A French plan to ban skinny women from the catwalk ignores the fact that anorexia is an illness. We need to look at the causes not outcomes of self-loathingNobody ever asks me what it felt like. They never ask what it was like to spend three of my teenage years in secure psychiatric units for severe anorexia nervosa; how it felt to be so undernourished I could hardly walk; how it feels now to be able to picture the doctors’ and nurses’ faces more clearly than I can those of my late grandparents; how it feels to have spent my formative years with young women who are now, in so many cases, dead; how this experience changed my personality for ever. No, no one asks that.
Tag: mental health
I’m worried that my teenage daughter has an eating disorder
She denies she has a problem, but she has lost a dramatic amount of weight and seems obsessed with food and cookery programmes. What can I do? Annalisa Barbieri gives her adviceOver the past year, my teenage daughter has lost a dramatic amount of weight. She smiles and says she doesn’t have any problems and dismisses any concern that I (or others) express over her weight loss. She has become obsessed by food and cookery programmes and gives us the impression of eating more than she obviously does.I had postnatal depression after her birth, followed by miscarriages, so she did not get a good start. When she was younger, my husband and I realised she was (understandably) very insecure and focused a lot of attention on
Eating disorders involve more than what you don’t eat. Recovery requires a holistic approach | Zach Stafford
I survived an eating disorder, and found that a regimented program helps me eat more and exercise less. It’s not a silly thing to be excited aboutOne late-summer morning a few years ago, Lauryn Lax was at her gym in Green Hills, Tennessee, where she spent almost six hours every day. She was frail – weighing in at just 79-pounds – but pushed through her strenuous workout, just as she always did. What she didn’t know was that a group of nine fellow gym-goers had been watching her weight decline for some time and were quite worried: they didn’t know if Lax was dealing with an eating disorder or another medical condition, but they felt like they should say something. They’d already decided to approach
Are more men getting eating disorders?
Since 2000, the number of men diagnosed with eating disorders has risen by nearly 30{c754d8f4a6af077a182a96e5a5e47e38ce50ff83c235579d09299c097124e52d}. What’s going on?“‘Somewhere deep within me is a destructive urge,” says Colin. “It’s this gremlin in my head that hits me at unexpected moments. Ultimately, complete recovery requires changing my perception of myself. It is going to be a struggle, but it’s achievable.” Colin is a 50-year-old community development manager, and has battled an eating disorder for more than two decades.Eating disorders have long been perceived as an issue affecting women and girls, but this idea has been shown to be increasingly warped: the number of men being diagnosed has risen by 27{c754d8f4a6af077a182a96e5a5e47e38ce50ff83c235579d09299c097124e52d} since 2000. Continue reading…
Secret Teacher: why can’t I tell pupils about my eating disorder?
I see students limiting their lunches and worrying about their weight. I want to tell then I’ve survived the bully in my head but I’m worried it’ll mark me out as vulnerableMore from the Secret TeacherI can still remember a time when I wasn’t obsessed with every single thing I ate. I would tuck into pizza without feeling guilty, or go out for dinner with my boyfriend and eat what I fancied – not what had the lowest calories.At university my issues with food became an obsession. Surrounded by girls I thought were thinner, prettier and cleverer than me, I immersed myself in a world of limiting, purging and excessive exercising. I’d consume 200 calories a day and spend hours in the gym, or eat an entire
‘I don’t know how to get better’: Laia Abril shows the hell of eating disorders
The Spanish photographer’s sombre and affecting photobook The Epilogue tells the story of Cammy Robinson, who died at 26 as a result of bulimiaIn 2010, Laia Abril started a project on eating disorders with a multimedia piece called A Bad Day. It looked head-on at the daily life of a girl struggling with bulimia and was a wilfully uncomfortable experience. Out of that came a self-published ‘zine, Thinspiration, in which Abril documented the controversial Pro-Ana community which, in her words, "has turned anorexia (Ana) into its dogma" and where activists "venerate the illness giving meaning to their totalitarian ‘lifestyle’." Continue reading…
Anorexia suicide: eating disorder clinic criticised over Alana Goldsmith death
Staff at NSW hospital did not notice 23-year-old was missing more than two hours after she walked out of centreIn a case he described as complex and harrowing, a New South Wales coroner has found mistakes and a lack of documentation by staff at the Wesley eating disorders centre did not cause the death of a 23-year-old woman receiving treatment there.In July 2011, Alana Goldsmith killed herself after walking out of the clinic at Wesley hospital in Ashfield. Staff did not realise she was missing for more than two hours, and she was found dead a short time later. Continue reading…