National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (NEDAwareness Week) is an annual campaign to educate the public about the realities of eating disorders and to provide hope, support, and visibility to individuals and families affected by eating disorders. NEDAwareness Week 2022 will take place during the week of February 21 - February 27, 2022.
This observance is one of the biggest opportunities for us to put eating disorders in the spotlight. According to a recent press release by the White House, national eating disorder hotlines have seen a more than 70% spike in the volume of calls and chats since the pandemic started, with the number of hospitalizations for eating disorders doubling in the same time period.
Eating Disorders affect people of all genders, sexual orientations, ages, socioeconomic classes, abilities, races, and ethnic backgrounds.
See the Change, Be the Change
This year’s NEDAwareness Week will center around the theme, “See the Change, Be the Change.” This means that the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) will spend the week acknowledging the evolution of the eating disorders field (#SeeTheChange), as well as encouraging people to engage in advocacy and raise awareness of eating disorders in their communities (#BeTheChange).
In the United States, eating disorders are the second most fatal mental illness, surpassed only by opioid use disorder, according to NEDA. This is why educating ourselves and others about the dangers and causes of eating disorders are imperative.
Eating disorders have a variety of causes. According to NEDA, the risk factors fall into three categories.
For instance, someone with an immediate family member (such as a parent or sibling) who has an eating disorder is at risk of developing one themselves.
For example, people who have or had an anxiety disorder are more prone to developing an eating disorder.
For instance, people from racial or ethnic minority groups who experience “acculturation,” or pressure to assimilate Western ideals of beauty and ways of life, have an increased risk for eating disorders.
What Are the Risk Factors?
Eating disorders are complex and affect all kinds of people. Risk factors for all eating disorders involve a range of biological, psychological, and sociocultural issues. These factors may interact differently in different people, so two people with the same eating disorder can have very diverse perspectives, experiences, and symptoms. Still, researchers have found broad similarities in understanding some of the major risks for developing eating disorders.
Biological
- Having a close relative with an eating disorder. Studies of families have found that having a first-degree relative (like a parent or sibling) with an eating disorder increases a person’s risk of developing an eating disorder.
- Having a close relative with a mental health condition. Similarly, issues like anxiety, depression, and addiction can also run in families and have also been found to increase the chances that a person will develop an eating disorder.
- History of dieting. A history of dieting and other weight-control methods is associated with the development of binge eating.
- Negative energy balance. Burning off more calories than you take in leads to a state of negative energy balance. Many people report that their disorder began with deliberate efforts to diet or restrict the amount and/or type of food they were eating in the form of dieting, other causes can include growth spurts, illness, and intense athletic training.
- Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes. Recent research has found that approximately one-quarter of women diagnosed with type one diabetes will develop an eating disorder. The most common pattern is skipping insulin injections, known as diabulimia, which can be deadly.
Psychological
- Perfectionism. One of the strongest risk factors for an eating disorder is perfectionism, especially a type of perfectionism called self-oriented perfectionism, which involves setting unrealistically high expectations for yourself.
- Body image dissatisfaction. Body image encompasses how you feel both about and in your body. It’s sadly not uncommon to dislike your appearance, but people who develop eating disorders are more likely to report higher levels of body image dissatisfaction and internalization of the appearance ideal.
- Personal history of an anxiety disorder. Research has shown that a significant subset of people with eating disorders, including two-thirds of those with anorexia, showed signs of an anxiety disorder (including generalized anxiety, social phobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder) before the onset of their eating disorder.
- Behavioral inflexibility. Many people with anorexia report that, as children, they always followed the rules and felt there was one “right way” to do things.
Social
- Weight stigma. The message that thinner is better is everywhere, and researchers have shown that exposure to this can increase body dissatisfaction, which can lead to eating disorders. Weight stigma is discrimination or stereotyping based on a person’s weight and is damaging and pervasive in our society.
- Teasing or bullying. Being teased or bullied – especially about weight - is emerging as a risk factor in many eating disorders. The harmful effects of bullying have received increased attention in recent years, starting an important national conversation. 60% of those affected by eating disorders said that bullying contributed to the development of their eating disorder. Weight shaming needs to be a significant part of anti-bullying discussions, particularly in the context of the widespread anti-obesity messaging.
- Appearance ideal internalization. Buying into the message of the socially-defined “ideal body” may increase the risk of an eating disorder by increasing the likelihood of dieting and food restriction.
- Acculturation. People from racial and ethnic minority groups, especially those who are undergoing rapid Westernization, may be at increased risk for developing an eating disorder due to complex interactions between stress, acculturation, and body image. Within three years after western television was introduced to Fiji, women, previously comfortable with their bodies and eating, developed serious problems: 74% felt “too fat;” 69% dieted to lose weight; 11% used self-induced vomiting; 29% were at risk for clinical eating disorders.
- Limited social networks. Loneliness and isolation are some of the hallmarks of anorexia; many with the disorder report having fewer friends and social activities, and less social support. Whether this is an independent risk factor or linked to other potential causes (such as social anxiety) isn’t clear.
- Historical trauma, or intergenerational trauma, describes the ”massive cumulative group trauma across generations,” like with Jewish Holocaust survivors, Native American populations, and Indigenous groups that experienced European colonization. Research shows health consequences including “anxiety, intrusive trauma imagery, depression, elevated mortality rates from cardiovascular diseases as well as suicide and other forms of violent death, psychic numbing and poor affect tolerance, and unresolved grief” (Brave Heart, 1999). Similarities between the effects of eating disorders and historical trauma point to a need for more research and information that addresses these systems of oppression.
#SeeTheChange
Over the past twenty years, the NEDA has seen increased awareness about the prevalence of eating disorders and the diversity of lived experiences. This is largely due to innovative research, legislative action, and societal change aimed at destigmatizing these serious illnesses.
Throughout #NEDAwareness Week 2022, we invite you to #SeeTheChange as we celebrate progress and look ahead to new opportunities for growth within the eating disorders field, ourselves, and our communities.
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- The NEDA Helpline has experienced a 107% increase in contacts since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Nearly 755,000 people have used NEDA’s online screening tool since 2017.
- Since 2013, NEDA has awarded $2 million in research grants to 18 researchers.
#BeTheChange
Misconceptions about eating disorders have real consequences and support options are often inaccessible. As a result, too many people are left feeling helpless, hopeless, and frightened.
Through programs like NEDA Walks, Campus Warriors, and Warrior Experience, our community is enabled to help cultivate change for individuals and families affected by eating disorders.
This #NEDAwareness Week, let’s #BeTheChange together through legislative advocacy, building lightings, local events, and more. Whether you have been personally affected by an eating disorder or care about someone who has, you have the power to help us pave the way for a world without eating disorders.
Other Ways to Get Involved
Become a NEDAawareness Week Collaborator
NEDAwareness Week is a collective effort of individuals from every walk of life: folks with lived experience, family members, and friends; students, educators, and coaches; professionals, health care providers, and organizations committed to raising awareness of eating disorders. The NEDAwareness Week Collaborators page includes ideas for sharing resources with your community and engaging in the #NEDAwareness campaign.
Volunteer as a Landmark Photographer
This #NEDAwareness Week, iconic landmarks in cities across the country will be lit in our signature blue and green colors. New buildings will be added every week, and we need your support to showcase these incredible lightings!
Find or Plan a NEDAwareness Week Event
In-person and virtual NEDAwareness Week activities bring people together in creative and engaging ways. If you are hosting an awareness or fundraising event, add it to the NEDA website. You can also search our database to find a local NEDAwareness Week event.
Sources:
https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/get-involved/nedawareness
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/02/18/a-proclamation-on-national-eating-disorders-awareness-week-2022/