(RxWiki News) Few people would question that eating disorders are prevalent, but how many understand them? With the highest mortality rate of any mental illness and only 1 in 10 men and women with eating disorders receiving treatment, statistics don't look good.
Brooks Brodrick Ph.D., fell in-line with this belief until mistakenly stumbling upon the description for the very eating disorder she suffered with for years and never knew about. Now she spends her time raising awareness to help others like herself, and for the past three years, Brooks dedicated her spare time organizing the 5K NEDA Walk around her Alma Mater, The University of Virginia.
Talk to a medical professional to learn more about eating disorders.
A medical student at UVA, Brodrick's 10-year battle with anorexia put a hold on her life. The former dancer didn't even know she was sick until entering the wrong section of a book and reading about anorexia, and she admits it was a struggle from there. She tells her local Charlottesville newspaper "it finally clicked I was endangering my life." Yet in the end, Brodrick would not let her disease take away her health or her future.
The South Carolina Department of Mental Health reports an estimated 7 million women and 1 million men in the United States have an eating disorder. More specifically, 1 in 200 U.S. women suffer from anorexia, between 2-3 in 100 U.S. women suffer from bulimia, and nearly half of every U.S. population personally know someone with an eating disorder.
Brodrick stated: “early intervention and treatment saves lives. When people don’t get treatment, or don’t get the appropriate treatment or access to the length and levels of treatment they need, they often suffer for years on end and too many die as a result.”
