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Both
anorexia and bulimia are most common
in high-achieving, middle-class women
like Mysko, and so college in
effect breeds the condition. Columbia
University’s health services established
an Eating Disorders Team in 1991 to
deal with sufferers there.
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photo:
Virgin
Records
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| In
1995, singer and dancer Paula Abdul
(above) admitted to battling bulimia
for most of her life.
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"Columbia
students are perfectionists," a
typical trait of those with eating disorders,
says registered nurse Kathleen Sanders,
who runs the program.
Anorexia
and bulimia are notoriously difficult
to diagnose because victims are highly
secretive about their behavior. Bulimics
purge in private, and anorexics often
deny they have a problem, says Gelibter.
Mysko
says she would steal food from her roommates
and then lie about it.
"I
was going out of my way to hide my crazy
behavior," she says.
Mysko
finally sought therapy during her second
year in college, after eight years of
struggling with the two disorders.
"I
hit rock bottom," Mysko says. "I
was so isolated."
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