Experts say all anorexia starts out as a diet, a religious studies chairman at Bethany College in Pennsylvania said Monday. This may be the reason that the first warning signs of an eating disorder are often missed.
"For a woman to go on a diet and lose some weight, no one's going to say 'Oh my goodness, stop!'" Frank Gorman, chairman, said.
Gorman gave a firsthand account of his experiences dealing with his wife's anorexia. The presentation, "When 'Just eat Something' Isn't Enough: tips for family and friends," is part of the Ball State Counseling Center's Eating Disorder Awareness Week.
"Most programs talk about helping the person with an eating disorder," Kim Gorman, Frank Gorman's wife and a psychologist at the Counseling Center, said. "This one's about helping people dealing with people with an eating disorder."
Kim Gorman's eating disorder started when she got married and moved into a new town with her husband and stepson, Frank Gorman said. Shortly after, she stopped eating, began exercising feverishly and read food labels and ads intently.
"An eating disorder is not just eating or not eating, counting calories and exercising," Frank Gorman said. "It's the development of a whole new relationship with food."
Kim Gorman started weighing herself 25 to 30 times daily and eventually refused to lick a postage stamp because it had too many calories, Frank Gorman said.
Frank Gorman developed issues related to Kim Gorman's anorexia as well. He felt anxious, angry, empty and nauseous, he said.
"Before she went in the hospital, I hated her," he said.
He was eventually diagnosed with sympathetic anorexia because in the process of dealing with the troubles with his wife, he lost his appetite.
Looking back, Frank Gorman realized he did not handle the situation correctly, he said. Cracking jokes, making stern comments and feeling that it was his problem to fix were methods he used to try to help his wife.
Kim Gorman was eventually hospitalized and underwent therapy, but was still grappling with her eating disorder. Only after she took responsibility for herself by moving back to her hometown and attending the University of Kentucky did she start to conquer her anorexia, Frank Gorman said.
One of the worst mistakes he made was waiting so long to get help for his wife, he said.
"Looking back I would have not waited," he said. "Waiting is not the answer. The earlier someone gets help, the better the results.
"We both survived and we survived intact."
Now, as a psychiatrist at the Counseling Center, Kim Gorman sees the problem on Ball State's campus.
Eating disorders are prevalent, Kim Gorman said. About 10 percent of students have eating disorders and about 60 percent have disordered eating, she said. Disordered eating is less severe and is the result of using tools such as dieting, exercising and diet pills in maladaptive ways.
The Counseling Center's Eating Disorder Awareness week is designed to help people with body image issues and get people to recognize eating problems in themselves or in friends, Kim Gorman said.
The Counseling Center has eating disorder screening tables set up in the Atrium from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. through Friday. Tables will also be set up through Friday at the L.A. Pittenger Student Center Hotel Lobby from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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