Shocking facts of child anorexia

Thin celebrity role models, airbrushed images on photos and pressure from friends to be skinny have been blamed for youngsters developing dangerous eating habits.

Figures obtained by The Argus reveal the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust treated 139 under-18s between April 2014 and the end of March.

This includes two 10-year-olds from Brighton and Hove and 69 young people aged between 11 and 16 across all of Sussex.

The number of children who develop eating problems may actually be higher as these figures only focus on those ill enough to need specialist medical care and support provided by the trust.

The problem has been getting more recognition nationally and internationally, with famous faces such as Christina Ricci, Geri Halliwell, Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Alba all admitting to have struggled with eating disorders in the past.

Former Spice Girl Halliwell has always been open about her struggles with bulimia.

In 2003 she said: “It’s not really about food or the body shape. It’s just a way of dealing or coping with life. I really feel that what’s helped me is talking about it with other people who share the same addiction.”

In 2006, Lohan admitted to Vanity Fair she was bulimic.

She told the magazine: “I was sick, and I was scared, too.

“I had people sit me down and say, ‘You’re going to die if you don’t take of yourself.”

In 1999 Alba had just landed a role in the James Cameron television series Dark Angel. She started an intense training course to prepare for the role, which she said eventually led to a bout with anorexia.

Alba admitted to starving herself and becoming obsessed with exercise, at one point dropping to 100 lbs.

In an interview said said: “A lot of girls have eating disorders, and I did too.

“I got obsessed with it. When I went from a girl’s body to a woman’s body with natural fat in places, I freaked out.

“With treatment I have now conquered the fear that drove me to become dangerously thin.”

A 21-year-old from West Sussex has also spoken about how the drive to be thin took over her life.

She said: “But I never saw myself as being thin. I believed I was a fat, fat girl who didn’t deserve to eat and with every pound I lost I wanted to lose ten more.

“The thrill that I got from resisting the temptation of eating was unlike anything I had ever experienced before.

“Soon a cereal bar turned into an apple, an apple into a low calorie smoothie and a smoothie into absolutely nothing at all.

“Within seven months of returning from Italy my diet consisted of a few beans, peas and half a teaspoon of tuna.”

The Sussex Partnership runs an inpatient service in Haywards Heath as well as providing help and support in the community and in people’s homes.

Medical director Tim Ojo said: “There are a number of reasons why children or young people might have problems associated with eating. This could be a physical or a mental health problem.

“If you are a parent or carer or know someone who you think might have a problem with eating we would recommend you help them to see their GP as soon as possible.

“Eating disorders can be extremely complex but, with the right support, people can fully recover.”

Tim Rank, Consultant psychiatrist at The Priory Hospital in Brighton and Hove, said support from others was vital.

He said: “Family and friends can help by giving support.

“It’s particularly helpful for relatives to understand that eating problems are a young person’s way of coping with emotional difficulties.

“But if a young person is dangerously thin, they need to gain weight with the help of a dietary plan.”

A spokeswoman for the eating disorders charity b-eat said: “It is concerning that more children are being diagnosed with an eating disorder although we must take into account that this is partly due to increased awareness and better diagnosis. “However there is no doubt that children at increasingly younger ages are subjected to and influenced by societal pressures.

“We owe it to this generation to increase their media literacy, tutoring them to realise that what they see isn’t necessarily real and encourage them to celebrate who they are and not what they think they ought to be.”

Anyone concerned about a young person should contact their GP and more information can be found at b-eat.co.uk. The charity also has a general helpline on 0845 634 1414 and special youth line for younger people on 0845 634 7650.

Background

THE number of children aged under 18 developing eating disorders in Sussex has dropped slightly to 139 over the past 12 months from 167 the year before.

However this is a sharp rise on the 50 cases reported in 2011/12.

Over the last three years children as young as eight and nine have had to have specialist help from the Sussex Partnership NHS Trust.

Experts say although influences of TV and the Internet are a factor, the increase is also partly down to a greater awareness of the condition by the condition by families, schools and doctors.

