Every experience in life leads to a lesson.

IU senior Jensen Bailey hopes her lesson saves lives. She uses her experience with an eating disorder to help others who are struggling.

Bailey was diagnosed with anorexia at the age of ten years old.

 

As common as it is for young adults to experience an eating disorder, experts say it is increasingly more common among children. This can be influenced by a lot of factors, but one leading trigger is body image.

Bailey says she felt the pressure to look a certain way as a cheerleader in middle school. She says she dedicated to “be healthier,” as she put it. This desire for health became an obsession. She started to lose weight rapidly, and says she “liked what she saw.” She went in for a yearly physical at 10 years old and her doctor realized she had lost 15 pounds, which is uncommon and unsafe for someone her age and size.

At the time, Bailey thought the body she desired for herself triggered anorexia. She now knows it was much more than, “wanting to be skinny,” She has come to understand that anorexia is linked to a brain disorder and a chemical imbalance.

 

Experts say one common stigma surrounding eating disorders is that all people have to do to get better is to eat more or stop the negative feelings about the way the look.

IU Caps Psychologist and IU Body Project Workshop leader Chris Meno says people need to understand that eating disorders are mental health diseases, 

Meno specializes in body image and disorder eating. She says she brought the Body Project Workshop to IU in 2010.

 

Meno talks about the importance of seeking help immediately.  Early intervention can make a difference.

CAPS at IU Health Center provides many opportunities to seek help. Students get two free consultations. Students can even go to the health center for two free massages to relieve stress.

If you or a loved one are suffering with symptoms of mental health, seek help immediately.