Eating Disorders

• Definition
  Eating disorders are characterised by an unusual attitude towards food that causes someone to change their eating habits and behaviour towards food. A person with an eating disorder may focus excessively on their weight and shape, leading them to make unhealthy choices about food with damaging results to their health.
  
  Eating disorders can happen to boys and girls of all backgrounds and cultures. They are often blamed on the social pressure to be thin, as young people in particular feel they should look a certain way. However, the causes are more complex and can be brought on by traumatic or stressful experiences as a way of coping with feelings or situations that are making you unhappy, angry, depressed or anxious.
  
  What begins as trying to lose weight by dieting or skipping meals can turn into obsessively trying to control your weight. Unhappiness about one’s appearance or feeling the need to diet or exercise is common; an eating disorder is the extreme.
  
  Eating disorders are serious but treatable conditions. Untreated eating disorders can lead to severe medical complications including kidney damage, liver damage, infertility and heart failure. Anorexia has the highest morality rate of any psychiatric disorder.
• Signs
  There are different types of eating disorders and the signs and symptoms can vary. Commonly known eating disorders are;
  
  Anorexia Nervosa – when a person tries to keep their weight as low as possible; for example by starving themselves or exercising excessively.
  Bulimia – when a person goes through periods of binge eating and is then deliberately sick or uses laxatives (medication to help empty the bowels) to try to control their weight.
  Binge Eating Disorder (BED) – when a person feels compelled to overeat large amounts of food in a short space of time.
  
  Only a medical professional can diagnose the type of disorder but you can check out some of the signs of eating disorders below:
  
  Recent weight loss or regular changes in weight
  Constant thoughts about food, body shape or weight
  Believing you are fat when others say you are thin
  Feeling food dominates your life
  Thoughts about how to avoid meals reduce calories
  Regularly weighing yourself, measuring yourself or looking at your body in the mirror, excessive exercising
  Often feeling tired, cold, faint or dizzy
  Being secretive about food, hiding it, pretending to have eaten, avoiding eating with others
  Making yourself vomit or using laxatives
  Irregular periods or periods stopping completely (Girls)
  Using pro-eating disorder websites
  
  Do I have an eating disorder?
  
  Doctors and GPS will use a questionnaire to help identify people who may have an eating disorder.
  
  Do you make yourself sick because you feel uncomfortably full?
  Do you worry you have lost control over how much you eat?
  Have you recently lost more than one stone in a three month period?
  Do you believe yourself to be fat when others say you are too thin?
  Would you say food dominates your life?
  
  If you answer ‘yes’ to two or more of these questions, you may have an eating disorder and must speak to your doctor and GP
• Advice
  If you suspect you have an eating disorder speak to a GP immediately. It is important to get help as soon as you suspect an eating disorder. The sooner someone gets the treatment they need, the more likely they are to make a full recovery.
  
  If you suspect someone you know has an eating problem, but they will not see their GP, then tell a teacher or an adult that can help.
• Where can i get help?
  In school you can talk to the following people:
  A friend
  Your Tutor
  A YHS Wellbeing Advisor
  Pupil Welfare Officer
  Pastoral Mentor (Drop in sessions Tuesday & Wednesday during break and lunchtime)
  
  In the community
  Talk to your parents or GP
  
  Telephone
  BEAT – 0345 634 1414
  Samaritans – 116 123
  
  Links
  Childline
  B-Eat
  Mind
  NHS