Eating disorders typically arise when a person feels the stress from a combination of biological, behavioral, emotional, psychological, interpersonal, and social factors.

Some potential factors that affect the onset of eating disorders among the LGBTQ+ population are the stress of the coming out process, being bullied, body image concerns, isolation, and identity concerns.

“All of these stressors have the potential to increase the risk of the onset of an eating disorder, as well as impact levels of depression, anxiety, self-esteem,” Dr. Stephanie Setliff, medical director of the Eating Recovery Center, Dallas, says.

Because of these unique factors, the LGBTQ community is often underserved when it comes to getting treatment for these mental illnesses.

Identifying and treating an eating disorder

Eric Dorsa, Eating Recovery Center alum, first heard the term “eating disorder” when he was 12. Dorsa was hospitalized for heart failure from disordered eating. However, it wasn’t until Dorsa turned 17 that he realized his eating disorder was killing him. He also had a hard time finding a facility to get treatment.

“There were not many resources for an adolescent male with an eating disorder in 2005,” Dorsa says.

“Many insurance companies did not cover eating disorder treatment. It took months to find a treatment center that would take me when I turned 18 and that my insurance was willing to pay for.”

Fighting stigma

One of the major challenges Dorsa had to face in his journey toward recovery was coming to terms with being a gay male in a family that considered homosexuality unacceptable.

“In the beginning of my recovery, I thought the ‘gay thing’ would go away,” he says.

“I found myself desperately trying to run from these painful emotions and I began to engage in my eating disorder again.”

Dorsa says that now he knows he was running from shame. But it wasn’t until he began to come to terms with being gay that recovery seemed possible.

Eventually, Dorsa faced the reality that he needed to return to treatment to deal with the underlying emotional pain that fueled his eating disorder. “In my journey I returned to treatment two more times. I find this to be true for many individuals seeking recovery and support,” he adds.

Finding a community

Dorsa adds, though, that being LGBTQ has been an amazing blessing for him in respect to his recovery community. “It has shown me how much of my struggle to find acceptance and identity is not just a LGBTQ issue, but a human experience,” he says.

Dorsa adds that his identity also has helped him connect with other individuals who have struggled with their sexuality and gender identity.

Changing an appearance-centric community

Dorsa says it’s been difficult navigating the LGBTQ community outside of recovery. “Coming to terms with your sexuality in today’s culture can still be very painful and shameful,” he says.

“I [also] feel like there is still a lot of pressure in the gay community to look perfect and sexually desirable. This makes an eating disorder, or disordered eating, more common in the community.”

Dorsa hopes that one day, the LGBTQ community will put less emphasis on appearance. “We are already a community looking for acceptance. Many of us come out only to find rejection in many ways,” Dorsa says.

“I feel that in a community already struggling to find acceptance, the emphasis placed on body image and sexual desirability is a huge issue.”

Sharing and finding hope

Dorsa says becoming a Recovery Advocate helped him through his illness, too.  “There is so much strength in the phrase ‘me too’,” he says.

Meeting people who support the LGBTQ community has brought much-needed support and happiness, says Dorsa. He adds that this support, the feeling of inclusion, and having people listen can help other LGBTQ people find their identity.

“I am not blaming my sexuality for my eating disorder,” he adds.

“But coming to terms with my sexuality greatly influenced my recovery. I could not have done this without support from inside and outside the LGBTQ community.”

For additional information about Eating Recovery Center, call 877-789-5758, email info@eatingrecoverycenter.com, or visit eatingrecoverycenter.com to speak with a Masters-level clinician.

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Most of us think of Instagram as a place to scope pretty home pics or beauty inspo. Would you be surprised to learn IG has a growing eating disorder recovery community? A group of girls are kicking their EDs to the curb with the help of social media.

Guess social media doesn’t have to equal body shame. Instagram actually has a huge network of girls (and some guys) using it to support their recovery from eating disorders.

Approximately 10 million women and 1 million men in the U.S. have eating disorders. Now experts believe even healthy diet and exercise tactics can grow out of control, a condition called orthorexia. Hospitalization, therapy, and nutrition counseling have been traditional means of addressing eating disorder recovery.

No doubt, social media can fuel major body guilt. With the flood of pics of ultra thin, super fit people to look at, it’s easy to begin feeling like you don’t match up. But social media as a support tool for those working to recover from EDs? You betcha.

Yes, there is plenty of pro ana (promotion of anorexia) and “thinspiration” material available on social media. On the flip side, Instagram has a large self recovery network of girls working to get healthy. Most users post images of what they are eating or collage images of what they’ve had for the day. Some accounts are private to protect identities or stave off haters, but many girls post pics of their changing (for the better) bodies as inspiration and to keep a diary, of sorts.

This type of self help community not only holds users accountable to themselves and creates a safe atmosphere for sharing, but has initiated many real life friendships. These girls are meeting others going through the same things as themselves, in similar or different stages of recovery. They can help and be helped.

Some experts worry this is still a form of food obsession. Posting images of junk food, obsessive calorie counting, and exercise pics could be a slippery slope for those dealing with an eating disorder. But women like @amalielee, who has openly documented her recovery from anorexia, feel IG is hugely beneficial in getting healthy.

Runways featuring healthier looking models (Gigi Hadid just announced she ate 52 burgers last year!) and social media becoming a platform for ED recovery? We may be on the right track.

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Eating disorders aren’t funny, a fad, a phase, or motivation to lose weight – they are deadly and incredibly hard to treat.

