Teaching children about eating disorders

My story for teachers of what NOT to do

When I (the founder, Emily) was in middle school, my teachers did what they thought was appropriate to prevent their students from developing eating disorders. Several weeks in health class were devoted to the subject, and the health teacher told us almost everything that there was to know about anorexia, bulimia, and compulsive over-eating. We were given a long list of the medical signs and symptoms of eating disorders, and we were then shown several television clips and documentaries, each of them featuring an anorexic woman (here I must note that every time, the woman featured was white and in her twenties or late teens, and was severely ill). Many of these clips were from daytime television shows such as Oprah or Dr. Phil. In each instance, the woman on the video talked extensively about her eating disordered behaviour. We learned which foods she ate and which she avoided, how many calories she consumed, how she avoided eating, how she hid her disorder from her family and friends, and how much weight she lost.

For many topics in school, the more information the children learn, the better it is for them. This is not true with eating disorders. For myself and several of my adolescent classmates, our well-meaning teacher was inadvertently giving us classes on how to have an eating disorder. Many of us copied the behaviours that we saw in these videos, or "competed" with the women on the videos to try to lose more weight or eat less calories. These cautionary tales did nothing to prevent eating disorders - in fact, they may have made the problem worse.

Our teacher would then have some media literacy lessons; she'd explain over and over again how images in magazines were airbrushed and that real women didn't look like supermodels. Once she had determined that we all understood this, the topic of eating disorders was over - perhaps the teacher even considered us immune. The problem with this is that there is far more to eating disorders than wanting to look like fashion models or celebrities. While some adolescents develop disordered eating behaviours or clinical eating disorders because they want to look like the celebrities that they idolize, more widely accepted theories state that eating disorders are coping mechanisms and/or biological, brain-based illnesses. Children who understand that magazine images are airbrushed may still develop eating disorders.

I'm not saying to stop teaching media literacy. The "magazines are airbrushed" lesson is still important. The problem, however, is that people who learn that eating disorders come from copying celebrities tend to trivialize these life-threatening disorders and to think of people with eating disorders as being superficial or shallow. To make matters worse, the belief that eating disorders are all about fashion and appearances may prevent some people who are suffering from getting treatment.

That was how it happened with me. I had learned in school that people with eating disorders wanted to look like Hollywood icons, to fit into skinny jeans. At age fourteen, newly diagnosed with anorexia, I was ashamed to have my friends find out about my disorder because I was afraid that they would think I was stupid. I was not a fashionista; I was a perfectionistic high-achiever who wrote poetry and sang opera! I watched TV rarely, had never read a teen magazine, and pretty much boycotted all forms of popular culture. But I had learned that eating disorders were all about vanity. Recovery was a lonely experience because for the first few years I never reached out to my friends. I believe that I could have recovered sooner if I'd had the support of my peers - but I didn't tell them what I was going through, because I was afraid of being judged. Unfortunately, too many people believe that eating disorders are what happens when spoiled little girls go on diets - such ideas create stigma, and stigma makes recovery more difficult.

Teachers, please remember two things:
a) Don't give your students too much information about eating disorders! Adolescents who learn all about disordered behaviour may use this knowledge against themselves.
b) Don't focus on the outdated idea that eating disorders involve superficial girls who took their diets too far - this grossly misrepresents why people develop eating disorders, and it increases the stigma surrounding eating disorders.

So, what should you do? I'll write about what you actually SHOULD do soon!