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Curves & lines Malia Sperry, Ph.D., is La Luna's founder. She initially thought the center would primarily serve the student population. But Sperry was wrong. One study found that 70 percent of sixth grade girls surveyed first became concerned about their weight between the ages of nine and 11 years old.
Even more common than medically diagnosed eating disorders are the behaviors associated with so-called “disordered eating”: restrictive dieting and bingeing and purging irregularly, often in response to stressful events, changes in personal appearance or preparation for an athletic event. Some of the conditions that coexist with eating disorders are psychological, including anxiety, depression, loneliness and anger. Into the flesh by Tyler Wilcox, Boulder Weekly In the United States, eating disorders have reached epidemic levels. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia affect nearly 10 million women and one million men, primarily teens and young adults-and that's going by conservative estimates. Boulder is no exception. According to Alisa Shanks, Ph.D., who handles eating disorder treatment and assessment for CU-Boulder's Psychological Health and Psychiatry Division, the university's rate of eating disorders is well above the national average-a statistic that likely applies to the rest of the city's population as well. What's most troubling about the eating disorder problem is that there's no guaranteed cure; what works for one person may not work for another. "As a clinician and just as a person, I don't think there's one way of treating an eating disorder," says Malia Sperry, the program director at the Boulder-based La Luna Center, a facility devoted to eating disorders and related conditions. "It all depends on the individual." As a result, there are several therapeutic tools (in addition to traditional psychotherapy) that are now being used to help people with eating disorders. These tools share a focus on the positive aspects of the body; they are about what feels good, not what feels bad. For a person who has a negative perception of or a bad relationship with his or her body, time spent experiencing the body in positive ways can be a powerful part of the healing process. "We're just trying to find positive ways of being connected with the body," Sperry says. "We want a lot of options available." Here's a closer look at a few of these options: Massage therapy "The power of healthy touch cannot be underestimated," says Elizabeth Menzel, a Boulder-based professional healer and massage therapist. "It's so simple, but it can have such a profoundly healing effect." She should know. Over the past 13 years, Menzel has used massage therapy to help not only people with eating disorders, but also abused children and drug-addicted babies. The results of massage therapy techniques on all these in-need individuals have been extremely beneficial. "Just being touched with love in a non-threatening, non-judgmental and non-sexual way can set someone on the path to better self-care," Menzel says. Clinical studies back up her claim. In a 1987 study carried out by the American Psychiatric Association, 24 female adolescent bulimic inpatients were randomly assigned to a massage therapy or a standard treatment group. The results were good right off the bat: The patients who received massage showed immediate reductions in anxiety and depression. By the last day of the therapy, they had lower depression scores, lower cortisol (stress) levels, higher dopamine levels, and showed improvement on several other psychological and behavioral measures. These findings suggested that massage therapy is effective as an adjunct treatment for bulimia. A similar study-this time with anorexic women-conducted by researchers at the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine also saw generally beneficial results. At La Luna Center in Boulder, massage therapy isn't offered as part of the center's treatment program. It is, however, something the center suggests to certain patients. "Overcoming an eating disorder is a process of connecting with [one's] body and accepting the body," Sperry says. "Some women can have so much shame and negative thoughts about their body that touch can be an extremely important thing. Generally the idea behind massage is kindness to the body, nurturing and attending to the body's needs. That fits nicely with what we're trying to do with our treatment." Menzel says that she offers her bulimic clients an environment where the focus is off their weight and on the more functional aspects of the body. "When I'm working on a client, the last thing I'm thinking about is their weight," she says. "I'm thinking anatomically-not about how they look but more about the structure of the body." The very act of simply scheduling an appointment to get a massage is a good sign, according to Menzel. "People who show up for a massage are ready for a change in their emotional well-being," she says. Energy healing Energy healing is a broad term for any type of healing that restores and balances the flow of energy in the body, like Reiki or acupuncture. According to advocates of energy work, the human body is made up of a complex system of invisible energy pathways, in addition to physical and biochemical systems. The energy itself is what's referred to in English as the "universal life force energy." The Chinese call it qi or chi; the Japanese refer to it as ki; in India, it is prana. Isabelle Tierney, a Boulder-based tri-lingual psychotherapist