Bulimia

When I talk to teachers about eating disorders, one of the common things I hear is that eating disorders are completely taboo in the staffroom due to some incorrect, but commonly held beliefs. For this reason, I thought it would be helpful to dispel a few urban myths about eating disorders which you likely come up against often. Perhaps you’d like to leave a comment with some of your own too?

If we talk about eating disorders, we’ll start an epidemic

This is a really commonly held belief. Many people within and beyond schools believe that in talking about and especially in teaching about eating disorders that you’ll convert your healthy cohort into one that is starving themselves to death left right and centre. This simply isn’t true. Eating disorders are deeply complex and you will not cause a pupil to develop an eating disorder simply by talking about it. What you might do is raise awareness amongst staff and pupils of the symptoms of eating disorders which may lead to you recognising some new cases. But that is a GOOD thing. It is only once you have recognised a problem that you can begin to support and address it.

Eating disorders are just a passing phase

This absolutely isn’t true and believing that eating disorders are a passing phase is a very dangerous point of view. In fact, eating disorders can endure for decades if not supported promptly and appropriately. Eating disorders symptoms, no matter how mild, can be indicative of a deep underlying problem that needs to be addressed and supported. The sooner the pupil receives help the better their chances of not developing a fully blown eating disorder and/or recovering. This is unlikely to happen without support. Read the rest of this entry »

In many instances, pupils welcome the opportunity to have their parents support them through their eating disorder, and parents are supportive and helpful when approached by the school. In these cases, the three way relationship between parent, school and pupil is fundamental in terms of offering a structured system of reliable support that helps a pupil through the period of recovery.

“I don’t know what I’d have done without my mum and dad. They knew when I was down and they would always offer their help which meant I could get through the hard times easier than if I was trying to manage on my own.” (James, 15) Read the rest of this entry »

June’s story of her epic battles with eating disorders is a touching, interesting and fascinating read. It’s hard to remember sometimes that you’re reading a memoir and not a work of fiction - how could one person go through so much for so long and live to tell the tale eloquently, beautifully and inspirationally?

June first suffered from anorexia aged 11 whilst growing up on her parents farm, trying desperately to live up to her mother’s expectations of her - trying to work hard and fulfil the role of ‘Tim’, the son her mother never had. June’s anorexia morphs into bulimia during her teenage years and she battles with it incessantly for decades. Read the rest of this entry »

When I surveyed 800 young people about their experiences of eating disorders in UK schools, only 20% said that their school felt like a safe and supportive environment for someone suffering from an eating disorder. There were several reasons for this but the number one reason was teasing, rumours and bullying.

And not just from their peers. From the staff as well.

“You might as well go around with ‘freak’ written on your head. Everyone treats you like one. Even if they’re not being horrible then they’re freezing you out ‘cos they don’t know what to say.”

Kelly, Year 9

“My maths teacher joked about me being fat. Now I’m better I can tell it was a joke, back then I was skin and bones but I took him seriously and ate even less that day. Everyone made ‘jokes’ like that the whole time but it’s not funny.”

Michael, Year 11 Read the rest of this entry »

Well the first thing to point out is that it’s not all about trying to be as skinny as the models in Vogue. Oh no, there’s a whole heap more to it than that. Those skinny models don’t help and they give sufferers some might slim standards to aspire to but there are a whole host of reasons why people suffer from eating disorders – the best way to help you to understand is to share the words of sufferers themselves.

Control

“Everything was going wrong. My family was falling apart, I was getting in trouble at school, my life felt like a great big mess and it felt like food was the only thing I could control. So I did.”

Punishment

“I hated myself so much and constantly felt a need to be punished for not being perfect at school, for being a bad daughter, for not being popular enough. I used to love food so depriving myself of it felt like a good punishment.”

Read the rest of this entry »

However you feel, take the news calmly

The most difficult way to hear the news of an eating disorder, is directly from the sufferer themselves. Perhaps they’ve been secretly making themselves sick for months and you didn’t have the slightest clue. As they confess what they’ve been up to, as their teacher, friend or parent you might feel disgusted, angry, frustrated or any one of a number of other emotions. Please try not to let those emotions show. If you possibly can, try to take the news calmly and openly. You have no idea how hard it was to make this disclosure and a negative reaction is likely to completely shake their confidence and more or less instantly break down the trusting relationship you’ve built up.

Don’t talk, listen

Listening is the very best thing you can possibly do right now. If a sufferer has come to you it’s because they trust you and feel a need to share their secret with someone. Just let them talk. Ask occasional questions if you need to in order to encourage them to keep exploring their feelings and opening up to you. Just letting them pour out what they’re thinking will make a huge difference and marks a huge first step in recovery. Up until now they may not have admitted even to themselves that they have a problem.

Try to understand, even if it’s hard

The concept of an eating disorder can seem completely alien if you’ve never suffered from one. You may find yourself wondering why on earth someone would do these things to themselves, but don’t explore those feelings with the sufferer. Instead listen hard to what they’re saying, try to understand why they feel the need to use food as a coping mechanism and slowly start to understand what steps they might be ready to take in order to start making some changes. Read the rest of this entry »