UIHC event aims to bring eating disorders into the light

IOWA CITY - When Kelsey Andresen's weight dropped dangerously low, first as a teenager and then again in college, she survived because she had a strong support network and was able to find treatment for her eating disorder.

Not all of those who have anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder or related conditions get help in time. Anorexia is the No. 1 psychiatric killer in the United States.

In the United States, 20 million women and 10 million men suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some point in their lives, according to the National Eating Disorder Association.

'They're a public health crisis. They're rampant,” says Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Marya Hornbacher, the author of 'Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia.” 'It's not just a community of little girls who are impacted, it's women and men of all ages. Eating disorders touch all of us.”

In the last six months, five people Andresen knows have died due to complications from their eating disorders.

Their deaths spurred her to take action. The 28-year-old, a nurse living in Ankeny, and her friend Jodi Hessing are organizing an Iowa City walk to raise funds and awareness for the National Eating Disorder Association.

Hornbacher will speak briefly before the walk.

'I wanted to get the word out there that it's possible to beat it and live a normal life,” Andresen says. 'We need to make this a more public thing so people can get help.”

She's holding the walk in Iowa City, one of dozens of cities hosting walks across the country, because she spent several months at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics eating disorder inpatient clinic. The specialists there helped her get back to a healthy weight and gain the coping skills to overcome the disorder. She also credits the support of her family.

Her struggle began in the ninth grade when she joined the track team. It started as simply watching what she ate and working out but quickly became unhealthy.

'I don't feel like I was consciously thinking about it,” she says. 'It developed into something that became an obsession.”

Eventually, she wasn't taking in enough calories to support herself. She says while for many people eating disorders are about wanting to be thin, that wasn't the case for her. Eating disorders can manifest in many different ways, she says. In addition to body image, they are often related to issues of control and are often paired with other conditions like depression or anxiety.

'I never thought I was fat. I always thought I was too skinny,” she says. 'Eating disorders are not black and white. They can come in all different forms. Each person has to figure out what the eating disorder is for them.”

Hornbacher says Americans need to address the cultural factors that trigger many people's eating disorders.

'Each one of us need to do a lot less obsessing, a lot less focusing on beauty, on weight, on women's bodies, on men's bodies,” she says. 'The ideal of beauty is not the only reason people get eating disorders, but it doesn't help.”

Once someone develops an eating disorder, the best thing their friends and family can do is offer support, she says.

'When someone says, hey, I need help, someone needs to sit up and listen. It's critical,” she says. 'The difference between recovering or not is treatment and support.”

Like Andresen, she also knows five people who have died in the last year from complications of an eating disorder.

Many survivors, though, are coming together to break the silence through a growing number of online and in-person support groups.

'The world of eating disorders was a very different place when I was dealing with it in the '90s,” she says.

'There was no such thing as a recovery community like there is now.”

Still more - research, treatment and prevention - needs to be done, Hornbacher says. She also would like improved legislation to make treatment easier to fund through insurance companies.

The first step is acknowledging that eating disorders are a widespread, national issue.

'My hope is people will take a moment to educate themselves about it and reach out and help,” she says. 'This could be anyone. It could be anyone you love.”

IF YOU GO

'What

: National Eating Disorder Association Walk

'When

: 8:30 a.m. Oct. 4

'Where

: Willow Creek Park, 1117 Teg Dr., Iowa City

'More information

: Nedawalk.org/iowacity2014

Learn more

'The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Uihealthcare.org/eatingdisorders, (319) 353-6314

'St. Luke's Hospital Eating Disorder Program, Unitypoint.org/cedarrapids/services-eating-disorders.aspx, (319) 369-7959

'National Eating Disorder Association Confidential, toll free help line: 1-(800) 931-2237, nationaleatingdisorders.org