and certified play therapist with a degree in energy healing from the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, says energy healing can be used as a means to uncover the cause of an eating disorder. "In energy healing, either through me or through the patient, a memory will pop up that will allow us to more fully understand the root of the eating disorder," she says. "Putting my hands on someone may awaken certain thoughts or beliefs that lead us to that place. And it never is something that overwhelms the person. It always is at a level that the person is ready for. So it is much more fluid than talk therapy-which I also practice and is also very helpful. But this is a way to express something that isn't verbal." The technique Tierney uses is an "enlightening system of healing that combines hands-on healing techniques with spiritual and psychological processes touching every aspect of [a person's] life." Like massage therapy, the physical aspect of energy healing is an added benefit for those suffering from eating disorders. "With energy healing you're sitting with someone in their full presence and giving them your full attention," Tierney says. "The end result is the person being completely grounded, completely relaxed. That's helpful, because people with eating disorders live in a world of stress, anxiety, shame and negative behavior. That's the opposite of being relaxed." As someone who struggled with an eating disorder for several years, Tierney has firsthand experience with the subject. "With eating disorders, there's a complete split from the mind and body," she says. "Energy healing is a way to bring yourself back into the body. Once you're back in your body, connected with it, it's harder to act out this stuff-the binging, the purging, all of it-on the body." Yoga As part of its intensive outpatient program, La Luna Center incorporates yoga and meditation techniques into its group sessions. The goal behind this isn't necessarily the physical benefits that yoga can offer, but rather the mental process that patients experience during the workouts. "We offer yoga as a way for patients to connect with the body," Sperry says. "The yoga isn't intensive work-it's relaxing postures and some flexibility work. What I think is most important in the yoga workouts is what's going through the patient's mind-whether they're having negative body judgments about themselves or comparing themselves to others or whether they're able to get into that calm, meditative state. We see it as a therapeutic tool. Afterward, we can discuss what everyone was feeling during the workout-it's a way of figuring out what the root problem is, where a person might fall off track. " Of course, there are physical benefits, as well. A regular yoga workout can help rebuild the strength, energy and bone density that is often damaged and sometimes lost as a result of anorexia. In the end, the goal is to reconnect eating disorder victims with the part of themselves that has come to seem like an enemy-their physical body-and enable them to break the cycle of self-abuse so they can begin to heal. Walking a thin lineSome say skinny is no longer in fashionBy Aimee Heckel, Daily Camera Brittni Pickering doesn't want to do the number game, because that's what almost put a kink in her modeling career. Because it's the darkest side of the job. But by the numbers, Pickering can be reduced to: 22 years old, 5 feet, 2 inches tall, 120 pounds and a size 3. On the street, she's healthy and petite. Even a little skinny. On the runway and in front of the camera, she's too big. At least that's what several modeling agencies said when they turned her down last year. Pickering, who lives in Denver but has done several modeling jobs in Boulder, says she is an average-sized girl — and a model without disordered eating. She works with Premier Image agency in Denver. Because of her experiences, Pickering now aims to be a role model for beautiful, healthy-bodied women. But it's hard, she said, with the tabloids boasting photos of uber-skinny celebrities, such as Nicole Richie. Other actresses, such as Lindsay Lohan, have come under scrutiny in tabloids and even the mainstream press for losing too much weight. Brazilian fashion model Ana Carolina Reston recently died from complications related to anorexia. At 5-foot-8, she weighed 88 pounds — considered normal for a 12-year-old girl no more than 5 feet tall. In August, Luisel Ramos of Uruguay died of a heart attack, prompting Madrid to ban extremely underweight models from its fashion week. Some say the media's eye on extreme thinness is a step in a healthier direction. Sara Milmoe, an eating-disorders psychotherapist at the Boulder Community Hospital, said she's glad to see the awareness. "Society as a whole is becoming more conscious," she said. "More people are going to treatment and being vocal about their addictions." This is especially relevant in a community like Boulder, one of the skinniest cities in the nation, Milmoe said. Some people forget that even athletes can harm their bodies by having too little fat. People can be naturally rail-thin, but that is the exception, experts say. And they want health-obsessed Boulderites to know you can be too thin and not look like a waif. And amid the hype, Milmoe said not to forget the obesity crisis. More Americans are considered obese than anorexic, statistics show. "Too much of anything is still bad, whether it's abstaining from eating or eating too much," Milmoe said. How thin is too thin? There's a fine line between being fit and