The Undiscovered Country … A Future of Collaboration, Compassion and Resiliency
By Steven Dunn
“World Eating Disorders Action Day” is June 2. I hope that people will be inspired to take action by reading stories of hope and resiliency leading to a brighter and better future.
The global theme for 2025 is, “Breaking Bias & Supporting Families.” Certainly, supporting families is crucially important. Especially since the eating disorder community is facing seemingly insurmountable issues and problems.
Some of these issues include: Research professionals scrambling to raise funds or being laid off and their research terminated because federal grants have been scaled back and/or terminated; The private equity experiment in eating disorder treatment centers has failed. Treatment centers are closing, being led by persons who are not even on-site, and staffing is either inadequate or comprised of incompetent or untrained persons; Sexual, physical, mental and emotional abuse are present in treatment centers; There are no generally accepted standards of care; Biological and genetic based research and treatment are being hindered; And finally … the mortality rate continues to escalate as more of our children and adolescents suffer from this deadly illness.
These issues within the eating disorder community are numerous and serious. Life threatening. And there are many other troubling issues as well.
That is the current unfortunate reality.
Families are the ones paying the ultimate price for the collective failure of the eating disorder community. My beloved daughter, Morgan fought eating disorders for seven (7) years. This October 30 will be the 9th commemoration date of when she breathed her last. She is not alone. There are many more just like Morgan.
Nine (9) years since she was taken. For many people, the passage of nine years may seem like an eternity. A lifetime. But for a parent whose beloved child was taken by anorexia, no matter how much time elapses, there are days when the horror of that dark night seems as if it just happened. That darkness haunts you. It leaves a hole in your heart. And your soul. A hole so vast you know it will never be filled.
Eating disorders are a cruel master. They strip away your dignity. They isolate you from friends and families. They lie to you. And then they slowly strip away not just your health but your very identity. Finally, after they have accomplished all of these horrific actions and there is only one last thing to take, they take your life. Not quickly and mercifully. Oh no. But slowly. Painfully. Until there is nothing left. And one more bright light in this world is extinguished.
That is the reality of eating disorders.
Families deserve better. Our loved ones suffering from eating disorders deserve better. We all deserve better.
Which leaves us with the question of … how do we get better and achieve greater knowledge and true progress toward eradication of this insidious illness?
I wish I had the answers or with a wave of a magic wand, could eliminate the scourge of eating disorders. But I don’t have those answers and I don’t have a magic wand.
What I do know, what we all know, is that what is happening right now is not working.
So perhaps we need to look at the issues and problems very differently. Perhaps looking collaboratively and not individually.
Domestically, the eating disorder organizations are failing. Internationally, there seems to be no coordination or collaboration among professionals. Research and treatment seem to be based more on individual effort by mental health workers and professionals. However, when addressing a global illness like eating disorders, individuality and personal glory lessen the likelihood of breakthrough success. Continued reliance on the individual and not a greater collective will only result in the same failures.
The entire global eating disorder community must set aside their egos, their petty differences, their need for personal acclamation. Collaboration, or teamwork leverages diverse perspectives, enhances problem-solving, and fosters a sense of community.
Instead, envision a universal, Global Alliance. Not just in name but in substance, goals and action. No one is a “chapter” of anyone else. Therapists are in one organization. Research doctors in another. A central repository of all the known information on eating disorders. Real time listservs so eating disorder professionals have access to other therapists and mental health and medical professionals not just in their country but across the globe.
Shared knowledge.
Shared goals.
Greater outcomes.
More lives saved.
Each person, advocate, therapist, medical doctor, and mental health professional has the potential and ability to listen, to learn to grow. To extend their hand to others who are in such pain.
And reach a place of knowledge wherein they say, I am listening. I want to learn. I want to embrace a greater wisdom.
And then, do that every day.
For if you do, you will find a greater place in your head, and your heart, and your soul, a place which will guide you to a path leading you to a reservoir of compassion and strength far more vast than you have ever experienced.
Our families need you to find that greater reservoir. So that you may guide those families to a place of peace, recovery, and a hope for far more joyous tomorrows.
Perhaps that should be one of the messages defining World Eating Disorders Action Day.