According to Director of Health Education Denise McGoldrick, the number of students seeking treatment for eating disorders has increased.
"That's either an indication that there's more of a problem or that more people are seeking help," said McGoldrick. "It's so hard to know [whether eating disorders have recently become more prevalent]," added Diane Norman-Lentz, director of the Eating Disorders Assessment and Treatment (EDAT) team. "There will always be an ebb and flow of how many people we see."
Nonetheless, concern over the amount of vomit found in public bathrooms prompted administrators to send a letter to students last spring urging them to clean up after themselves. And other behaviors indicate that eating disorders are a significant problem, according to McGoldrick.
"If you spend five minutes in Valentine, you hear all the chatter about food and eating," McGoldrick said. "[Students] are more aware of what they're eating and what others are eating, and that can have a chilling effect on people who want to eat normally."
According to McGoldrick, body image problems also show up at the gym. "That's probably a more common and more accepted way of purging. Exercise appears so normal and so healthy that it's harder for people to see when they have a problem," said McGoldrick. "If people are spending exorbitant amounts of time at the gym, if they can't eat dinner because they haven't gone to the gym, if they're jogging in the rain with a cold, it's excessive."
The prevalence of eating disorders on campus may be rooted partly in society at large, according to McGoldrick. "In the overall culture, the larger world outside of Amherst, there's more of an emphasis on thin and buff bodies," said McGoldrick. "It sells products. If you have a lot of people worried about their bodies, they buy cosmetics; they buy dieting products. There are businesses that are dependent on people feeling badly about their bodies."
But part of the problem might also stem from characteristics more specific to the College. "Eating disorders are ... a problem at virtually all colleges, for multiple reasons-the age group, the pressures of college life, the emphasis on thinness in the media," said Assistant Professor of Psychology Catherine Sanderson. "I think they are a particular problem at Amherst given the type of student who is here-high in need for control, perfectionism, drive, etc. All of that could contribute."
"Amherst of course draws top students who may be successful in part by virtue of a perfectionist orientation. Certainly students do not receive A grades all the time, which would tend to challenge self-esteem-especially since most students had straight As in high school," said Assistant Professor of Psychology John-Paul Baird, who teaches a new course called Psychology of Food and Eating Disorders. When students become consumed by the academic expectations imposed on them by the school and by themselves, they may become more susceptible to disordered eating.
In addition, at a smaller school like Amherst, students may feel as though there is a keener eye focused upon them, according to Sanderson. In turn, they become more aware of themselves and their image. "I think the one dining hall at Amherst also plays a role-eating and exercise are very visible on campus, and that can perpetuate the problem," said Sanderson.
Baird also noted that a lack of privacy could foster the development of eating disorders. "There is not a lot of privacy in dorm living; students do not have a lot of area that they control or that is their own," said Baird.
Whatever their cause, eating disorders have a dramatic impact on the lives of those who suffer from them.
"It robs [those who suffer from an eating disorder] of their creative energy," said Norman-Lentz. "How much time and energy do they spend thinking about, planning, manipulating what they eat? Is that really what they came to Amherst for? Is that really what they're on this planet for? ... It's like a monster that takes over."
Eating disorders profoundly affect not only anorexic and bulimic people, but the people who care about them as well, according to Norman-Lentz. "There is a ripple effect," said Norman-Lentz. "People notice, they get anxious, and there's a lot of energy spent ruminating about what that person needs and [whether they are] getting help. It can also trigger people's own eating issues."
There is help available both on- and off-campus for those affected by eating disorders. In particular, the EDAT team that Norman-Lentz coordinates is a significant source of help. The team consists of registered dietician Arleen Thomson, designated EDAT psychologist Ruth Kane-Levit and Norman-Lentz, who is a certified family nurse practitioner.
According to Norman-Lentz, students may come to the EDAT at the suggestion of someone else, but they themselves must ultimately decide to seek help. "I can't do anything [to help] until they come in here."
Once they make the decision to come in, students have their needs evaluated and begin to pursue a course of treatment that could include any combination of the three team members.
"We're like a vessel that's here to contain and hold someone with an eating disorder so they have the benefit of each of our three disciplines," said Norman-Lentz. "Hopefully they don't feel overwhelmed by it … We try to give consistent messages."
The EDAT team also advises people who are concerned that their friends may have eating disorders.
Workshops, a body image journaling series, signs in bathrooms, and peer education groups like Listening to Our Bodies also heighten awareness of the issue.
"I wish I knew that there was a fix, something we could do with this campus culture to eradicate the problem," said Norman-Lentz. "We can only deal with each individual. Each woman that we can retrain to counter the comment, 'You look good-did you lose weight?'-that's a positive step."