StoryCorps Chicago: Eating Disorder Was A Way ‘To Protect Myself’

Ana Agaratt and Eric Dorsa
Ana Agaratt and Eric Dorsa in Chicago. StoryCorps Chicago
Ana Agaratt and Eric Dorsa
Ana Agaratt and Eric Dorsa in Chicago. StoryCorps Chicago

StoryCorps Chicago: Eating Disorder Was A Way ‘To Protect Myself’

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When Eric Dorsa was a teenager, an eating disorder derailed his plans for college. Dorsa recently spoke with his friend Ana Agarrat in the StoryCorps booth at the Chicago Cultural Center. He said his disorder was rooted in a shame that began in childhood and became especially difficult as high school was ending. He said that his eating disorder was never about food. “The behaviors of the eating disorder are the symptom,” he said. “They’re like, ‘Hey! Something is going on.’ For me, it was a way of trying to protect myself.”

Bill Healy produces StoryCorps Chicago for WBEZ and teaches journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him @chicagoan.