LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Art and medicine come together in a therapy to help young patients who have been hospitalized after being diagnosed with an eating disorder.

Norton Children’s Hospital has some of that art on display in a special exhibition called “What’s Eating Me?”

Over the past two years, the hospital has treated more patients with eating disorders of all types. In the past six years, the hospital has treated more than 350 patients for anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders.

The vast majority of the patients — nearly 84% — are females between the ages of 13 and 17. But at least one doctor said she’s treated a patient as young as 8 years old for an eating disorder at Norton Children’s Hospital. 

“You can’t blame a child for having this type of illness, and I think that’s a very common misconception among the general public, that a child that has an eating disorder is somehow choosing this,” said Dr. Andrea Krause with Norton Children’s Hospital. “When, really, it’s an illness that’s affecting them. And really, they suffer from it.”

Krause serves as the clinical program lead for the eating disorder program.

“Each child is unique, and it can be a lot to try and identify what might motivate a child here to get better,” she said.

Through this art exhibit, doctors, patients and the community can better understand how patients view their eating disorder.

“It lets us know where this person is in relationship with this eating disorder,” said Elizabeth Martin, an expressive art therapist who worked with patients on this project. “Do they see it as their best friend that rewards them and benefits them and builds them up? If that’s the case, then we need to find something else that rewards them and benefits them and not the eating disorder.”

Martin said while some of the clay creations look friendly, others do not.

“If we see it more as a horrific creature, it lets us know they see the seriousness of this and the harm,” Martin said. “So it might be actually easier for them to fight in some way, because they do see the harm in it and don’t want that. When the eating disorder creature looks like a best friend, that can even be harder sometimes, because they don’t want to let it go.”

According to Norton Children’s Hospital, during the COVID-19 pandemic, fear of the virus and the isolation complicated these issues for kids and teens. 

“The pandemic brought social isolation, and this is definitely an illness that thrives in the setting of isolation,” Krause said.

Krause said she also believes social media has played a role. 

“These children were comparing themselves to people that weren’t real and that became their reality,” Martin said. 

Norton Children’s Hospital is utilizing expressive art therapy to reach these patients. By using a variety of art materials, patients explore who they are and express their emotions. 

“The art gives them a voice,” Martin said. “It gives them a way to express themselves and it gives them a way to find themselves by separating.”

Eating disorders affect at least 9% of people worldwide. They will affect nearly 30 million Americans in their lifetimes and cause about 10,000 U.S. deaths each year, according to data cited by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.

According to Norton Children’s Hospital, here is the data on eating disorder cases from the past several years:

• 2017: 39 cases, 33 unique patients
• 2018: 37 cases, 32 unique patients
• 2019: 49 cases, 41 unique patients
• 2020: 75 cases, 60 unique patients
• 2021: 117 cases, 103 unique patients
• 2022: 136 cases, 117 unique patients
• Total: 453 cases, 356 patients

At this point, data for 2023 is trending in the same upward direction. 

“I wouldn’t be surprised, just with how the numbers have steadily increased each year, if, unfortunately, we hit some higher numbers this year as well, although, I, of course, hope not,” said Kayla LaRosa, a pediatric psychologist at Norton Children’s.

Krause said there is hope for patients to overcome eating disorders, but she’s also pushing for more resources to be available in Kentucky. She said patients at Norton Children’s come from across the region. 

“Kentucky is, unfortunately, unique in the sense that we do not have a free-standing residential care program for eating disorders in the entire state,” Krause said. “We have some outpatient centers and even a couple of partial hospitalization programs in the city here. But when you’re talking about the whole state of Kentucky, there is a huge lack of resources there, especially when you’re talking about more rural places in the state.” 

She said early intervention is key. 

The art exhibit will remain on display inside the Noltemeyer Excellence in Education Center in the lobby of Norton Children’s Hospital until late-February. 

For information on eating disorders from Norton Children’s Hospital, click here.

Copyright 2023 WDRB Media. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All Rights Reserved.