‘I never saw myself as thin. I believed I was a fat, fat girl’

A 21-year-old from West Sussex was diagnosed with anorexia when she was 16. She wishes to remain an anonymous, but here she tells her story: I’ve come to realise that I will never know exactly where my eating disorder started. Looking back there were so many little things throughout my life that could have been the trigger point but the first memory I have from my anorexic journey is the four words that my mum said to me as we were boarding a plane in Italy: “Gosh you look skinny.”

I’d starved myself for the entire two weeks, practically living off iced tea, so this was the result I’d been hoping for.

Finally someone was paying recognition to all my hard work.

But I know now that these were not words of praise but rather words of fear and worry from a mother who was gradually watching her baby girl vanish before her eyes.

After this things spiralled out of control at such a speed that I find it hard to comprehend how bad things got in such a short period of time.

In the next year the fun-loving, happy girl that everyone knew was going to disappear and instead be replaced with a cold, miserable, isolated anorexic, who cared for nothing other than burning calories and starving herself.

Even the ever-increasing likelihood of death wouldn’t throw her from her mission to become thin, really thin – thinner than anyone else in the world.

But I never saw myself as being thin. I believed I was a fat, fat, fat girl who didn’t deserve to eat and with every pound that I lost I wanted to lose ten more.

The thrill that I got from resisting the temptation of eating was unlike anything I had ever experienced before.

Soon a cereal bar turned into an apple, an apple into a low calorie smoothie and a smoothie into absolutely nothing at all.

Before long all my meals were affected by my new ‘healthy diet’ and within seven months of returning from Italy my diet consisted of a few beans, peas and half a teaspoon of tuna.

This voice in my head was telling me that this was still too much, though, and that I was being greedy.

And since this voice (who I named Annie) had become the only person in the entire world who I trusted, I listened to it. Annie became my whole life, my best friend, my only reason for living.

Enough was enough, though, and thankfully I was admitted to hospital weighing 32.2kg and with a BMI of 13.2.

Hospital is the best thing that has ever happened to me. With all the help and support from the incredible carers, nurses and other patients I slowly, very slowly, started to feel mentally able to complete small meals and take part in normal everyday activities.

I don’t know what it was that made me want to start getting better but I know I became fed up of being cold, miserable and hungry all the time.

Anorexia brought nothing but pain and suffering to my life and that is what I eventually began to realise.

My new life motto now is that everyone deserves to eat and everyone deserves to be happy.

Many causes for eating disorders

Tim Rank - opinion

Responsible for more loss of life than any other form of psychological illness, eating disorders are more common than ever.

Beat, the eating disorders charity, estimates more than 1.6 million people in the UK are suffering. The causes vary greatly. Anorexia nervosa is where you starve yourself, often becoming dangerously thin.

There are many reported causes – including genetics, your family’s attitude towards food, anxiety, loneliness. Long-term effects can be severe, even fatal.

Fortunately, with regular nourishment and anorexia treatment, many effects are reduced.

Family and friends can help by giving support. It’s particularly helpful for relatives to understand that eating problems are a young person’s way of coping with emotional difficulties, and the person may have mixed feelings about changing their eating patterns.

But if a young person is dangerously thin, they need to gain weight with the help of a dietary plan to restore physical health.

Bulimia nervosa is characterised by binge-eating, often eating three or four times the normal amount, followed by self-induced vomiting or taking laxatives to avoid weight gain. It’s most common in women aged 15-25.

Problems start when food is used to control feelings.

After bingeing, young people may feel some short-term emotional relief but feelings of distress often return.

However all eating disorders are eminently treatable. Therapies include dietary counselling, psychotherapy, and family therapy.

Cognitive behavioural therapy can reduce symptoms by identifying and challenging beliefs that create negative feelings and behaviour such as bingeing and vomiting.

Tim Rank is consultant psychiatrist at The Priory Hospital in Brighton and Hove