Eating Disorders | Sexual Abuse | Anorexia | Bulimia | Art Galleries | Contemporary Art

Eating disorders have taken on new form in the past decades. In fact, the problems is so serious that new mediums are being sought after to educate new generations of the potential dangers and small pitfalls that lead to illness. In fact, it is the celebrity spotlight that has been pointed on eating disorders that brought the issue to light. The most common eating disorder is anorexia, usually started by a stream of dieting.

Anorexia nervosa, known more commonly as anorexia, affects millions of people in the United States alone. Considered to be a detrimental eating disorder that often leads to more serious conditions, anorexia hits slowly and progresses subtly, bringing its victims into psychiatric wards and intensive care units. Often characterized as severe starvation, this eating disorder hits a wide audience – males and females, teens and adults in locations worldwide. Therefore, education plans have been put into effect to warn people of the early signs in order to keep more people from falling to eating disorders. Anorexia is shown by decreased appetite, rapid and extreme weight loss, and frequent mood changes. It is necessary that people with an unstable body image be monitored for possible symptoms of anorexia and other eating disorders.

There are a variety of treatment plans available to anorexia and other eating disorder patients. One of the newest ones on the scene is art therapy. This method allows patients to channel their creativity into a therapeutic method which can lead them on the path to recovery. By creating something aesthetic, patients are given a new worth of themselves. Also, since they are able to create something, they have something to be proud of and can slowly heal the wounds left by their eating disorder.

Since the root of the problem for anorexia and other diseases’ patients is often hidden by layers of the conscious mind, it is necessary to allow the subconscious part of the mind to find a way out. Art allows eating disorder patients do just that. In fact, these newly found artists may not even realize what their art reveals about them. This is where art therapists, specializing in certain fields of the eating disorder world come in. They are able to analyze and draw conclusions upon different factors of the art, based on shapes and colors.

It is clear that it is necessary to keep the public educated on anorexia and other eating disorders in order to help future victims and current people who have fallen to the disease. By developing new therapies and support groups for anorexia patients, there is a possibility that the diseases’ power over the public will diminish over time. By keeping resources for eating disorder patients plentiful and accessible, it may be possible to prevent many new cases and cure many more. Therefore, by developing art therapy and displaying the work in galleries, national organizations focused on the treatment of disorders like anorexia are able to channel ideas into a method which benefits many people.