The author surveyed counselor education programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs regarding the importance placed on eating disorders in counselor preparation and how they may be addressed.
Most respondents valued the topic, and most did include or would consider including eating disorders in their training programs. Recommendations for infusion into curricula are discussed.
Recent data indicate that up to 6% of persons in the United States have some form of an eating disorder, and as many as 58% to 70% of women experience body dissatisfaction (Alexander, 1998;Brumberg, 1997;Mazzeo, 1999). Among specific populations such as athletes, college students, and adolescent girls, the ratios are even higher. Although primarily conceived as a problem among women, research shows that men represent 10% of all cases of eating disorders (Alexander, 1998). It is perhaps the growing prevalence across age, gender, ethnicity, and other cultural variables that suggests that eating disorders, in some form, are likely to be encountered by counselors at some point in their practice.
Unlike other disorders, eating disorders tend to appear across populations, ages, cultures, and settings. There are specific life-threatening aspects to undetected and untreated eating disorders, and because of these aspects, counselors must be exposed to the etiology, manifestation, and treatment of eating disorders within multiple contexts. There must be an understanding that it is not only individuals with clinical eating disorders who suffer from esteem and related emotional difficulties but also those with manifestations of disordered eating and body image concerns that are less clinical. Prevention and treatment of all forms of eating disturbances at all places along a continuum should address weight and body-related issues as well as emotional concerns (Scarano & Kalodner-Martin, 1994;Tylka & Subich, 1999). It is often the groups at less extreme points on the continuum who are overlooked in prevention and treatment.