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A Deadly Disorder that Affects Millions

It's not about a diet. It's not about vanity. It's not a choice.

For millions of women, adolescent girls, and a growing number of men, eating disorders are as real and as dangerous as any health problem. In fact, more people die from anorexia than from any other mental illness. That's because eating disorders, unlike most mental health issues, can have severe medical consequences including damaging—sometimes fatal—effects on virtually every organ system including cardiac, reproductive, kidney, and musculoskeletal. The fatalities associated with eating disorders are primarily from cardiovascular collapse and suicide.

On an emotional level, eating disorders can be devastating, making work, school, and the daily functions of life often impossible. And they affect more than the person with the disorder; they can destroy relationships and tear families apart.

History of The Renfrew Center Foundation's Work

Until the early 1980s, eating disorders went largely untreated because few people understood them and few professionals were able to recognize the symptoms. However, in 1985 The Renfrew Center ushered in a new era, creating the nation's first freestanding facility exclusively dedicated to the treatment of eating disorders. Over the course of almost two decades, The Renfrew Center has helped more than 50,000 women and adolescent girls overcome their destructive eating and purging behaviors. By providing a safe, non-institutional, nurturing environment, and with an intense program of therapy, patients at The Renfrew Center have made remarkable strides.

By 1990, the Renfrew Center realized the epidemic proportions of the problem and the need for public and professional education to increase awareness of anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder. Since the founding of The Renfrew Center Foundation in that same year, we have developed a number of programs designed to advance our mission.

With educational programs for professionals and the general public, The Renfrew Center Foundation is training professionals to better treat the disorders, changing public thinking about healthy eating and body size, and raising awareness about eating disorders so that they can be better understood, prevented, detected, and treated.

Through communication with policy makers, The Renfrew Center Foundation and our network of professionals, families, friends, and Renfrew alumnae are engaged in educational activities to remove barriers to treatment.

Through research, The Renfrew Center Foundation is working to better understand the causes of eating disorders and develop improved treatment methods.

Every day, The Renfrew Center Foundation is taking action.