It’s Mental Health Awareness Month and the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) is excited to celebrate our collaboration with Facebook’s Crisis Support Over Messenger program. Through this exciting partnership, individuals can message the NEDA Helpline directly from our Facebook page.

Something I’ve always stated in my talks and workshops is that eating disorders thrive in secrecy. This rang true for me during my eating disorder and through recovery. If someone cannot talk about their eating disorder or share how they’re feeling, then how can they get better?

A recurring theme of this season’s fashion shows and reviews has been the inclusion of “plus-size” models like Ashley Graham and Candice Huffine, who walked Michael Kors and Prabal Gurung respectively. Inasmuch as it signifies a positive change within the fashion industry, I think we need to think deeper about it before getting too excited. 

Social media has such a defining impact on our society, despite only increasing in popularity within the past few years. This is particularly true when it comes to young adults and eating disorders.

A study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine revealed that young adults who use social media a lot are more likely to develop negative body images and eating disorders.

Michelle Mankin is a New York Times bestselling romance author who is shifting her writing focus toward young adults in the Tempest series, with each novel touching on a different social issue ranging from eating disorders to domestic violence.  

Hello, everyone! Self-care has been a major theme across the web these past few weeks and the topic doesn’t show any signs of stopping as we delve into this week's eye-catching news headlines.

Millions of fans know Zayn Malik as one-fifth of One Direction, the multiplatinum boy band that took over the world (basically). After breaking out as a solo artist in 2015 and debuting his own hit studio album this year, Malik is now speaking publicly about his painful struggle with an eating disorder during his time in One Direction.

Penn State kicker Joey Julius publicly disclosed his struggle with binge eating disorder (BED) in a recent Facebook post. From May through July of this year, Julius received treatment at a St. Louis facility that specializes in eating disorders. 

The director of a state-run television and radio company in Egypt has fired eight female news anchors for being overweight. Safaa Hegazy’s dismissal of the anchorwomen is a push towards creating a new and “improved” image for the news media company. However, discriminating against people based on weight is an outdated practice that is illegal in most places.

The American Medical Association voiced its support for “equal health care access and payment for eating disorders” in an announcement last week. The AMA acknowledged that, despite various federal laws requiring parity in coverage of eating disorders, many payers and health plans do not offer equal payment for eating disorders, barring many from receiving necessary health care. The AMA urged for parity in coverage while lamenting that treatment decision are so often made by insurance companies rather than health professionals.