Liz's Presentation

      Liz Fletcher-Brown's discussion was on body image and eating disorders. She focused primarily on two types of eating disorders- Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia. One main point that stood out to me was that anorexia has the highest mortality rate of all mental health disorders. I would have assumed anorexia contributed the least to mental health disorders mortality rate. Learning that extremely violent suicide, such as jumping off building or jumping in front of a train, is the most common way people with anorexia die was horrific. I would have assumed heart failure or starvation would have been the most common. This disease has such a high mortality rate because people with this condition are very resistant to treatment. They are stubborn and think that treatment can harm them more and make them more sick. When the treatment is involuntary, it is less effective because this is a mental health condition. Therefore, the lifestyle change must come internally. Also, the availability and long-term commitment make it tough for patients to stick with treatment. Before her presentation, I thought eating disorders were somewhat rare and that they were easily treatable. I didn't know that over 8 million people have an eating disorder and that the ratio is 1 in every 200 women. I was shocked to know that  60% of people with anorexia nervosa die prematurely and that treating this disease is such a challenge. I was also shocked to find out how many problems there are with the insurance companies to pay for treatment. I feel that the insurance companies should cover all health conditions--mental or physical. Another thing I found especially interesting is that eating disorders are more closely-related to OCD, rather than body dysmorphic disorder.