How to help a friend with disordered eating

Duke Student Health Center and Counseling and Psych Services (CAPS) partnered with two undergraduate students, Cara Peterson and Amanda Lewellyn, to host How to Help a Friend with Disordered Eating Tuesday. The monthly series started this semester, and originated from Celebrate Our Bodies Week, an annual campaign in February, which promotes awareness of eating disorders and sparks campus-wide discussions on how to best address this issue.

“We created this monthly event instead of only one a year because of the importance of continuing this conversation, which will quiet down if it’s only one week long.” Peterson said. “We really liked the idea of student sharing, and the creation of a safe space so students can feel more comfortable sharing stories and questions.”

The presenters kicked off this monthly meeting by reading aloud the 5 Myths of Disordered Eating, which were written out on a large poster board. These myths, like “You can tell someone has an eating disorder by looking at them”, often gives misleading information on these disorders, which the program aims to change.

This event allows students who are worried about either friends or themselves—under the guise of acting for their friend—to have an honest and authentic conversation in a smaller group discussion. The primary goals of the program are to introduce the many Duke resources for dealing with eating disorders to those who need it, such as CAPS, Duke Reach and Student Health. It lets people share their own vulnerabilities, and in that process hopes to create role models out of eating disorder survivors for other students who are currently struggling with it. The creators of this event recognize that eating disorders are an issue especially stigmatized and buried at Duke. However, they hope to overcome this obstacle in an especially innovative way.

“We know we have to be a little sneakier in the way we combat it, since the issue is so underground and avoided here. A lot Duke students are used to always achieving—you want the A so that you know the work was worth it,” said Peterson. “For those struggling with disordered eating, the number on the scale can be a numerical way of telling yourself whether you achieved that ‘A’.But achievement doesn’t equal happiness and accomplishment is not a cure. There’s got to be a healthier way.”