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Christofi1

Taylor Christofi COMM-100 Professor Loughran 12/13/17

Persuasive Speech; Eating Disorders in College Students 13th December 2017

Thesis Today I will do my best to give the class insights on the troubling facts and statistics regarding eating disorders in college students.

Specific Purpose 1. Educate the class on facts around a very misunderstood group of disorders that is very prevalent in college students.

Introduction “Having an eating disorder is like seeing a chair in front of you that is painted red. You know it’s painted red. All the people you love stand beside you and insist the chair is green. Your life depends on realizing it’s green, but you never see it. Eventually you may learn to trust your loved ones. The chair must be green. They love you and wouldn’t lie to you...right? But still, no matter how long you stare at it, the chair is clearly red. So your survival depends on trusting their judgment above your own in this particular case. And that is hard as hell.” -Anonymous

Body A current statistic from the Association of Anorexia and Associated Disorders has found, currently 30 million people of all ages and genders are suffering from an eating disorder. Eating disorders can damage almost every organ system or body part, including the brain, liver, kidneys, heart, GI tract, bones, teeth, skin and hair. If left untreated, eating disorders can result in osteoporosis, retarded growth, kidney problems, ulcers and heart failure. The National Eating Disorder Association has found that every 62 minutes a person dies as a direct result of an eating disorder and believe it or not eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any and all other mental illnesses Now what about college students? Recent studies from The Walden Center have shown that 20% of female college students, 7% of male college students, and 16% of transgender college students

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have reported having an eating disorder. Eating disorders do not discriminate, they can and will affect people of all ages, genders, and ethnicities, and socioeconomic classes. Now I have a question for everyone, who here is under the impression that the only eating disorders are anorexia and bulimia? Unfortunately that’s not the case and although those two may be the most commonly known, a person can suffer from more than eight diagnosable eating disorders. These disorders are broken into four categories in the recently updated DSM-5. For anyone unfamiliar with what the DSM is, it is “The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It is published by the American Psychiatric Association and offers the standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders.” The most recent DSM, DSM-5 was published in 2013. The eating disorders that stand on their own are; -

Anorexia nervosa which is a pathological fear of weight gain leading to faulty eating patterns, malnutrition, and usually excessive weight loss.

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Bulimia nervosa which is classified as episodes of binge-eating followed by different self-induced acts of purging the body of the binge including vomiting, abuse of laxatives, or excessive exercise.

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The final stand-alone disorder is BED otherwise known as binge eating disorder which is the frequent consumption of unusually large amounts of food with the feeling that you are unable to stop.

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Anyone who does not fit the DSM criteria for the above mentioned disorders are put into a class called OSFED which stands for “Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorders” within the OSFED there are five more diagnosable disorders a few of them being Atypical anorexia which is defined as the same as anorexia without the excessive weight loss, purging disorder when one partakes in self-induced purging behaviors without binging beforehand, and orthorexia which is an obsession with only consuming foods you deem healthy.

Conclusion I stand up in front of all of you with this chosen topic as someone who has been in recovery from an eating disorder since 2014. My first memory of disordered eating was at age 8 and I didn’t go into treatment until age 19. I spent 5 months of the supposed best years of my life in a residential treatment center in Illinois relearning how to eat, how to live, how to love myself and anyone else. I don’t stand here telling you this for sympathy or attention. I stand here because I was one of the lucky ones, I came out alive. Three girls I went to treatment with didn’t get so lucky, they lost their battle. A hand full of others are back where we were years ago still struggling. And one is about to go on a world wide tour. As much as I wish it did an eating

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disorder doesn’t go away, it doesn’t disappear, it can’t be “cured”. Eating disorders are a lifelong battles but the sooner you get help the better chance you have to to fight the fight. Standing up here I can honestly say I’m finally living my best life, my life the way it should be lived at least most of the time. So if the information I just gave all of you can relate to you or someone you know you don’t have to hide, deny, or be ashamed of what you’re going through. Don’t doubt that you can get help and you can being living a meaningful life. It’s isn’t going to be easy but it is 100% possible. The National Eating Disorder Association’s website has a helpline available through phone calls or text messages, help is one call away 1-800-931-2237. What I will leave you with is something we said in treatment everyday what felt like a million times a day and that is, “Recovery works if you work it and you’re worth it.”

Works Cited “Contact the Helpline.” National Eating Disorders Association, www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/help-support/contact-helpline. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5. American Psychiatric Publishing, 2014.

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“Eating Disorders Among College Students.” Walden Center, www.waldencenter.org/popular-searches/eating-disorders-among-college-students/....