Each year the mental health community comes together to put a spotlight on eating disorders for National Eating Disorders Awareness Month. Now more than ever, we need to make sure we address and treat those affected. The National Eating Disorders Association reports that hotline calls have increased 70 to 80 percent in recent months.
We have heard first-hand about the need to address the issue from students we’ve met at area schools where we have given our Ending the Silence presentation. Students requested that we include more information about eating disorders in the presentation and to give more time to address thee subject, and we have accommodated to those requests.
It’s a subject that is addressed in our peer and family support groups and in our Peer-to-Peer and Family-to-Family classes. “Having a loved one with anorexia or bulimia is a devastating experience. It is a serious trauma, causing you to feel anger, guilt, and resentment. You may also feel utter grief. Having lived though the experience myself, I recommend you connect your relative with an eating disorder with an excellent therapist who specializes in eating disorders or in residential treatment, which works best. I know you need to know you did not cause your relative’s eating disorder. You cannot control the outcome of her/his illness, and you cannot cure your relative. It wasn’t a lapse on your part or negligence,” said Sharon Dunas, our Board Co-President and an LMFT.
We also recently discussed the subject during a Check-Up from the Neck Up Instagram Live session with Britt Turpack and guest Alanna Martella.
Learn more about eating disorders and share your insights with NAMI California’s 30-Second Survey.