In the last twelve years, the number of people seeking help for eating disorders at the University Counselling Service has risen from 6% to 9% of the students using the service and this does not include the many who remain undiagnosed.

Formal hall. Sitting at a majestic table and eating an exquisite three course meal by candlelight is one of the quintessential delights of Cambridge. My first experience of this tradition however, was slightly different; my memory of it dominated not by candlelight and coved ceilings but by sitting next to a skeletal girl who piled her plate full of nothing but carrots. She then jokingly told me that she wasn’t going to eat for the next three days. At that moment, in the first week of my first year, it became clear to me that being at one of the best academic institutions in the world doesn’t make us immune to the problems being faced by students throughout Britain. It might be thought that somehow, with the importance placed on intellect, appearance would be a more superficial issue for students here.  However, with eating disorders in the UK amounting to an astonishing 1.15 million cases with most occurring between the ages of 16 and 25, it is no surprise that they are on the rise amongst Cambridge students as well.

So why is this issue so prevalent at Cambridge? Although the obvious explanation is the desire for control, there are other triggers for these disorders that are specific to the Cambridge environment. It might be assumed that intelligence makes us less susceptible to the need to conform to images put forward by the media and aware enough of eating disorders to prevent them before they develop. But perhaps it is this very awareness that makes Cambridge students more susceptible to these disorders than other students in the UK.

Environment

The Cambridge lifestyle suggests anything but moderation. Students are faced with the intense pressure of trying to balance a social life with an extensive workload. This stress can mean that providing yourself with a proper diet becomes secondary, almost too time consuming. One way of dealing with stress when work is spiralling out of control is to monitor what you can, and one of the easiest things to monitor is what you ingest.

Cambridge aside, university environment in general has its own pressures. For many, going to university is the chance to reconstruct identity within a new peer group.  On entering Cambridge, however, academic ability no longer provides you with a unique identity. Many students have to face the harsh reality of no longer being the most intelligent in their year.  Image, which can be honed more quickly and easily than academic success, gains added importance. This is coupled with other personality traits shared by the majority of Cambridge students, such as perfectionism. The CUSU website even has an extensive section on how to deal with it, demonstrating how problematic this mindset can become. This aversion to failure and desire to be perfect reflects itself in image just as much as academic achievement.

Student Background

Another aspect which makes Cambridge students susceptible to eating disorders is their background. For example, in comparison to 1 in 500 state school students developing eating disorders, 1 out of 100 girls in private schools suffered from them and disturbingly, these figures have trebled since the research was conducted in 1994. Again, we can associate this rise with the pressures of academic ‘hot housing’. Students from private schools still constitute a disproportionate part of the student body and these statistics are therefore, to some degree, carried over to the university.

Surely, though, alongside academic success there is an intellectual curiosity in students, which provides them with the awareness to prevent the development of these problems? Surprisingly, these factors work in conjunction with eating disorders. Numerous studies demonstrate how added awareness of mental issues can help to induce them, even when these problems were previously non-existent. For example, the journalist Ethan Watters notes that eating disorders in China were induced by information from the West, despite having been virtually non-existent in the country before.

In many ways, that is exactly what we might be suffering from. As inquiring students, we know of the symptoms but being alert to these might make us aware to such a level that we expose ourselves to the development of them. Essentially, eating disorders have become a mark of our time, the language of suffering for our generation and the recognised way to express internal distress, whatever this distress is. Consequently, eating disorders might be symptomatic of numerous problems, from overwhelming stress to acute loneliness.

Body Dysmorphia

Deanne Jade, the founder of the National Centre for Eating Disorders explained to Varsity that whilst there is never one specific cause in the development of an eating disorder, ‘mental over-sensitivity is a key issue’. Interestingly, this suggests that Cambridge students might be particularly vulnerable as a consequence of heightened awareness and intellectual sensitivity. Eating disorders are aspects of Body Dysmorphia, which stems from over-analysing and misinterpreting people’s reactions to you. This condition is not confined to women. Male eating disorders are also increasing. However, rather than the female concern with losing weight, the male preoccupation is often on developing masculinity by appearing physically fit, through building up the body. In both these instances of Body Dysmorphia the crux of the problem is the process of over-analysing the perception held by the opposite sex, which is partly the reason why those with higher IQs are more likely to develop these issues. Cambridge students undeniably fit into this category and their circumstances are exacerbated by the general insecurities faced by all students.

It is clear then, that anyone assuming that intelligence equates to immunity from issues suffered by millions of people of the same age throughout the country, is very mistaken. In fact, Cambridge students are arguably less immune than others primarily because this university is such a centre of achievement, creating an environment which engenders competition.

This competitiveness has shown the ability to move from the mind to the body. Physical excellence is arguably more pertinent to students simply because, unlike the long process of intellectual success (for example, establishing a successful career) it is a more tangible and immediate means of demonstrating achievement. I return to my companion at that first formal. As her humorous, mildly cynical attitude showed, she was aware of what she was doing but unlike most other sufferers, had no desire to hide it. Certainly, what resonated most from our brief meeting was her sense of pride in demonstrating the process of her achievement.