Why Eating Disorders have become common during the pandemic

Thank you to our guest contributor, Justin Heenan R.P. (Qualifying), from Justin Heenan Counselling Centre. Justin is an Educator, Counsellor and Philanthropist in Durham Region. He works with clients with various concerns. These concerns include but are not limited to anxiety, depression, eating disorders and career issues. Justin Heenan uses a Person-Centered Approach to helping his clients. For more information about is work and practice, please visit www.justinheenan.com

Since the pandemic, intakes in Eating Disorders Treatment programs have increased significantly. That is not to say that great work is not being done in these programs. However, more and more intakes are coming in with Eating Disorders. They are getting younger and younger, it seems. I can speak from my experiences of working in schools, hospitals and in private practice psychotherapy that eating disorders are, unfortunately, becoming more common. 

This is, mainly, due to the pandemic. While I recognize that this is a very broad statement, I think it is true. The pandemic has caused us, especially in Ontario, to close ourselves off to society. This means less time seeing others at work, school, the gym, the park, you name it. Less. This means more time alone, staring at a reflection in the mirror. More time alone, exercising to exertion. More time alone, staring at a number on the scale. This is not a great thing for those that suffer from eating disorders and other mental health concerns. 

As a Qualifying Psychotherapist and a Special Education Teacher in Ontario, this worries me. I am seeing more and more young people, mainly girls in the 13-18 age group, coming into treatment programs battling these concerns. I also believe, quite strongly, that there is not enough funding for such programs. While Ontario is certainly better than other places in the world, I think we, as a society, need to re-examine how little we are spending on mental health treatment programs, including those designed to support individuals with eating disorders. 

We spend so much money on jails and prisons and so little on mental health care. We spend so much money on police forces and so little on affordable therapy. We spend so much money on military operations and so little on affordable addictions rehabilitation. We then wonder why mental health is such a problem in our society. I am not saying that corrections, law enforcement and the military are not necessary or important. But I am saying that we focus too much on these things and not enough on supporting our citizens with mental health concerns. 

It has also become clear that social media can be detrimental to individuals with Eating Disorders as well. While we are all somewhat guilty of posting only our best looking photos on Instagram, young people cannot always make those realizations and assume that people always look the way they do in their pictures. In terms of the content on social media, the same rule applies. We only tend to post the most fun and exciting parts of our lives. When a teenager looks at this, they assume their life is terrible and boring. While teachers strive valiantly to teach the media literacy expectations in the curriculum, we also need to understand that this mindset starts at home. We need to make it clear to our children that what they see on social media is not always true. When something is taught in school and reinforced at home, this is when you will see significant change in a young person. 

After understanding these things, I think it becomes very clear why eating disorders have increased during the pandemic. We are spending too much time at home and alone. Too much time to think about our size, weight and appearance. Too much time eating or not eating. Too much time exercising or not exercising. Too much time staring at social media posts. Too much time comparing. 

Starting to live “normal” again is exciting but it also takes some bravery. Whether this is going back to work in person, re-opening a business, or just being out in public more. All of these things might make us feel uncomfortable or anxious after not having done them in a while. What also takes some real bravery is walking through the doors of a treatment centre in order to address your mental health concerns. All too many have had to make those brave walks through this pandemic. While it appears as though things are slowly starting to go back to normal, these mental health concerns still linger. Our lack of support for mental health programs still needs to be addressed. We need to change, we need more funding and we need more acceptance and understanding. We need society to understand that mental health disorders should not come with a stigma. COVID restrictions are disappearing but that does not mean our mental health concerns disappear too.