Policy Speech

Your Name: Elyse Sandberg

Eating Disorder Prevention

INTRODUCTION

I. Now imagine youre back in middle school I know that might have
been a long time ago for you, but as the Illinois Board of Education,
you know exactly what our middle schools are like. What if your best
friend told you she had anorexia during study hall? What would you
do?
II. When a friend confessed this to me, I didnt quite know what to say or
how to get her help.
III. Many people are unaware that eating disorders have become one of
the nations deadliest psychological conditions (Eating).
IV. The American Psychological Association, also known as the APA,
reported that one out of every five people with an eating disorder,
[specifically anorexia], eventually die of causes related to this order,
and it boasts one of the highest suicide rates of any psychiatric
condition (Novotney 1).
V. THESIS: Due to the seriousness of this issue, I would like to propose
that you, the Illinois Board of Education, implement an eating disorder
prevention program in all Illinois middle schools.
VI. Even if a person is not clinically diagnosed with an eating disorder,
they may have many of the risk factors that could possibly lead to one.
So, to explore these risk factors, I will first explain the prevalence of
poor body image and low self-esteem during middle school, then focus
on how the Illinois Board of Education can decrease these problems
through prevention programs, and why these prevention programs are
most effective.

Transition: Lets get started by thinking about middle schools!

BODY

I. The middle school years are a vulnerable stage for adolescents.

According to the International Journal of Eating Disorders, these years
have been found to be a time when the development of eating
disorders is likely to occur (Richardson 113).
A. I would like you all to pause for a second and take a journey with
me; a journey back to your first day of middle school. Now think,
and try to really remember how you felt, or who you were. For most
of us, I think we didn't quite know yet
 1. Middle school is a time of searching and trying to figure out
life, leaving kids oftentimes looking to the media for their
standard of beauty.
2. Unfortunately, today the media is telling these young people
that they are not thin enough, not pretty enough, and not
good enough.
3. This is exactly the type of message we want to guard kids
against because it is exactly the basis that leads to a future
eating disorder.
B. Many young people these days feel this pressure from the media
and culture to fit into a certain ideal mold (Kreipe 1030).
1. Janet Treasure, director of the Eating Disorder Unit
reported that, A recent study on a large sample of American
young people (aged 914 years) found that 34% of boys and
43.5% of girls had some eating disorder trait (Treasure 2).
2. The unfortunate truth is that anyone is at risk and
more people than we may realize have a basis for the
development of this illness.

Transition: These statistics show us that the middle school years are especially
dangerous grounds for possibly developing an eating disorder. Lets now take a
look at possible prevention.

II. In order to address this problem and reach kids at the middle school
age, I am proposing that as the Illinois Board of education, you
implement prevention programs that reduce the risk factors for
development of an eating disorder.
A. So what does reducing the risk factors really look like? Well, it
means tackling the biggest risk factor: addressing the social
environment as our students begin to internalize a thin body ideal.
1. Internalization of the thin body ideal is defined by the
International Journal of Eating Disorders as occurring when
an individual accepts the thin media ideal and evaluates
their body in relation to this ideal (Richardson 112).
2. This is the big problem: our students see
outrageously thin bodies and think that those bodies are the
only ones that are beautiful.
B. So what can a prevention program do? Well, as Eric Stice of the
Oregon Research Institute writes, It all boils down to one simple
premisethat if you take a critical analysis of [the thin ideal], you
can talk yourself out of pursuing it (Novotney 2).
1. So this is where prevention programs start. We tackle
the biggest risk factor by showing students how the media
manipulates our ideals and helping them fight against the
lies they may be prone to believe otherwise.
 C. So you may ask what would these prevention programs actually
look like?
1. These programs would take place during a students
seventh grade year
2. There would be four different sessions each covering
a different body image prevention method that research has
shown that girls themselves found to be the most persuasive
(Richardson 113).
3. There would then be two follow up sessions three
months after the final session to evaluate how applying
these prevention methods was acttually going in the
students lives

Transition: These prevention programs fit well with our curriculum, and can
actually reduce the biggest risk factor, preventing students from internalizing a
thin body ideal. But why middle school?

III. Because our goal is prevention. Often, students begin internalizing thin
beauty standards during middle school and then this manifests as an
eating disorder during high school. If we focus on high school, were
too late.
A. The overall goal is to change behaviors associated with eating
disorders before they become a serious and even fatal problem
(National).
1. The APA reported that eating disorder symptoms have
been found to increase during puberty to 50% more than
before puberty (Novotney 1).
2. Reducing body dissatisfaction and fostering high self
esteem in middle schoolers sets the stage for future
psychological well being pertaining to disordered eating
(Treasure).
3. Our hope would be that by implementing these
prevention programs, we would provide middle-schoolers
with the knowledge and wisdom needed to identify risk
factors in themselves or others and seek help if needed.
4. So if we address this in middle school, we can
prevent it!
5. And prevention is not just easier; its significantly
healthier than trying to treat the symptoms of an eating
disorder.
B. But most importantly, Prevention Programs work.
1. A study was done by the International Journal of
Eating Disorders that tests the effectiveness of prevention
programs in middle schools. This study showed significantly
lower internalization of the thin ideal, lower body
 comparison, higher body satisfaction and higher self esteem
in the participants. (Richardson 116).
2. So these programs work. But more than that, students
like these programs! The study reported that the majority of
middle-schoolers either agreed or strongly agreed that the
prevention program was helpful, interesting, enjoyable, and
relevant (Richardson 117).

Overall,

CONCLUSION
I. Eating disorders affect millions of people every year and can be life-
threatening. The cost of one of these illnesses for the individual, their family and
society is large and some sort of prevention must be sought out (Treasure).

II. This is precisely why I am proposing that as the Illinois Board of Education,
you consider the option of intervention in middle school. We want to attack the
problem before it attacks our youth.

III. Now, you're back in seventh grade. You're friend confesses to you in study
hall that she has anorexia. What do you do?

IV. My hope is that as a result of these prevention programs, we would provide

middle-schoolers with the knowledge and wisdom to know what to say in a
situation like this; the ability to be a light in others lives, or even their own,
against this darkness that is eating disorders.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Eating Disorders." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 28 Jan. 2010. Web. 07

Nov. 2013. <http://health.usnews.com/health-conditions/mental-

health/eating-disorders>.

Kreipe, Richard E., and Susan A. Birndorf. "Eating Disorders in Adolescents and

Young Adults." Medical Clinics of North America 84.4 (2000): 1027-49.

"National Eating Disorders Association." National Eating Disorders Association.

N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/>.

Novotney, Amy. "New Solutions." Http://www.apa.org. American Psychological

Association, 2009. Web. 02 Nov. 2013.

<http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/04/treatments.aspx>.

Richardson, Shanel M., Paxton,Susan J.,. "An Evaluation of a Body Image

Intervention Based on Risk Factors for Body Dissatisfaction: A Controlled

Study with Adolescent Girls." EAT International Journal of Eating Disorders

43.2 (2010): 112-22.

Treasure, Janet. "Eating Disorders." Medicine 40.11 (2012): 607-12. Science

Direct. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.

<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1357303912001806>.

Phelps, LeAdelle, et al. "An Empirically Supported Eating Disorder Prevention

Program." Psychology in the Schools 37.5 (2000): 443-52.