ALENA BARRON / ASHLEIGH MATTERN
News Writers

Society portrays the “thin image” as beautiful, glamorous and successful. But what is beauty?

Psychologist Vicki Herman says that instead of focusing on weight, size and shape, people should be more focused on promoting healthy lifestyles.

“I believe we all have a natural weight that our body prefers,” she said. “It’s (the same as) our height and our hair colour… but we in our world treat it as if it’s something we have complete control over.”

Millions of women around the world are affected by the ideals created by society. The National Eating Disorder Information Centre is attempting to mend this issue through Eating Disorder Awareness Week.

EDAW runs Feb. 1 to 7. Its purpose is to increase awareness about the factors contributing to the development of eating disorders. NEDIC spearheads the event every year and encourages schools and communities to help fight for healthy body images.

On Feb. 3, dietician Wendie Larocque, psychiatrist Stella Blackshaw and Herman will speak about their roles in helping those who have eating disorders. These three women work as a team on campus at the Student Health Centre and at Student Counselling Services to reduce the prevalence of eating disorders.

Eating disorders are life-threatening conditions and a growing problem across Canada and the world. Even though the issues seem to revolve around food, the actual problems are more complex. Food is just the coping mechanism for other underlying issues.

Herman says our social environment makes us vulnerable to eating disorders, including such everyday practices as dieting.

“There’s an awful lot of people in our world who are engaging in eating disorder behaviour,” she said. “There’s so many of us doing it that it seems normal.”

Eating disorders are difficult to diagnose and manifest in many different ways. Becoming more knowledgeable about eating disorders and learning the facts are the first steps to helping someone — a friend or even yourself — who may be suffering from eating disorder behaviours.

“We need to look at the bigger picture,” said Herman. “It’s not just the person with the eating disorder; we need to look at all of us and the behaviours of our daughters and our friends.”

Treating eating disorders is a complex process. A multidisciplinary team approach is essential for the best possible treatment of an eating disorder. Having a variety of professionals involved in the treatment helps ensure wide-ranging expertise.

“An eating disorder affects the individual on multiple levels,” said Herman. “It affects their physical in addition to psychological or emotional health.”

The team approach typically involves clinicians from a variety of backgrounds including, but not limited to, physicians, dietitians, psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists and social workers. These professionals not only focus on the eating disorder, but other health issues as well, including depression, anxiety, drug or alcohol abuse and other psychiatric problems. This is necessary because many people who suffer from eating disorders are also affected by various other health issues.

Many professionals also bring very specialized skills to the team. For example, registered dietitians are able to discover unhealthy eating behaviours through nutritional assessment. Social workers or psychologists are able to identify issues with body image, weight and other mental health issues.

The multidisciplinary treatment approach also allows individuals seeking help to find it through many different channels. The health care professional will be able to recommend other professionals if needed. Working together as a team, the health professionals are able to communicate and collaborate with each other to create a more knowledgeable, well-rounded solution for the client.

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