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For people with eating disorders, the pandemic created a never-before-seen environment, one of isolation and, potentially, boredom. For those who successfully navigated those challenges, a whole new set of obstacles is poised in front of them as things slowly but surely begin to return to normal.
This month’s E-News Exclusive examines what treatment may look like during these strange times.
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The Impact of COVID-19 on People With Eating Disorders
By Elise Tecco
Eating disorders are a mental health illness, not a choice. Furthermore, according to the National Eating Disorders Association, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness.
Last July, a survey in the International Journal of Eating Disorders found that 62% of Americans with anorexia experienced worsened symptoms when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. And nearly one-third of people in the United States with a binge-eating disorder reported increases in their binge episodes.
While the beginning of the pandemic certainly created many challenges, the “reopening” of society is presenting its own set of problems for people with eating disorders.
The Challenges of Reentering Society
According to eating disorder specialist Kerry Heath, LPC-S, NCC, CEDS-S, both individuals and their providers are finding it a challenge to manage in-person activities, such as going back to the workplace and social gatherings or returning to school or a treatment facility.
Full story » |
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Massachusetts Groups Issue Principles Addressing Racism
The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS), the statewide professional association of physicians and medical students with more than 25,000 members, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) have teamed with the deans from the state’s four medical schools—Boston University School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Tufts University School of Medicine, and the University of Massachusetts Medical School—to address racism in academic medicine and in health care organizations.
Buoyed by a shared goal of eliminating racism in medicine, the organizations worked to form a set of principles that will guide deliberate actions that will create an antiracist, diverse, inclusive, and equitable medical culture.
“In order to break down the structures of structural racism, we must learn, we must teach, we must lead. I am so proud of the Massachusetts health care community for coming together in this time of crisis,” says David A. Rosman, MD, immediate past president of MMS.
The principles include acknowledge and learn, lead and commit, disrupt and transform, and cultivate.
Read more » |
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Social Worker Shares Poignant Memoir of Her Childhood in Foster Care
Trea Jackson, a social worker at the Illinois Department of Human Services, was removed from her abusive home and placed into foster care at the age of 5. She spent the remainder of her childhood and adolescence moving around from one foster care family to the next. At the age of 7, she began writing fantasy stories as a form of escaping her reality. However, over time her stories became more realistic. “I went from writing stories about what I wanted my life to be like to writing stories about what my life was actually like,” Jackson says. “Ultimately, writing helped me survive the foster care system, and my experience led me to want to help others in the same situation.”
In her new book, The Innocent Eyes of a Child: Everyone’s Little Girl, but Nobody’s Child, Jackson shares the story of a young girl named Brighteyes. Brighteyes is abandoned and removed from her dysfunctional home. She spends years moving from house to house within the foster care system. She expresses her feelings of frustration, fear, loneliness, and, at times, hopelessness. She longs for a permanent, loving home, but as she grows up, her daydreams transform into a resolve to survive and rise above her circumstances.
Read more » |
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Integrating Antioppressive Practice With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Coupling these concepts in social work practice is not only possible but also imperative to supporting clients seeking help from social service organizations. Read more »
Weight Is a Social Justice Issue
It’s suggested that the social work profession step up its anti-fatphobia efforts and work harder to eradicate the distress of clients with large bodies. Read more » |
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Fixing Past Wrongs: NC Mental Health Advocates Reflect on LGBTQ Discrimination in Medicine
Even after homosexuality was removed from the DSM, members of the LGBTQ community still struggle against discrimination, according to NC Health News.
California Takes a Nibble at Offering Food Stamps to Undocumented Immigrants
Despite working in the United States, undocumented immigrants aren’t eligible for food stamps; California is looking to change that, reports KHN. |
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