Chicago Lakeshore Hospital's (CHL) Valeo program partnered with Howard Brown Health Center and the Center on Halsted to host a lunch and panel discussion on eating disorders and body image within the LGBTQ community on June 21 at the Center on Halsted.
Kuan Lin, Psy.D., of the Howard Brown Health Center and Angela Picot Derrick, Ph.D., of Insight Behavioral Health Centers led the panel discussion referencing evidence-based treatment options, treatment resources and referrals and case studies.
"It's a great endeavor for the three LGBT-focused treatment facilities to join together to bring awareness to this topic," said Lin. "Certainly the topic is very confined to mental health professionals only, but I think it can actually broaden its scope to include outside community members or the general population."
The program was geared toward clinicians in order to raise awareness of the illness within the LGBTQ community, which Lin and Derrick said have been under explored and under researched.
"Because we haven't had accurate assessment instruments, we haven't had good clinical understanding of what the symptoms look like, we haven't had adequate treatment centers," said Derrick. "I don't think as a society we've really conveyed the message that if you're a man you can have an eating disorder, certainly if you're a gay man you can have an eating disorder. The message I want to talk about is not necessarily focusing on the prevalence, but more on what is actually happening in the communities and how are the eating disorders manifesting, and how do they look, and what's their unique presentation."
The presentation's objectives included examining the prevalence and symptoms of eating disorders, reviewing risk factors for negative body image and disordered eating among men and women along with how the risk factors compare and contrast within the LGBTQ community. Considering the implications in treating ongoing eating disorders, the two experts shared additional resources for LGBTQ individuals to obtain treatment goals. The panel concluded with questions from attendees.
"Something I thought was really important to educate clinicians about were the function that eating disorders can serve," Derrick said. "I wanted folks to understand that there are real reasons someone would rely on an eating disorder, use an eating disorder, and that we have to take those reasons into consideration, while we're planning treatment and implementing treatment."
Lin explained individuals in the LGBTQ community struggle with eating disorders, but their disordered eating behaviors are overlooked most of the time due to social norms projecting and adapting certain types of body images. Lin's vision in presenting, he said, was to bring clinicians' and the community's awareness and sensitivity to the subject matter.
"I think often times when people think about eating disorders people can still think this is a unique illness particularly in heterosexual women, but they don't really consider the implication or the ramification in the LGBT community," said Lin. "I cannot emphasis enough the delicacy between pathologizing this community versus being sensitive enough to what is really happening. This community, the LGBT community, is victimized mostly by social stigmas that to this day we're still trying to fight and negotiate."
According to the research Lin and Derrick presented, LGBTQ-specific risk factors include minority stress, internalized homo/bi/trans-phobia, self-esteem issues, limited social support, lack of role models, media influences, backlash from political campaigning agendas, vulnerability to social stigma and objectification, and profiling. Both experts said they were enthusiastic about sharing their interest and practice with the research, especially during Pride Week.
"I feel really grateful to have this opportunity to bring up this topic especially during pride week," said Derrick. "I think it's a message people need to hear and I think our audience was really receptive and interested. I started looking into this research 10 years ago and it's exciting to see the way things have evolved; the way folks are now able to access more treatment, and maybe talk more openly about their concerns. I think we're moving in the right direction, but we've got a long ways to go."