By Guy Page
Kudos to Cat Viglienzoni of WCAX for her eye-opening March 24 report on Vermont’s inadequate response to a steep increase in teenage eating disorders (“Does Vermont have enough eating disorder treatment for youth?”).
Eating disorders may be a joke to late-night talk show hosts, but they’re living hell for teenage sufferers and their parents. Viglienzoni reports:
- Hospital admissions for eating disorders in Vermont have climbed over 50% between 2016 and 2019.
- Since March 2020, the number of people served by a New England eating disorder advocacy group has climbed 700% – with 25% coming from Vermont alone.
- Ultra-thin online influencers, unknown to most adults but patronized by millions of teenage girls, present an image that is at once highly desirable and impossible to achieve.
Furthermore the State of Vermont is a day late and a dollar (well, many dollars) short in its treatment options. Although renowned for its ‘wrap-around’ services for other complex mental health/emotional/family issues, the state offers insufficient at-home (nutrition, therapy, counseling) or residential services to meet the growing need.
One Vermont social worker calls it “a big hole in care.”
That leaves Vermont parents watching their child (usually a daughter) becoming thinner and thinner and refusing to eat enough with one other treatment option: seeking expensive out-of-state residential treatment. Even that option requires months on a waiting list.
Watch the entire report here.
Categories: Health Care
Don’t worry. The State has a plan for you, too.
Trust me.
Not to be insensitive but…when did someone’s choice of whether to eat or not become a compelling interest of the State? Understood that we have declared nutrition a “human right” but are we suggesting that food must be imposed on someone deemed to be deficient in their eating habits? We are told by the woke left that when a person with male chromosomes and anatomy identifies as a female, we are all supposed to assuage that delusion. It is only being consistent with that kind of accommodation that when someone who appears to be pathologically thin asks: do I look fat?- should I go on a diet?…that we should agree with them and encourage them to act as they feel.
HOw it is that the State should take responsibility for “Fixing” this issue?
Eating is a personal decision . Everyone has to do it. If you end up with a bad eating habit the LAST place you should got to is government.
Why do SO MANY people want a Nanny State program to fix everyone and everything??
I don’t get it unless : You’ve believed the propaganda for so long that you think it’s the norm.
Since the beginning of this pandemic mental health diagnoses have skyrocketed so it doesn’t surprise me that eating disorders have gone up 700 percent!!! Yes, let’s see how much more pressure they can endure—-give 16 year olds the vote, tell young people they are responsible for climate change reforms, they are responsible for taking guns away, and they are responsible to ensure the democrats don’t loose their power or else we are all doomed.
If you put too much pressure on anyone’s young mind there will be either physical or mental consequences or both. Vermont is not equipped to handle it so they look to the parents???? Don’t they want to take control away from parents??? Can’t have it both ways!!! Mary
Social media is absolute poison for teenage girls in particular. The well known propensity for social contagions like anorexia is greatly magnified by intentionally toxic platforms like Chinese psy-op cancer TikTok. It’s fourth generation warfare and ought to be recognized as such.
Only one of the many mental health consequences brought to you by Big Pharma and Big Brother. They have done more damage to humankind than any other time in history. For years, the lies and coverups have brought us to the biggest lie and coverup ever. Anyone involved in this criminal assault upon the populace is possesed and must face the consequences of their actions. They have ruined entire generations for money, power, and control.
Would think that with additional people, in including kids, spending more time at home now, meals and snacks would be better supervised and controlled. Less fast food! More healthy foods and vegetables. The state may encourage healthy menus and give suggestions but not control. For children, responsibility belongs to parents for their children’s diet choices! And parents should be a good example!
Why is any of this MY problem that I have to pay for someone else’s poor decisions. More importantly, when did it become a function of state government to get involved in these private issues? And HOW did WCAX’s Cat Viglienzoni become a movement that I have to pay for?
Comrades don’t worry. The Biden administration has solved the problem by announcing that they have engendered a food famine.
Mary, you forgot to mention that we have isolated and masked our teens for 2 yrs because the adults in the room were afraid (unlike some other states). That left teens to make social media their best friend for two years and we all know that outcome. We have seriously damaged our youth for over 2 years and now we wonder and am surprised by a rise in food issues. Leave it to some on the left to destroy everything that is good and important. In their quest for their perfect world they will destroy all that exists today. We need more balance and sanity if we are to survive.