Someone you know is likely struggling right now. It might be your teenager who comes home from school and goes straight to their room. It might be a coworker who always has an excuse to skip lunch. It might be you — caught in a cycle of restriction, guilt, or a relationship with food that consumes more mental space than anything else in your life. Eating disorders do not look the way most people imagine them. They do not wear a single face, live in a single body, or strike only one kind of person.

National Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2026 — running February 23 through March 1 under the theme "Every BODY Belongs" — is a call to action: to see eating disorders clearly, strip away the myths that keep people from seeking help, and ensure that no one faces recovery alone. At East Coast Telepsychiatry, we stand behind that mission every day of the year.

The Crisis Hidden in Plain Sight

Eating disorders are among the most deadly and most misunderstood mental health conditions in existence. Anorexia nervosa carries the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder — a sobering 10.4%. An estimated 10,200 Americans die each year as a direct result of eating disorders. That is one person every 52 minutes. And yet, because these conditions are so often invisible, minimized, or misattributed to vanity or willpower, the vast majority of people who need help never receive it.

Only 6% of people with eating disorders ever receive treatment. That is not because treatment doesn't work — it absolutely does, particularly with early intervention. It is because stigma, misinformation, financial barriers, and a healthcare system that has historically looked for eating disorders in only a narrow slice of the population have created a treatment gap of staggering proportions.

The economic cost of eating disorders in the United States alone tops $64.7 billion annually, according to Deloitte Access Economics. The human cost — in relationships fractured, futures derailed, lives lost — is immeasurable. This week, we name what so many have been afraid to name.

Busting the Myths That Keep People Silent

The myths surrounding eating disorders are not just incorrect — they are actively dangerous. They convince people they don't "look sick enough" to deserve help. They cause families to dismiss warning signs as phases. They lead clinicians to miss diagnoses in patients who don't fit a narrow stereotype.

Understanding the Eating Disorders Spectrum

Eating disorders are not a single condition. They exist on a spectrum, with different presentations, different risk profiles, and different treatment needs. The National Institute of Mental Health recognizes multiple clinical diagnoses, each deserving of understanding and care.

Learn more about how East Coast Telepsychiatry approaches eating disorder treatment, including the connection between disordered eating and co-occurring conditions like anxiety, depression, OCD, and trauma.

Who Is Affected — The Full, Honest Picture

One of the most important things we can do this Awareness Week is expand who we picture when we think about eating disorders. The outdated stereotype — white, teenage, female, visibly thin — has caused immeasurable harm. Here is who the data actually shows:

The HHS Office on Women's Health notes that eating disorders affect individuals "across all ages, sizes, races, genders, and backgrounds." This year's NEDAW theme asks us to make that reality visible — in who we reach out to, who we ask about, and who we invite into care.

Recognizing the Warning Signs

Because eating disorders are often invisible and those experiencing them frequently go to great lengths to hide their behaviors, knowing the warning signs is one of the most powerful tools we have.

If these signs are present in someone you love — or in yourself — the most important thing you can do is not wait. Research consistently shows that the earlier eating disorder treatment begins, the better the outcomes.

Eating Disorders and Co-Occurring Mental Health Conditions

Eating disorders rarely exist in isolation. Research shows that more than half of people with anorexia nervosa, nearly all people with bulimia nervosa (94.5%), and approximately 79% of those with binge eating disorder meet criteria for at least one additional psychiatric condition.

Anxiety disorders — including generalized anxiety, OCD, and social anxiety — are the most frequently co-occurring category across all eating disorder diagnoses. Major depression is the primary co-occurring condition in the majority of eating disorder hospitalizations. Trauma and PTSD are significantly linked to disordered eating, as food often becomes a tool for emotional regulation when other coping mechanisms have been overwhelmed.

Evidence-based therapies like CBT, along with psychiatric evaluation and medication management when appropriate, form the foundation of comprehensive, effective care for eating disorders and the conditions that frequently accompany them.

What "Fighting for Change, Committing to Change" Means

This year's NEDAW campaign theme, carried by the Collaborative of Eating Disorders Organizations, is not about incremental progress. It is about fundamentally rethinking who gets seen, who gets believed, and who gets care.

Fighting for change means challenging the myths that dismiss eating disorders as vanity or choice. It means demanding that clinicians screen for disordered eating in patients of all body sizes — including those in larger bodies, who are currently diagnosed at half the rate despite engaging in identical behaviors. It means advocating for insurance parity and training the next generation of healthcare providers to recognize eating disorders across the full spectrum of who they actually affect.

Committing to change means making this week's awareness durable — checking in with your teenager, your athlete, your colleague, yourself — not just today but next month and the month after that. It means building the kind of community where people do not need to reach a crisis point before they feel safe asking for help. One where every body, truly, belongs.