Because eating disorders wreak emotional, physical and financial havoc on the lives of young people and their families, the mission of Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention, Inc. (EDAP) is clear. With five to ten million Americans suffering from the devastating effects of illnesses resulting from eating disorders, EDAP must increase the awareness and prevention of eating disorders through education and community activism. EDAP programs and information are designed to promote healthy self-esteem and body image among all people, to prevent life-threatening devastation of eating disorders and to promote early detection and treatment.
What is an eating disorder? Eating disorders are extreme expressions by both males and females of a range of weight and food issues. The disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorders. Self-starvation and excessive weight loss most often characterize anorexia. Conversely, bulimia frequently involves a secretive cycle of binge eating followed by purging. Similar to bulimia but without the purging, binge-eating disorder, or compulsive overeating, is generally identified by periods of impulsive gorging or continuous eating.
What causes eating disorders? Eating disorders arise from a combination of long-standing psychological, interpersonal and social conditions. Feelings of inadequacy, depression, anxiety and loneliness as well as troubled family and personal relationships may contribute to the development of an eating disorder. American culture and the media, with its unrelenting idealization of thinness and the “perfect body,” are contributing factors. Once started, eating disorders may become self-perpetuating. Dieting, bingeing and purging help some people to cope with painful emotions and to feel as if they are in control of their lives. At the same time, these behaviors undermine physical health, self-esteem and a sense of competence and control.
What does treatment involve? The most effective and long-lasting treatment for an eating disorder is some form of psychotherapy — for both the symptoms and the underlying psychological, interpersonal and cultural forces — coupled with careful attention to medical and nutritional needs. Ideally, this treatment should be tailored to the individual and will vary in length according to both the severity of the disorder and the patient’s particular problems, needs and strengths. Treatment can be a long and very costly struggle and in some cases may not be successful. Therefore, the very best treatment involves preventing eating disorders before they begin.
What prevention methods exist? Ideally, eating disorders would never occur, enabling healthy people to remain healthy. Almost as good, early detection and prompt treatment of eating disorders increase the chances for a quick and complete recovery.
Why EDAP Was Established
EDAP was established in 1987 in response to the enormous number of individuals suffering from eating disorders. A group of mental health professionals who recognized the need for an organization focused solely on prevention and raising public understanding about eating disorders and body image issues convened in Baltimore to create such an entity. Dedicated to prevention and early treatment of eating disorders, the organization launched its work by implementing the first National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, a public information campaign that took place in April 1988.
Today, EDAP is a strong and growing nonprofit organization with a well-staffed central office located in Seattle.
EDAP is governed by an active national board of directors and distinguished advisory council including some of the world’s leading researchers and clinicians in the field of eating disorders in addition to concerned family members and supporters. EDAP has a committed and growing network of over 550 volunteer community coordinators, health care professionals and educators, in all 50 states and Canada who organize over 1,500 educational outreach events in colleges, schools, hospitals and communities during National Eating Disorders Awareness Week and throughout the year. Using this network, in response to thousands of requests each year, EDAP distributes hundreds of thousands of educational brochures and other information to the general public, health care professionals and educators. EDAP provides information targeting many different audiences, ranging from parents, friends and sufferers to students, children and their parents, athletes, coaches and medical professionals. Virtually no segment of the population is overlooked.
EDAP — Prevention and Education
Eating Disorders Awareness Week (February 20-27, 1999) is celebrated to educate the public about the prevalence, types, signs, symptoms and potentially life-threatening problems of eating disorders. The focus week also promotes messages of positive body image and self-esteem and celebrates natural size diversity. Programs such as health fairs, conferences, public forums, film festivals, museum walks and book discussions along with informative workshops and presentations are open to the public in over 1,000 communities, schools and college campuses across the U.S.
In addition to the Week, EDAP developed a series of educational programs targeting all age groups to combat eating disorders on many different levels. For instance, EDAP launched the first national toll-free information and referral service for educators, health professionals, friends, family members and sufferers. The EDAP information and resource line is the first national, comprehensive, well-publicized toll-free line dedicated to information and assistance with eating disorders. Health care professionals joining EDAP as members can be listed on the referral service. Furthermore, EDAP serves as a national information clearinghouse for free information about eating disorders and body image issues. Each year over 200,000 people receive the latest information about eating disorders and their prevention. Specialized materials are available for health professionals, educators, students, the media, government, friends, family members, children and sufferers. Importantly, the EDAP website at http://members.aol.com/edapinc provides information to over 200 visitors each day.
Children’s education and awareness benefit from the Prevention Puppet Project that EDAP offers. Designed to reach elementary school children with meaningful messages about healthy self-esteem and body image, the puppets talk directly to the students about some of the issues they may be facing. Elementary school children are frequently the instigators or victims of teasing about body shape or size, and the puppets help instill the importance of recognizing that people naturally come in all shapes and sizes. EDAP trains a volunteer troupe in the Puget Sound Region to provide free performances to local elementary schools and has started troupes in Atlanta, New York, Pittsburgh, Calgary, Quebec and Vancouver, Washington.
EDAP’s media advocacy campaign encourages corporations and advertisers to promote positive body image. Advertisements that send negative messages about food, body size and shape are identified and letters are written to these companies clearly indicating the concerns and encouraging firms to consider the impacts of their advertising. EDAP sends advertisers commendation letters that commend positive messages about the natural diversity of body shapes and sizes. To date, nearly 600 people, including concerned healthcare professionals, educators, citizens and EDAP staff and board consistently sign on to each letter. Retailers seem to welcome and implement consumer input, considering many of the protested advertisement campaigns have been discontinued.
EDAP is continuing to develop its innovative and successful GO GIRLS! (Giving Our Girls Inspiration and Resources for Lasting Self-esteem) program, which is designed to help high school girls and boys learn more about body image. Moreover, information explains the role that the media plays in the way adolescents feel about themselves and their bodies. The program encourages these young people to use their voices to make this relationship between media and teen attitudes a more positive one. The program was originally piloted in four Seattle area high schools and is currently being implemented in cities throughout the United States. The program curriculum will be released nationwide to schools in the fall of 1999.
EDAP’s new advertising campaign emphasizing prevention is being developed in conjunction with the pro bono efforts of one of the world’s largest and most prestigious advertising firms, Ogilvy & Mather. This public information and awareness-raising campaign about eating disorders will run in major national magazines in the fall of 1999.
Currently, EDAP is planning new ways to combat eating disorders on a variety of different levels with future educational programs that will reach middle school students, parents and health professionals. In all of its materials, programs and projects, EDAP works to create a world where a person’s self-worth is not measured in pounds on a scale.
Is the goal nearly realized? The following statistics show the need for our organization and that its future work is, unfortunately, painfully clear:
Eating disorders are serious, life threatening conditions that we must work together to prevent if we are to help our daughters and our sons reach their potential as positive, contributing members to society. The theme for EDAP remains constant: Don’t weigh your self-esteem; it’s what’s inside that counts!
Jennifer G. Biely, a lawyer with an additional degree in Dispute Resolution from Willamette University College of Law, joined EDAP as its executive director in 1994. Since establishing the national headquarters office in 1994, Jennifer has helped the organization to grow, while expanding its national impact on the organization’s mission. For more information about EDAP, visit the EDAP website at http://members.aol.com/edapinc, call 206/382-3587 or write to: EDAP, 603 Stewart Street, Suite 803, Seattle, WA 98101.