Kentucky must do more to treat people with eating disorders
- Eating disorders are serious brain-based illnesses that require intensive medical intervention.
- Kentucky has limited resources for eating disorder treatment, particularly for males.
- The Kentucky Eating Disorder Council (KEDC) advocates for increased awareness, education, and treatment options.
- Early intervention is crucial for improving outcomes and reducing the duration of eating disorders, but treatment is elusive and expensive.
It’s not about food.
There is no greater challenge as a parent than fighting a demon holding your child captive that you can’t physically see and you don’t understand. Nothing about it makes sense. Everything is counterintuitive.
That demon is an eating disorder.
The demon sucked the life out of my son, Chris, and out of me. As a shell of my former self, I knew I couldn’t battle this demon, and Chris was losing the fight. This insidious disease took control of my strong, intelligent, talented, fun-loving son before I knew what was going on. It doesn’t care about age, gender, race or privilege and yet there are few options for treatment, particularly for males, and especially in Kentucky.
Kentucky needs more options for eating disorder care
Kentucky offers only one outpatient treatment facility in Louisville, but they would not accept Chris due to his very low body weight. He needed intensive, 24/7 inpatient care to survive, but he had no option in the state. The closest residential treatment that accepts adult males and his insurance was in Florida. Placing my extremely ill son in the hands of experts so far away from home was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
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Chris loved to travel and experience new places. He didn’t fit the person struggling with an eating disorder or serious mental health issues. But it was there, and I missed it even after having grown up in a family that discussed mental health with my father, who is a retired psychologist.
Eating disorders are brain-based biological illnesses. Those struggling can’t “just eat” or stop the behaviors. Their brains are compromised, often resulting in the loss of cognitive function, some of which may never return from what I’ve learned during his treatment. Most are affected by anosognosia — the inability to recognize they are sick and in need of help.
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If they “just eat” without medical intervention and supervision, they can die. Someone dies every 52 minutes from an eating disorder due to a medical complication associated with starvation or suicide. Only opiate addiction carries a higher death rate than anorexia for all mental health disorders.
Eating disorders receive less funding than other mental illnesses
Despite the prevalence, eating disorders receive significantly less funding than other major mental health illnesses, and support options are often inaccessible. Early and aggressive intervention has been shown to shorten the duration of the illness, but treatment for eating disorders is elusive and expensive.
Nationally, 28.8 million people will have an eating disorder in their lifetime with 10,200 deaths per year, according to a report from the Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. In Kentucky, nearly 400,000 people will suffer from an eating disorder in their lifetime according to this report, yet treatment and payment options are limited leaving many families like ours paying out of pocket for this expensive, lifesaving treatment.
Kentucky Eating Disorder Council Advocacy Day in Frankfort
In 2020, Gov. Andy Beshear signed KRS 210.051 creating The Kentucky Eating Disorder Council (KEDC) to increase awareness, education and treatment initiatives for eating disorders through partnerships and community engagement. Each year, during National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, KEDC hosts an Advocacy Day in Frankfort. This year’s event is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Feb. 26 at the Capitol Rotunda.
As part of Advocacy Day, KEDC recognizes some of the providers and advocates working to address eating disorders in the state as part of their Champion Awards. Council members also use this day to offer legislators and the public more information about eating disorders and the impact the council is making.
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As part of our journey, I’ve found several organizations working to increase awareness about eating disorders and pushing for better treatment options. Many can provide guidance in finding eating disorder-trained providers and offer support options for families of those affected by this deadly disease, including The National Alliance for Eating Disorders and National Eating Disorders Association.
My son, Chris, is recovering and he is continuing his treatment on an outpatient basis. He was also able to finish his final college semester last fall to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in geology. His labs and vitals have improved and his weight is restored. To look at him now, you’d never guess his struggles, but the demon is still there.
Lynne Marsh is a former journalist and freelance writer based in Richmond, Kentucky.
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