Counseling Services unable to aid with eating disorders
Nearly 20 percent of college students admit to suffering from an eating disorder, according to the National Eating Disorders Association.
The two most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, when one restricts one’s food intake by excessively dieting, fasting or exercising, and bulimia nervosa, when one binge eats and then purges by forcing oneself to vomit.
“We have never counseled for eating disorders,” said Director of Counseling Services Mary Jane Phillips. “Effective treatment for an eating disorder is often a fairly complex and multidimensional kind of thing. It is very specialized, and GCSU counselors tend to be generalists. We’re more comparable to your family doctor and are more qualified to counsel in relationship problems, depression, anxiety, etc.”
According to Phillips, if a student has an eating disorder it is not in his or her best interest to seek counseling from Counseling Services.
“When people ask Greg Jarvie, a clinical psychologist who also has a part-time practice and teaches here, why we do not treat eating disorders, he responds with, ‘Do you go to the Health Services when you have cancer and expect to get treatment for cancer?’ The answer is no, and this is the cancer diagnosis for the psychological world,” Phillips said.
There is a legal concept called “boundaries of competence.” In order for a counselor to provide a particular kind of service, they must have had didactic training and supervised experience in that service. It is illegal and unethical for counselors, in this case Counseling Services, to offer services in which they are not certified, Phillips said.
Phillips clarifies that this should not discourage students with eating disorders from seeking help. While Counseling Services will not treat the disorder, it will help the students get the treatment they need.
After a student has been stabilized with a certified psychologist, Counseling Services will work with the psychologist to further help the student with other issues that might stem from the disorder.
“We just don’t want to set people up for failure,” Phillips said. “There are some real risks with this. For a psychiatric disability it has a high mortality right, so it is really important to get people to the right treatment. As long as someone is getting the treatment that they need in a setting that is appropriate to their needs, of course we’ll help them with other stuff.”
Alice Loper, the Student Health Services director, says that eating disorders are among the most difficult things to treat.
“It’s long-term treatment,” Loper said. “It’s not like you go to an appointment and you’re going to be fine because it’s deeply rooted with psychological issues. Some people get over it, and for some people it takes years.”
According to Loper, Student Health Services takes a similar approach as Counseling Services to the issue.
“We would be happy to talk to them and get them help, but it’s just not something we can do through the school,” Loper said.
GCSU students who believe they have an eating disorder are strongly encouraged to seek help.
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