About eating disorders

Food and eating play a very important part in our lives. We all vary in the foods we like, how much we need to eat and when we like to eat. Food is essential for our health and development.

It’s not unusual to experiment with different eating habits; you may have decided to become a vegetarian or tried changing your diet to improve your health. However, some eating patterns can be damaging.

Problems with food can begin when it's used to cope with those times when you are bored, anxious, angry, lonely, ashamed or sad. Food becomes a problem when it is used to help you to cope with painful situations or feelings, or to relieve stress, perhaps without you even realising it.

If this is how you deal with emotions and feelings and you are unhappy about it, then you should try to talk to someone you trust. Try not to bottle things up - this is not helpful to you or other people around you, it won’t make you feel any better and the problem is unlikely to go away.

It is unlikely that an eating disorder will result from a single cause. It is much more likely to be a combination of many factors, events, feelings or pressures which lead to you feeling unable to cope. These can include: low self-esteem, family relationships, problems with friends, the death of someone special, problems at work, college or at university, lack of confidence or sexual or emotional abuse. Many people talk about simply feeling ‘too fat’ or ‘not good enough’, if you feel this way there is help available.

Often people with eating disorders say that the eating disorder is the only way they feel they can stay in control of their life, but as time goes on it isn’t really you who is in control – it is the eating disorder. Some people also find they are affected by an urge to harm themselves or misuse alcohol or drugs.

You may find that in common with many other people you experience feelings of despair and shame. You may have a feeling of failure or lack of control because you cannot overcome these feelings about food on your own.  

Who do eating disorders affect and when?

Anyone can develop an eating disorder, regardless of age, sex, cultural or racial background, although the people most likely to be affected tend to be young women, particularly between the ages of 15-25.

It is not unusual, however, for an eating disorder to appear in middle age. Research has shown that your genetic make-up may have a small impact upon whether or not you develop an eating disorder.  In situations where there are high academic expectations, family issues or social pressures, you may focus on food and eating as a way of coping with these stresses.

An experience of Anorexia

"I'm 16 and i've had my anorexia for 6 years, the last two being breaking point.

At first, I just used to skip meals and feel safe after knowing I was empty of all food and calories, then excersize normally out with friends/family, and think nothing of it. But soon I found myself constantly worrying about my body and I thought I was over-eating. I decided to cut down on food a lot and exercise more to keep myself from my worst nightmare = fat!!   I was finding this easy as at school i would have nothing and my mum never found out and my freinds never questioned it. Whenever I did eat though I felt sick and disgusting and felt so ashamed of myself.

In february 2005 I swore not to indulge until easter- it was just for a laugh with my friend but I soon found it to be a trigger that started off a whole lot of other exclusions from my diet. I got weaker and weaker as i was constantly losing weight and reducing the amount I ate. I had a number of illnesses soon enough due to such low weight but it didn't stop me from carrying on with my harsh routine of exercise and starving. Eventually it almost killed me and I was sectioned in hospital where they force-fed me and I felt like dying.

Since then, i've kept a good weight and not exercised at all!! i feel much better but the anorexia in my head is still really strong and since being out of hospital, I've had several bad cases of depression which has destroyed my family and almost destroyed myself (self-harm was a way of coping at one point).

I've realised there is a lot going for me and so I try my best to battle with the anorexia but it won't go away because I hold onto the safety net it gives me around food. So I'm in this confusing state of whether to let go of all the feelings I have and live a good life, or keep them and make the most of what i can.

An experience of bulimia

 "My eating disorder began the day I was sexually abused. I automatically made myself sick, I don't know why, it just happened.

From then on, for over 5 years I suffered. I have now gone over two months without making myself sick. This might sound like nothing, but I used to make myself sick many times a day, even when I had nothing to be sick off. It was only when I started dealing with the real issue, the sexual abuse, rather than the eating disorder did I get better. In no way is it easy to face all the scary stuff in your head, the way it tells you that everything that goes into your mouth makes you a useless piece of scum, but that part of you is not well, and it is not right. Change can and WILL happen if you want it.

I am now Head Girl at my school, despite my school knowing that I used to have an eating disorder. They have not "punished" me because of this, they know it is a part of me and support me a lot more than I had expected. I did not tell any of my friends at the time what was going on, and have only in the last year began to tell them why I was so distant and self-involved for the last 5 years of our "friendship". I think that our friendships have really now begun.

No, I have not completely fought off my demons yet; I am still working on it. Yes, everyday I have to stop myself from doing what seems natural – being sick, but it has become less of a habit to want to do it. What upsets me the most is seeing how many more people are suffering and not reaching out for the help they need. Deep down you know you need it."