Article Published in YOUR TEEN for Parents

By Frieda Millhouse-Jones, M.D.

I’m a physician, but my internalized belief that eating disorders are a disease of affluent white women blinded me from recognizing disordered eating in my own household. In retrospect, the clues were all there.

A few months back, I received the email, “Eating Disorder Panel Q & A.” My physician colleague had become very experienced at caring for eating disorder patients. I arrived and took  a seat in the second row. I looked at the panel—all white except for one African American therapist. They began the discussion with overviews of the various types of eating disorders and introduced useful screening tools. I quietly thought, this is interesting, but I’ll never see this in my primarily African American patient base.

Eating Disorder Myths: It Doesn’t Happen in Black Families

As long as I could remember, there was this widespread belief that eating disorders, in particular restrictive eating disorders, just didn’t happen to Black folks…READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE

Frieda Millhouse-Jones, M.D. is a practicing internal medicine physician in Atlanta, Georgia. After guiding her two daughters through complex mental health illnesses, she has found passion and purpose in sharing her experience with others. Her advocacy and writing include the intersection of perfectionism, racism, and mental health. She enjoys reading, travel and yoga. She lives with her husband, two daughters, and two very mischievous dogs.

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