9
Bulimia Author Rowland Speaks
By Shelly Ball
Of The Print
“Is today the day, God? Is today the
day that it ends for me?”
Former television journalist Cynthia
Rowland asked this haunting question
each morning during the twelve years
she suffered from Bulimiarexia
(Bulimia), a potentially-fatal eating
disorder that is reportedly occurring at
epidemic levels across the nation.
Rowland, who originally grew up in
Portland, spoke on campus Jan. 10
about her personal struggle with
Bulimia and how she overcame it. She
also answered questions from the au­
dience.
Ms. Magazine has reported that 45
percent of all college coeds have a form
of Bulimia, and as many as seven
million women (the majority of the vic­
tims) between the ages of 10 and 52 are
plagued with the disease, according to
a December 1983 report in Parade
Magazine.
Bulimia is characterized by repeated
episodes of binge eating, followed by
self-deprecating thoughts and fear of
gaining weight, after which its victims
purge themselves from the binges
through self-induced vomiting. Most
Bulimics also take laxatives and/or
diuretics to help insure against gaining
weight.
Rowland has given up her career as a
television journalist and is currently
touring the country to lecture on her
experience with Bulimia. She is also the
executive director of the Bulimia Foun­
dation of America, and she said she is bother anyone,” she said.
spending her time spreading the word
about the destructiveness of the disease
At one point during her struggle with
because she is afraid it may be treated Bulimia, which she describes as “like a
as a fad on college campuses.
monster,” Rowland was consuming up
“They (students) think it’s a dieting to 20,000 calories and up to 100 lax­
technique, but it’s not, it’s an addic­ atives a day. She said that eating so
tion,” Rowland said. It is this kind of much food in such a short amount of
thinking that she said makes her time (usually less than two hours) ac­
wonder “How many people are dying tually made her look pregnant, after
and don’t know it?” ,
which she would rid herself of the food
Rowland explained that Bulimia is by vomiting, “I thought if I gained
usually a symptom that some kind of weight no one would like me,” she
trauma has happened to the person and said.
they haven’t learned how to deal with
During the years she had Bulimia,
it. Although she didn’t begin the binge­ Rowland said she did try to get help,
purge addiction until she was 16 (she but most doctors could do little for her
herself was led to believe Bulimia was a outside of prescribing drugs like
good dieting technique) Rowland said Valium. Some doctors told her to just
the basis for her problem developed stop what she was doing, or that she
when whe was four years old.
needed to find a man to solve her pro­
It was at this time that Rowland said blems.
she suffered a traumatic burn caused
Before she went for specialized help,
by a vaporizer. She was hospitalized, Rowland said she suffered a near
during which time she thought her stroke (she woke up one morning
parents never came to visit her, when in blind, deaf and paralyzed on one side
actuality they did come to the hospital of her body) and she contemplated
but were not allowed in her room.
suicide. “I literally envisioned taking a
Rowland said she developed feelings gun to my head,” she said.
of abandonment through this ex­
Shortly thereafter, Rowland, then
perience, and she learned how to han­ 28, checked herself in at the Minirth-
dle her own problems instead of seek­ Meier Clinic, which has special pro­
ing out her parents. “At four years old grams for treating eating disorders like
I became a miniature adult,” she said. Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa.
Later on, Rowland said she learned Located in the Dallas area of Texas,
to substitute the comfort of loved ones Rowland spent three months there
with food. She learned to not need peo­ undergoing treatment.
ple by shutting them out. “I could have
Through the hospitalization, group
had it (comfort), but I didn’t want to therapy and some hypnosis, Rowland
learned what it was that drove her to
become Bulimic. But her recovery was
not easy. She said she underwent pain­
ful drug withdrawals due to the
massive amounts of laxatives she had
been taking, and she had suicidal
thoughts while in the hospital.
Rowland explained that for her
Bulimia, a slow form of suicide, was
her way of getting back at her parents
for what she thought to be their aban­
donment of her. “I was 28 years old
but seeing through a little girl’s eyes,”
she said.
Once released from the hospital,
Rowland said she first went public
about her ordeal ip Oklahoma City
(she and her parents left Portland for
Oklahoma when she was 16). She has
since written a book, titled “The
Monster Within,” which has recently
been released.
Rowland also advises people to be
careful where they go for treatment, as
she said some hospitals may only be
taking advantage of the demand for
help and don’t have properly trained
doctors. She said some programs can
be expensive, averaging $2,500 a week.
Rowland’s own three-month hospital
bill came to $30,000.
Those interested in information on
treatment centers here in Oregon
should look into St. Vincent, Portland
Adventist and Holiday Park Hospitals’
eating disorder programs. Some of
these programs may offer free or
reasonably-priced therapy sessions.
Security training program begins Feb. 11
Imagine going to college for
only five weeks, five days a
week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
then walking out the door
completely trained for a
career. Clackamas Communi­
ty College will offer just such a
program beginning Feb. 11.
-A BRIDAL SHOW-
For all your bridal needs
Three Fashion Shows:
11:30 - 1:30 - 3:30
Saturday - Jan. 19th
10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Portland Masonic Temple
1119 S.W. Park
Featuring over 500 new
and nearly new bridal and
bridesmaid gowns
The college is the only one
in the entire Northwest offer­
ing a course known as the
Security Officer Academy.
The 15 pupils allowed in the
academy have approximately
13 instructors who teach them
such things as laws of arrest,
electronical surveilance,
warehouse security, public
relations and much more.
“This is a fast moving field,
lots of job opportunity. Some
of the higher-payed security
positions make anywhere from
$50,000 to $60,000 a year. Of
course the more realistic
‘Montgomery Ward’ security
guard starts out somewhere
around $6 an hour,” Jim
Brouillette, director of the
Security Academy said.
According to the academy’s
flyer, the private security of­
ficer is a position of increasing
responsibility and complexity.
A private security officer may
be required to complete exten­
sive investigation, make ar­
rests, save a life and protect a
range, of valuable assets and
people, from high-tech
research secrets to a corporate
executive. The position
demands a trained profes­
sional with the ability to make
sound judgements.
The academy devotes 160
hours to classroom instruc­
tion, which is broken down in­
to 80 hours of basic training,
40 hours of advance training,
and 40 hours of asset protec­
tion. This is followed by a
40-lesson course in firearms
training, which includes live
firing with a .38 pistol and a
12-gauge shotgun, according
to the course’s outline.
Jim Brouillette
Admission $2.00
Page 6
Clackamas Community College
inches
1
D50 Illuminant, 2 degree observer
Density
10
97.06
-0.40
1.13
11 (A)
92.02
-0.60
0.23
12
87.34
-0.75
0.21
13
82.14
-1.06
0.43
14
72.06
-1.19
0.28
15
62.15
-1.07
0.19
0.04
0.09
0.15
0.22
0.36
0.51