Imagine feeling so guilty after eating potato chips at a restaurant that running the three miles home at midnight is the only way to alleviate the guilt.
For Ohio University freshman Kaeli Lear, this was reality as she struggled with anorexia nervosa last year. Eating disorders, obsessive dieting, exercising and taking weight loss pills are results of an overarching problem affecting many college students: body image distortion.
Body image
an individual's perspective on his or her appearance is the biggest predictor of eating disorders and people attach a sense of self with appearance
said Associate Professor Dana Levitt, program coordinator for counselor education. Levitt has spent her career researching eating disorders, focusing on college-age women.
For Lear, her sense of self hinged on her weight.
I didn't have self-confidence. I always thought I looked bigger than my friends
she said.
College students ' of many genders and ethnicities ' are more susceptible to any type of disorder because of the stressors of a new environment, Levitt said.
Students go away from their safe environments with the support system of friends and family, and acquire new responsibilities, from finances to feeding themselves.
Body image distortion is a manifestation of stress and the desire to fit in
Levitt said.
A vicious cycle
Body image and lifestyle can be cyclical. Lifestyle patterns such as what a person does, whom he or she is friends with and what kind of magazines or movies he or she watches, can change a person's perception of what his or her body image should be and can, in turn, lead to body image distortion, Levitt said.
Or, once a person's body image is distorted, his or her lifestyle will change to accommodate those standards. The changes can range from dieting to obsessive exercising to eating disorders.
For Lear, it was a combination of eating less and exercising more. Her weight fluctuated her senior year of high school ' at her thinnest, she was 105 pounds.
I looked gross
she said.
Lear began seeking treatment, but when she came to college, she felt the familiar pressure to be thin ' and anorexia resurfaced.
You go to parties and think
'These girls are so pretty.' You get jealous of other girls and you think
'I want that body
' even if it's not your body type
Lear said.
Other OU students agree that the college atmosphere promotes a culture of thinness.
It was the perfection thing for me
