The coaches of the crew teams try to watch their rowers and catch any students who may be having nutrition problems, says Harry Parker, the men's heavyweight crew coach. "Certainly when some of the lighweights have to lose weight, they think about it a lot. But I haven't seen anybody exhibit what I would consider dangerous levels." Parker says the coaches try to counsel their rowers about good nutrition and eating patterns. The counseling "has been very effective in recent years," he says.
Crew teams have an obvious reason for concern about weight. Lightweight rowers have to weigh in at a certain level or they don't row in that boat. But for many other people, weight concerns develop for less discernable, psychological reasons.
Eating disorders may begin when people feel a need to gain control over their lives, according to EPO's Mihelich. "In college they enter a new situation. At home you are controlled by your parents. At school, there are more issues over which you have direct control--how much you eat, study, if you stay out late or not," she says.
Women tend to focus on their body as a way of gaining autonomy, says Mihelich. "It may be a way of breaking off from one's parents. The person may think 'only I control what I eat, you have nothing to do with what I put in my mouth.' It becomes a coping mechanism," she says.
Stopping the Cycle
Attempts to cure bulimics and anorexics take different routes because of the difference in attitude about their behavior, according to McKenna. While bulimics tend to feel guilty about their behavior, anorexics don't see it as abnormal.
"Bulimics think: 'I can't believe I'm doing this--it's so gross.' They say to themselves: 'Once the circumstances change, I'll stop. Once I finish this paper, once the semester's over, when I'm done with my thesis.' And then they realize they cannot stop. By the time bulimics come in for help, they may have been bulimic for four years. They come in and say 'make this stop' or 'cure me,"' says McKenna.
But McKenna emphasizes that a therapist cannot do it for them. "They have to realize what purpose it [binging] serves. Because when they start out, it serves a purpose," says McKenna. "A person has to be ready to work with a therapist," she adds.
For anorexics, their quest for control over their bodies is the central issue of their lives, says McKenna. "They don't see it [their not eating] as a problem, but as a solution."
"Anorexics' cognitive functioning is affected. They can no longer tell what they really look like. There are 80 pound women in the hospital who are angry when they are force-fed; they think people are forcing them to get fat," says Honnet.
Anorexics characteristically have a distorted perception of their body size according to experts. "Anorexics I've talked with--they weigh half of what I weigh, and they can't tell who is fatter," says Sheila Reindl, a counselor at the Bureau of Study Counsel and co-director of an EPO group.
"A true anorexic won't call us [EPO]," says Mihelich. "Characteristic of the disorder is a vehement denial of thinness. Their perception is skewed. They really see themselves as big when they are so painfully small. It has to do with the hypothalmus gland in the brain which is affected by starvation," says Mihelich.
In many cases, anorexics and bulimics may need medical attention to overcome the effects of their problems. Therapy also helps them overcome the disorders. Honnet, who is a co-leader of a group of bulimic women, said that her group talks about alternate strategies for coping with stress.
Anorexics, on the other hand, are the victims of very isolating problems and do not often reach out for help. "Anorexics tend to become more and more withdrawn," says Rosalind J. Carter '86, an EPO counselor.
Anorexics tend to control their emotions in group therapy. Honnet warns that the deeper the anorexic or bulimic gets enmeshed in her problem, the harder it is to get out. "The price is much too high."