Eating disorder awareness week happens every year from February 22-28; but similar to all “awareness” weeks, months, etc., this illnesses needs to be in the spotlight year-round.

Eating disorders run the gambit. You’re probably more familiar with Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa, but there is at least a handful (if not more) other types of eating disorders (Binge Eating Disorder, Orthorexia) affecting men and women, and boys and girls of all ethnicities and ages.

Many different things can trigger disordered eating: emotional, sexual, or physical trauma, and bullying are just a few examples. But other factors can cause disordered thoughts, feelings, and actions.

One of the “fueling” factors that is getting attention lately is the use of Photoshop and filters on models, actors, and actresses.

No one is saying that altered images cause eating disorders – that’s a load of crap. But when people are bombarded with absolutely bananas images of women with insanely small waists, and wrinkle-free faces, and men with impossible abs, it sure doesn’t help.

No one is perfect. Thin women have cellulite, young girls have smile lines, and men who work out on the regular don’t always have defined muscles.

Case in point: About a week or so ago, some unretouched images of Cindy Crawford and Beyoncé were “leaked” to the public. We think it’s terrible that leaking these photos has even caused a stir, but the fact that they surprised fans is of note. Yes, even celebrities aren’t perfect – we all have smile lines, excess skin, and facial puffiness.

Another “Photoshop” bombshell that was reported on earlier this week was David Lopera’s enlarged images of notable women. Changing these women’s bodies isn’t positive – making them larger doesn’t equate to creating an overall positive body image – he’s still merely creating fantasies.

Real women have, and don’t have curves, and real men are strong, and weak. People come in different shapes and sizes – period.

However, we know that even if all bodies and sizes are accepted, eating disorders would not cease to exist. Disordered eating is a bitch to overcome and will always be a real issue that should be taken seriously. Hell, I’ve been in recovery for about six years, and I still – still – see myself in a distorted way when I look in the mirror.

It’s going to take a lot of education and time to get to the point where everyone believes that disordered eating is a real problem, but time and advocacy (like those who do condemn the overuse of Photoshop) can help us all recognize that these disorders are illnesses and not fads.

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As a mostly vegan, total vegetarian, who is in recovery from anorexia (remember, you are never healed – it’s a lifelong process), nothing gets me angrier than someone saying, “veganisim and vegetarianism are masks for eating disorders.”

Sure, it makes me mad that my fellow vegan and vegetarian foodies who have no history of eating disorders are attacked in such an idiotic manner. But it also infuriates me because since becoming an all-time veggie eater, my relationship with food has gotten even better.

I became a vegetarian when I was a teen, and then started to ditch dairy, etc., in my late 20s. While being a vegetarian made me more apt to cook (I really don’t like a lot of those pre-packaged vegetarian meals), once I got rid of dairy, cooking became a necessity.

I really didn’t like a lot of the “store bought” breads out there, and found it was even more difficult to find soups and sauces that didn’t contain dairy (or a myriad of other nasty additives).

So, I got in the kitchen. I started using more nuts, flax seed, and hemp milk. Nutritional yeast and liquid aminos are my best friends. I learned how to sub in apple sauce or moistened flax seed for eggs, and found out that most non-dairy milks (especially the non-refrigerated kinds, and, of course, the kinds you can make at home) don’t contain xanthan gum, or carrageen.

Basically, cooking and baking got fun – jubilant. And I began to enjoy sampling all the new stuff I was making. If anything, I’m eating more than ever now, and I feel great. I’ve found a healthy, whole food diet that works for me and has helped me quiet all those nasty voices in my brain.

So, vegan and vegetarian haters: chill with your insults. I bet you would really dislike it if I said you had some type of addiction or disorder because you eat eggs, or meat. Let’s just all let each other eat in peace and try to get along.

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Sure, say all you want about Kesha’s music (I for one am a fan of her ridiculous, I-know-what-I’m-doing excess), but she’s a strong woman. And she’s one of the first people who has talked about how eating disorders and sexual assault are related.

A few weeks ago, Kesha “went forth with a lawsuit” against Dr. Luke, her former manager. The lawsuit claims that Dr. Luke “drugged her, sexually abused her and physically assaulted her.” Kesha revealed this information to her doctors when she was in rehab for bulimia, Jezebel reports.

Sources have claimed that Kesha didn’t come forward about the assault (or press charges) earlier because she had been with Luke for more than eight years. She didn’t feel like she had free will.

This story really rang true to me because I, similar to Kesha, was sexually assaulted and subsequently developed an eating disorder (anorexia, to be exact). I didn’t see the link at the time, but after a few years had passed and I went through some successful therapy, I realized the two incidents were related.

I always assumed that I wanted to be thinner to fit in, or whatever, but after a lot of reflection, I realized it was a way to cope with the assault. I was quite young when it happened and it took me years to fully realize what had really gone down. But once I did, it was totally obvious that all that “control” I had over my eating was linked to the lack of control I had when I was assaulted.

Sadly, Kesha’s story and my story aren’t uncommon. In fact, another awesome woman revealed her story of sexual assault and anorexia recently on XOJane. However disturbing, though, these stories need to be shared.

Many people who don’t know better often shrug of eating disorders as no big deal. Like the XOJane author states, thanks to mainstream media portrayal, many people think anorexia and bulimia are diseases that relatively well-off girls who just want to be thin have. Truth is, these diseases are so much more, and they need to be respected.

I hope that Kesha’s story can help others who have been assaulted and have developed an eating disorder. None of us are alone and we sure as hell aren’t weak. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.

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