Recovery centers see major increase in calls for eating disorder help amid pandemic

 Eating Recovery Center Sacramento (ERC) has seen an 90% increase in calls amid the pandemic.

“People are spending more time alone at home, people are engaged more often with social media which sometimes gives us a lot of feedback that we are supposed to be a certain type of person and have a certain appearance in a certain category,” ERC Clinical Director Cory Adams said.

The ERC found a greater increase in calls compared to non-pandemic years because of that.

Joanna Nolan knows the pressures of fitting a certain type of standard. She said she remembers not feeling comfortable in her skin from childhood.

Her family history gave her a heightened sense of awareness. She said she was warned by family members of health problems that could happen later in life.

“If you don’t get your weight under control you could risk having to have all of these issues down the road,” Nolan said.