Eating Disorders Awareness Week: Busting myths about eating disorders
This week (1st - 7th March 2021) marks Eating Disorders Awareness Week. In recognition of the incredible bravery our clients show in battling their fears through treatment, we wanted to mark this week on our website by challenging a few of the myths that people, including sufferers and non-specialist healthcare providers, can hold about eating disorders. We hope that by challenging these myths we can do our bit to increase awareness and to improve understanding of eating disorders, therefore improving the journey that some people go through to get the right help.
People who don't look unwell are probably not that ill
This is a commonly held belief but is completely untrue. People at a healthy weight or higher weight can be just as unwell, or more unwell, than people at a low weight - both psychologically and physically. All eating disorders must be taken seriously; weight is only one symptom of an eating disorder.
2. Families, in particular mothers, are to blame for their child's eating disorder
Far from being to blame, families are often the best resource in helping people with an eating disorder to overcome their difficulties. Eating disorders are known to be influenced by a number of factors, with biological, social or cultural factors often playing much more of a role than familial factors.
3. Eating disorders are the fault of the sufferer - they could just choose to eat normally
Eating disorders are never something that are chosen by the sufferer. Whilst they may sometimes start with an individual choosing to restrict their food or diet, eating disorders are not a choice. In fact, it is often when people have lost control over their eating and thinking that they realise that they may have an eating disorder.
Eating disorders are a mental health condition and are no more the 'fault' of the sufferer than anxiety or depression. Unlike other mental health conditions though, they are are always functional in some way for the sufferer - they serve a purpose. The particular purpose they serve is unique to each sufferer and is one of the things that treatment aims understand and resolve.
4. Eating disorders aren't that risky
Eating disorders are the riskiest of all mental health conditions, with the highest fatality rate. This risk is both psychological, with high rates of suicide being seen in people with eating disorders, and physical, with a number of very serious or fatal consequences of being underweight, purging, or misusing medication (although these can be managed with medical support).
5. Eating disorders are all about social media and wanting to be thin
Social media can be a negative influence for some people and can contribute to the maintenance of an eating disorder, but it is never solely responsible for an eating disorder. Eating disorders are much more complex than just viewing the 'wrong social media'.
A drive for thinness or a fear of weight gain are key symptoms of some eating disorders, but it is rarely that simple. A drive for thinness may be linked to low self esteem, control, needing to be heard or cared for, or other factors that can be identified during treatment. Furthermore, a drive for thinness is not a key symptom of all eating disorders (for example binge eating disorder).
6. It isn’t possible to fully recover from an eating disorder
It is very difficult to recover from an eating disorder, but certainly not impossible. Research suggests that about a half of people diagnosed with an eating disorder will reach full recovery, and many others will make significant improvements. Factors that help improve chances of recovery are seeking help (as soon as possible) and engaging in evidenced based treatment.
7. Eating disorders only happen to young white females
Eating disorders do not discriminate against age, gender or ethnicity. Although they are slightly more common in females of a younger age, they actually occur in many other groups: men, people from different ethnic backgrounds, and people of all ages - from young children to older adults. One of the key difficulties in early intervention for eating disorders is that they are often underreported, underdiagnosed or misunderstood in individuals who do not fit the inaccurate stereotype.
8. People just need to gain weight, and then they will be fine
This is a really unhelpful belief. People at a low weight will need to restore weight in order to physically recover, and this can be associated with an improvement in mood and more flexible or rational thinking. However, this is only a part of the picture, and treatment requires much more than weight restoration. Similarly, people who have an eating disorder who are at a healthy weight or overweight, or those who have restored weight, can still experience very serious physical and psychological symptoms.
As clinicians we strongly believe that increasing awareness of eating disorders must involve improving the understanding of what these disorders actually are, why they exist, and what helps. We hope that the information above might help others to better understand what they, their family members, or their patients might be experiencing. Eating disorders are serious conditions affecting an extremely worrying number of people. It is crucial to remember that they require not only empathy and accurate understanding but also specialist knowledge to treat effectively. We hope some of the resources on our website help. You could also look at the BEAT website for further sources of support.
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