Losing 50 pounds sounds like an incredible success story to most. To 11th grader Caitlyn Robinson, however, that staggering amount of weight loss represented one of the darkest times in her life. Only three years ago, Caitlyn struggled with Anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder that nearly 1% of all females will struggle with in their lifetime. Anorexia is an incredibly dangerous disorder in which one will starve themselves, or eat much less than they need to. If left untreated, 20% of people with anorexia will die. Caitlyn developed anorexia in middle school, and it stuck with her for around two years before she officially made a change. In sixth grade, she had just moved in to Pickerington, and was bullied heavily because of her weight. This caused numerous problems for her, such as depression, severe body image issues, and anorexia. This started a vicious cycle, where she was now bullied because of her depression and her anorexia. “You want to eat but you can’t”, she says when describing what anorexia is like. She lost 50 pounds throughout her bout with the dangerous disorder, and the reactions weren’t positive. She says people would stare, people would say things such as “what’s wrong with you”, and the reactions were all around …show more content…
In eighth grade, she woke up one day, and finally started to understand that something was wrong. Finally, she started to listen to what other people would say about her negative habits, and subsequently she started actively working to make a change. Although she never received true professional help, such as therapy, she received help from helping other people. For example, she volunteered for a group called Thank Goodness I’m Female , which is an initiative focused on the prevention of relational aggression. She says she’s a very private person, so helping other people in a way, helped her. She’s since recovered, and is in a much better place