Opinion Piece by Pamela Paul for the New York Times
“We’ve known about anorexia for a long time. The question is why it looks to be getting worse now. The truth is, we still don’t know exactly what causes anorexia. But we have learned more in recent decades. Whereas anorexia was earlier viewed through the lens of individual and familial behaviors and cultural influences, it is increasingly understood, as with other psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia and depression, to involve a neurological element”
There doesn’t seem like a much better article than this one to open up our “News” section of the Maddie Mae Fund with. In this piece Pamela Paul, using insights from experts within the field as well as her own personal experiences, very candidly discusses the increasing amount of anorexia in the teen and pre-teen girl population. The author acknowledges the increased understanding in the neurological element involved with anorexia and other mental disorders but questions why then anorexia cases, if anything, have only increased. Like many people in the field, Pamela Paul is left having more questions than answers...
The point of the "News" section, which will be posted onto the website as well as sent out in a news letter to the Maddie Mae Fund subscribers, is to provide deeper understanding of the underlying causes of anorexia and its crippling effects while highlighting important breakthroughs, discoveries, and initiatives within the field. Now to be honest, as memorial funds and newsletters should be, my family and I still do not nearly understand anorexia in totality. After living in such close contact with Maddie for her entire life and her extensive struggles with an eating disorder, I, as someone who has never struggled with anorexic symptoms, was constantly stumped by its happenings. Although, we will be the ones searching, sharing, and perhaps occasionally commenting on what we believe to be important and appropriate news related to our fight, we will be learning just as much as you along the way.
We hope this section of the Maddie Mae Fund will provide novel knowledge, curiosities, and compassions to its readers, but more importantly we hope to raise awareness and demand attention for the long overdue exploration in true understanding and viable cures for eating disorders!
With Love,
Pace Billings
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/20/opinion/anorexia-eating-disorder-girls.html
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