a lot of myths and stereotypes of what a person with an eating disorder, looks or act likes and it can be easy to dismiss the severity of these students and the impact their eating disorders may have on their lives.

Background & History

Eating disorders are not new and this sub population has always been present on every university’s campus with or without the knowledge of the institution. Student Affair professional on any given day could work with a student with an eating disorder and be completely unaware of it. According to a survey done by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD) 40% of female college student have some...

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