One of the nation’s leading mental illnesses regularly impacts students at LCHS as well as most high schools throughout the US.

According to long-time LCHS health teacher, eating disorders are a problems for teens in LC as well as throughout the nation.

“I have had to get help for a few of my students with eating disorders,” Mrs. Christie Lybarger, health teacher, said.  “We need to stop the stigma surrounding mental illnesses. Mental illnesses need to be treated just like physical illnesses. The mind is just as important as the body. If you suspect someone close to you has an eating disorder, express your concerns to them. Listen to the person you are worried about and encourage them to seek the advice of a trusted doctor,” Lybarger said.

An eating disorder is a “serious mental illness characterized by eating, exercise and body weight or shape becoming an unhealthy preoccupation of someone’s life,” the National Eating Disorders Collaboration website states.

Eating disorders can affect people of all ages, racial/ethnic backgrounds, body weights, and genders. Eating disorders frequently appear during the teen years or young adulthood but may also develop during childhood or later in life the website states.

According to the website, eating disorders are “serious and sometimes fatal illnesses,” and the site recommends that those impacted by an eating disorder to get medical assistance to help deal with the problem.  

“We need to stop the stigma surrounding mental illnesses. Mental illnesses need to be treated just like physical illnesses. The mind is just as important as the body. If you suspect someone close to you has an eating disorder, express your concerns to them. Listen to the person you are worried about and encourage them to seek the advice of a trusted doctor,” Lybarger said.

“Eating disorders are hard to overcome without medical assistance,” Lybarger said. She added, “It is important to understand that eating disorders are not lifestyle choices but fall under the category of mental illnesses. In many cases, mental illnesses can be passed on genetically. There is some evidence that supports that eating disorders may be common within families,” Lybarger said.  

The National Eating Disorders website lists common eating disorders as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder.

“Individuals with eating disorders may be very good at hiding their behaviors. You cannot look at someone and know if they have an eating disorder. If you are close to a person, patterns of behavior indicating an eating disorder may be recognized,” Lybarger said. 

Preoccupation with food, body weight, and shape may also signal an eating disorder. 

“Most eating disorders involve focusing too much on your weight, body shape and food, leading to dangerous eating behaviors. These behaviors can lead to obsessions,” Lybarger said. 

These disorders affect both genders, rates among women are higher than among men.  Researchers are finding that eating disorders are caused by a complex interaction of genetic, biological, behavioral, psychological, and social factors. 

“I believe that social media has increased many mental illnesses in general. Think about all of the filters and stories. How are we seeing each other? Many posts that portray perfection and happiness can cause feelings of insecurities in the viewers. Since we have a continuous stream of social media surrounding us, it can trigger and increase mental illness (like eating disorders),” Lybarger said. 

The National Eating Disorder Collaboration notes that it is important to seek treatment early for eating disorders. People with eating disorders are at higher risk of suicide and medical complications. People with eating disorders can often have other mental disorders or problems with substance use.

Treatment plans are individual, group, and/or family psychotherapy, medical care and monitoring, nutritional counseling, and medications. 

“There are three types of eating disorders that we see: anorexia (self-starvation), bulimia (bingeing and purging) and binge-eating disorder (which is characterized by eating large amounts of food with excessive weight gain.) Among our students, anorexia and binge-eating disorders would be the most common,” Lybarger said. 

Anorexia: 

Anorexia nervosas may see themselves as overweight, even when they are dangerously underweight. People with anorexia nervosa typically weigh themselves repeatedly, severely restrict the amount of food they eat, often exercise excessively, and/or may force themselves to vomit or use laxatives to lose weight the National Eating Disorder Collaboration reports.

Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder. While many people with this disorder die from complications associated with starvation, others die of suicide.  

According to the website, symptoms include:

• Extremely restricted eating
• Extreme thinness (emaciation)
• Relentless pursuit of thinness
• Unwillingness to maintain a normal or healthy weight
• Intense fear of gaining weight, distorted body image
• Self-esteem that is heavily influenced by perceptions of body weight and shape
• Denial of the seriousness of low body weight,

Bulimia: 

Bulimia nervosa have recurrent and frequent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food and feeling a lack of control over these episodes. It is followed by behavior that compensates for overeating such as forced vomiting, excessive use of laxatives or diuretics, fasting, excessive exercise, or a combination of these behaviors. People with bulimia nervosa may be slightly underweight, normal weight or overweight. 

 According to the website, symptoms include:

• Chronically inflamed and sore throat
• Swollen salivary glands in the neck and jaw area
• Worn tooth enamel
• Increasingly sensitive and decaying teeth (as a result of exposure to stomach acid, acid reflux disorder and other gastrointestinal problems)
• Intestinal distress and irritation from laxative abuse
• Severe dehydration from purging of fluids
• Electrolyte imbalance 

Binge-eating: 

Binge-eating disorder loses control overeating. Unlike bulimia nervosa, periods of binge-eating are not followed by purging, excessive exercise, or fasting. As a result, people with binge-eating disorders are often overweight or obese. Binge-eating disorder is the most common eating disorder in the U.S.  

The site said symptoms include:

• Eating unusually large amounts of food in a specific amount of time, such as a 2-hour period
• Eating even when you’re full or not hungry
• Eating fast during binge episodes
• Eating until you’re uncomfortably full
• Eating alone or in secret to avoid embarrassment, feeling distressed, ashamed, or guilty about your eating
• Frequently dieting, possibly without weight loss.