Experts say U. can foster eating disorders

Eating disorders are much more common at the University than most people realize, according to Robin Hornstein, a psychology intern at University Counseling Service. "For every person who is admitting to an eating disorder, there are probably three people who aren't," Hornstein said. Disorders tend to be more prevalent in situations where people live together, compare themselves with one another and compete over standards centered around body image. "Not eating, dieting or the achievement of a certain body image becomes a competition," said Jo-Ann Zoll, a former facilitator of an eating disorder support group at Student Health Psychiatry. "Not everyone, however, can drop out of the competition when it comes time to do so." Hornstein said the increased pressure to be the best you can be contributes to the development of eating disorders and said the quality of the student body at the University intensifies these pressures. "Penn takes the top people in the country," Hornstein said. "When you take the top people from each high school class and put them together, there is going to be more competition and pressure to be perfect." During periods of extreme stress like exams, students with eating disorders experience problems with their concentration. As a result, Hornstein added, the number of calls she recieves from concerned students increases during those periods. "WaWa does real well with binge eaters during exam time," she said. Stress, however, is not always the primary factor in the development of an eating disorder. "Other times, the pre-cursor is situational," Zoll said. "[For example,] modeling and athletics sometimes require participants to maintain a pre-determined weight that is not healthy." Zoll said that many students who suffer from eating disorders at the University have had experiences with body image disorders long before they arrive on campus. "The issue doesn't have to do with food, it has to do with feelings," Zoll said. "Just like alcoholism, where alcohol isn't the issue, eating disorders are a response to dealing with feelings like low self-esteem, difficulties with intimacy or self-worth deficiencies." Although alcoholism and eating disorders may have similar causal bases, the recovery process for the two diseases are different, she said. "A recovering alcoholic can eliminate alcohol from their life," Zoll said. "But a person recovering from an eating disorder certainly is not able to eliminate food." There are a variety of services available on campus to students who suffer from eating disorders, although different students decide to seek help for different reasons. Various support groups and individual treatment programs are available through University Counseling, Student Health and the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic. The Health Education Psycho-Educational Group also sponsors a group called "Food, Sex, and You" which focuses on body image rather than eating disorders. Hornstein runs a group through University Counseling called "Overwhelmed by Food" which is set up to appeal to people who are obsessed with food but are not technically diagnosed as having eating disorders. She also sees students on an individual basis.