Syracuse University’s Counseling Center provides group counseling for a variety of issues such as stress, anxiety and drug and alcohol addictions, but it should also provide one for eating disorders.

National Eating Disorder awareness week started on Monday, shining a spotlight on the mental illnesses. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anorexia nervosa is the most fatal mental illness, with a mortality rate of about 10 percent.

At SU, more than 100 students a year reach out to the Counseling Center because of eating concerns, Cory Wallack, director of the center, estimated.

Group therapy is an integral part of the process for those coping with eating disorders. When students who are accustomed to this therapy return to campus and do not have the same resource, it can be detrimental to their continued recovery.

A student-run therapy group for people recovering from eating disorders should be available. It is important that these students find other people going through the same ordeal to provide emotional support.

If a therapy group for eating disorders is created, it will show students that they have peers who are struggling with the same illnesses and may inspire others to seek help.

Doing so can also provide a resource for those who want to help friends struggling with these illnesses. College students are often far away from the support of their family at home and must rely on their campus family to help with their recovery.

Though it does not yet offer group counseling specifically, the Counseling Center does recognize that college students are vulnerable to developing eating disorders in response to the “feelings of stress and the pressure of college life,” according to its website.

In addition to a student-run therapy group, the Counseling Center should also develop its own group counseling program so students can have access to professional resources not provided by a student-run group.

The campus needs both types of therapy groups — a student-run group and a university-operated group — to deal with eating disorders. These are serious mental illnesses that are often overlooked and group counseling should be made available to students.

Published on February 24, 2014 at 10:54 pm

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