RACHEL KELLY, 41,
A SOLICITOR FROM
LIVERPOOL,
BECAME ILL AT 37
“In my 20s and early 30s, I didn’t
think about my weight, which had
remained stable for many years at
a BMI of 24 [within the healthy
range]. I ate as much as I wanted,
and my diet was healthy and varied.
I’d had a self-conscious period as
a teenager but after that I gained
prompted a surge in eating disorder
cases, echoing today’s highly
pressured world.
WHO’S�AT�RISK?��
Though every individual case
is different, those who suffer from
eating disorders are often trying to
exert some form of control in a life
in which they may feel they have
little; they might be using their illness
as a distraction from some other kind
of trauma or distress; or they could be
coping with feelings of self-hatred by
finding something they are ‘good’ at:
restricting their food, or being thin.
Debbie Nash, clinical director of the
WOMEN IN THEIR 30S
OFTEN DEVELOP EATING
DISORDERS AS A WAY OF
STAYING IN CONTROL
confidence and found that my
boyfriends liked my body as it was.
During my third pregnancy,
I had a few panic attacks, and this
gradually evolved into severe
anxiety a few months after my
child’s birth. I was working full time,
and I have a fairly demanding career,
and had three children under six.
The clinical psychologist I saw
suggested that I needed to slow
down, take time to relax, and that
“WOMEN PICK UP
THE MESSAGE
THAT THIN IS
SPECIAL. THEY
LATCH ON
TO SOMETHING
THAT THEY CAN
SUCCEED AT”.
the anxiety was probably simply an
outcome of my stressful lifestyle.
During that year, I started losing
weight fairly rapidly. I found that
hunger made me feel calmer and less
anxious. I think I was addicted to that
feeling. Eventually, I lost 37lbs with
a BMI of 18 [classed as underweight].
When I was at home, I monitored
my weight several times a day and
constantly compared my weight
to people around me. Some people
expressed their concern which
I found embarrassing.
I also felt very confused and lonely.
As I was trying to understand what
“I FOUND THAT
HUNGER MADE
ME FEEL CALMER
AND LESS
ANXIOUS –
I THINK I WAS
ADDICTED TO
THAT FEELING”
was happening to me, I checked
websites on anxiety and weight loss,
and eventually on anorexia. I felt
completely excluded because it
seemed to be a young girls’ problem.
I’m now seeing a therapist. My
feeling is that underlying problems
manifested themselves when my
third child was born because I had too
much on my plate. The energy
required exceeded the resources that
I had left in me. I knew I had to remain
strong enough to be able to look after
my children but I think that I am going
to need professional help to explore
the issues involved more thoroughly,
as I am not completely over them.”
Montrose Group, an eating disorders
treatment facility, points out that
the background to eating disorders
can be complicated.
“I call it a psycho-social disease,”
she says. “It is caused by lots of
different components which is why
it’s such a complex condition. But no
matter how old the patient, these
things don’t just start for no reason.
There will always be something in
the background.”
Dr Helena Fox, a consultant
psychiatrist at the Capio Nightingale
Hospital in London, says that patients
often have a history of very low
self-esteem, anxiety, obsessive
BODY ISSUES
behaviour or family problems. But she
also agrees that the media plays a part.
“Women pick up the message that thin
is special. Sufferers of eating disorders
are often particularly perfectionist and
they latch on to something that they
can succeed at. They get told, ‘You
look good’ when they lose some weight
and they want to do it more and more,
they want to be the best at it. They
put an inordinate amount of
importance on being thin.”
The sudden ubiquity of
fortysomething celebrities able to fit
into sample sizes acts as a reproach
to women of the same generation: if
they can do it, why can’t you?
Of course, it’s not just anorexia
or bulimia. Orthorexia (a compulsion
to eat only healthy food, cutting out
entire food groups in the process),
drunkorexia (women who starve
all day to compensate for the calories
they consume in alcohol that evening)
and pregorexia (where a pregnant
mother limits food to prevent gaining
weight) are all becoming increasingly
high profile.
Professor John Morgan of St
George’s University, London estimates
that 1 in 20 pregnant women may
have an eating disorder. Former TV
presenter Liz Fraser caused
controversy when she admitted in
2006 that she developed bulimia
while pregnant.
“Pregnancy is a frightening and
disorientating time and new
motherhood is for many women an
assault on identity and everything
you’ve ever known. My eating disorder
became my coping strategy.”
The sad fact seems to be that,
for a growing number of women, their
30s and 40s are not a time when they
can cast off the anxiety of their
younger years, but a period that brings
with it unprecedented levels of
responsibility and pressure, relentless,
and unrealistic expectations of how
they should look, and physical changes,
like pregnancy and ageing, which bring
their own difficulties. Combine these
with the personal and psychological
background that means an eating
disorder is more likely to occur
and it no longer seems surprising
that the number of older women
suffering appears to be rising.
As with many mental health
disorders, eating disorders (especially
in outwardly happy and successful
adult women) are often surrounded
by a cloak of secrecy. But as the figures
continue to rise isn’t it time to wake
up to the fact that this is not just
a teenager’s disease?
Call Beat’s helpline on 0845-634 1414
or visit b-eat.co.uk if you think you
or someone close to you might be suffering
from an eating disorder
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