being fixated on fitness, according to Dorie McCubbrey, an eating-disorder therapist in Superior. One of her athletic clients had to stop running after unhealthy eating habits left her shin bone permanently damaged. Too much exercise with too few nutrients can lead to hair loss, heart arrhythmia, infertility, osteoporosis and stress fractures. "People tend to think 'I'm not anorexic unless I'm bone thin.' That's a major misconception," McCubbrey said. "Others justify their thinness by saying, 'It's because I'm an athlete.' But being too thin can also compromise athletic performance." Especially in a community like Boulder, she said, often people mistake the beginning stages of anorexia as "healthy eating" and don't realize the severity. And even while the media mock the skinny Hollywood bodies, they're still getting attention — making the look more of a spectacle, McCubbrey said. This can make it more appealing. In its second year, Boulder's La Luna Center for eating disorders has already needed to expand. Malia Sperry PsyD., the clinical director, said she wants to attribute the growing demand to more people seeking treatment, not more disorders. "It would be nice is we could move in a direction of celebrating diversity in shapes and sizes... . Having a broader definition of beauty so we can all find what's good for us and feel good there," Sperry said. "Perhaps the push-back in modeling is a step in that direction. I'd like to see it that way." Eating disorder center opens in Boulder By Lisa Marshall, Daily Camera Staff Writer Boulder area women struggling with eating disorders now have a new place to turn, thanks to the opening of the county's first center for the treatment of anorexia, bulimia, binge eating and compulsive exercise. "It seemed like there was really a need," said Malia Sperry, director of the new La Luna Center, 2501 Walnut St. in Boulder. "Boulder is a very health-conscious and fitness-conscious place, which is wonderful, but it can also be taken to an extreme. We see a lot of people restricting their eating, or compulsively exercising." Sperry, who holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, founded the center in November after an internship at CU's Wardenburg Health Center opened her eyes to the prevalence of eating disorders in the area and what appeared to be a lack of services. While one-on-one counseling is helpful for some people, she said, others also need more intense therapy. Yet many are intimidated by, or cannot afford, a lengthy stay at an in-patient facility. La Luna Center offers an intermediate option: a six-month intensive outpatient program in which participants initially meet three times a week for three hours, tapering down over time to one session per week. During one session, the group participates in "experiential therapies" such as role playing. Another focuses on life skills. The third is a free-form discussion. The participants also see a nutritionist and therapist regularly. The total cost is about $13,000, which is covered, at least in part, by most insurance companies. Sperry said she believes that in the current health care environment, in which many insurance companies are reluctant to cover costly medical bills, such intensive outpatient programs, which tend to be less costly than inpatient programs, are likely to become more common. And it may attract people who are turned off by the idea of having to leave their everyday lives behind to get help. "Having someone go for two weeks to a facility where they are living there, and then putting them back into their day-to-day lives can be very disruptive. I'm concerned about people deciding not to get treatment because it is too inconvenient," Sperry said. In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males suffer from eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, according to the National Eating Disorders Association. A recent survey by the American College Health Association found that 2.2 percent of CU students endorsed having anorexia and 2.8 percent endorsed having bulimia. Nationally, between 0.5 and 1 percent of college women suffer from anorexia and between 2 and 3 percent have bulimia. MORE INFO For more information on La Luna Center programs, call (720) 470-0010 or log on to www.lalunacenter.com. Alisa Shanks, eating disorders clinician at Wardenburg Health Center, said some people are not medically stable enough to remain in their own environment while receiving treatment, but for those who are, a program like La Luna Center is much needed."You don't have to stop your whole life to be in treatment," Shanks said. One La Luna Center patient said that's exactly why she enrolled in the program. She started struggling with eating disorders her junior year in high school, and by freshman year in college had dropped 50 pounds. Once at CU, her relationship with food worsened. "I had no idea what college was going to be like. I couldn't deal with my emotions, so I ate," she said. Over the past 18 months, she has fluctuated between anorexia, compulsive overeating and bulimia so severe she began vomiting blood and suffered debilitating cramps because of nutritional depletion. She tried group counseling and one-on-one therapy. But only since she enrolled in La Luna Center one month ago has she seen real progress. "I am the best I've been in 31/2 years. I'm feeling. I'm laughing. I'm getting closer to people again. I'm a 20-year-old college girl again and that feels good." Contact Camera Staff Writer Lisa Marshall at (303) 473-1357 or marshalll@dailycamera.com. |
