Eating Disorders in Teens and Adults Prevalent This Pandemic, Experts Warn Its Life-Threatening

There is an expansion of the waiting list for outpatient treatment these days as eating disorders in teens and adults become more rampant.

The Florida News Times reported that both teens and adults who seek help with the condition frequently take months to set an appointment.

Doctors and experts now say, the pandemic crisis is currently posing a life-threatening condition for eating disorders, relaxing restrictions and leading to COVID-19 to subside in a lot of places, resulting in an undiminished new case and a swell in recurrence.

According to associate professor of psychiatry, Jennifer Wilds from the University of Chicago School of Medicine, some patients are waiting from four to five months for treatment like psychotherapy and at times, medication.

Wilds, who is also head of an outpatient eating disorder program added, the wait typically lasted only a few weeks prior to the pandemic.

To date, her program is treating approximately 100 patients, almost doubling from before this global health crisis.

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The Emily Program

The eating disorder treatment program, Emily Program, which is attached to the University of Minnesota, has a similar experience as Wilds' program.

Gillian Lampert, a nutritionist and Emily Program's chief strategy officer said, calls they receive every day from people in search of treatment are now twice the number, about 60 the other year, to up to 130 since the onset of the pandemic.

She said they know that anxiety and isolation are typical very essential factors in eating disorders. Some patients would say they feel "out of control" in their lives due to the pandemic, and they depend on bulimia as their coping mechanism.

Bulimia Nervosa

Mayo Clinic describes Bulimia nervosa, typically called bulimia, a severe, possibly life-threatening eating disorder.

People experiencing this kind of eating disorder may secretly binge, eating foods in large amounts, with a loss of control over the consumption, and then purge, attempting to take out the excess calories in an unhealthy manner.

To eliminate calories and avoid weight gain, those with bulimia may apply various approaches. For instance, they may regularly self-induce omitting, or misuse weight-loss supplements, laxatives, enemas, or diuretics after bingeing.

Bulimic people may use other ways as well, to get rid of themselves of calories and avoid gaining weight like fasting, excessively exercising, and strictly dieting.

Anorexia Developed Due to the Pandemic

An 18-year-old female from Minnesota said he developed anorexia before the pandemic but has repeated twice since the global health crisis's onset.

The teenager said she was experiencing anxiety and pressure when the school shifted to online and social and physical distancing started in 2020.

It was his third year, she recalled and was trying to apply to college. Sudden deprivation of classmates, friends, as well as her support system, the 18-year-old spent all day alone inside her room, so absorbed in thinking about food, as well as anorexia nervosa behavior.

At her parents' recommendation, in June, the young Minnesota lady received local treatment, although relapsed in September and spent nearly two months in Arizona, at a residential treatment there.

Her school has recently gone back to in-person classes and she has been accepted by Rhodes College in Memphis. As such, she said, she has done much better and her mental health has improved a lot.

Support Groups this Pandemic

In response to the growing cases of eating disorders brought by the pandemic, the Eating Disorder Awareness Alliance, which launched a virtual support group for adults led by therapists, is currently on the rise, as well.

According to Joanna Kandel, Alliance CEO, over 7,000 people from all states and 32 nations have joined the said support group since the beginning of this year.

She added this is something that has never been seen before. Hospital admission is increasing as well, among teenage girls with severe complications of eating disorders, mainly, loss of appetite.

Eating disorders impact approximately nine percent of people globally. According to data which the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Related Disorders quoted, they impact almost 30 million Americans in their lifetime and caused deaths of more than 10,000 Americans each year.

Related information is shown on Hartford HealthCare's YouTube video below: