This week, The Temple News’ Intersection and REFINE Magazine, a new women’s lifestyle magazine on campus, collaborated to share the stories of students in recovery from eating disorders for National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.
Young people are especially susceptible to developing an eating disorder during their college years. Difficulty forming new friendships, intense pressures to be “perfect” and academic and financial stresses are some of the reasons students are more vulnerable to developing this life-controlling disorder.
Eating disorders can affect anyone. They do not discriminate by race, gender or sexual orientation. Some of these disorders, like anorexia nervosa, have the highest mortality rates of any mental disorders.
Thank you to the brave men, women and non-binary people who shared their stories this week. Whether they spoke with a reporter or wrote their own personal essays, we recognize it’s extremely hard to come forward about something that so severely affects a person’s health on a daily basis. Thank you for giving us a snapshot of your ever-changing recovery.
We hope students with eating disorders access university and city resources like Tuttleman Counseling Services or the Renfrew Center of Philadelphia. If you are not directly affected by an eating disorder, we encourage you to seek out information about the many different types of disordered eating so you can help your loved ones if the need arises.
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