(Extract from the Mind Publication "Understanding Eating Distress ")

We all need food to live; it is an essential part of our daily lives, regulated by appetite and the clock.  In times of stress however, our ‘normal’ eating patterns often change.  We may develop cravings for certain foods, lose our appetite or eat more for comfort.  This is a natural response experienced by many people, particularly women, but it usually resolves once the problem is overcome.

However, for some people life may become centred around food.  Whether denying it to themselves, eating or thinking about it, food becomes like an addiction and starts dominating their whole existence.  Yet we all have to eat or we die.

As a person who has had direct personal experience of the vicious cycle of denial/abuse that is characteristic of eating distress, I also know that during those nightmarish years, denying myself was the only thing that kept me alive.

Eating distress is viewed on the one hand as a serious psychological problem – needing psychiatric treatment, whilst on the other hand, the media simply define it as ‘slimmer’s disease’.  The materials in the Understanding Eating Distress leaflet offers alternative approaches to this complex subject – exploring the causes as well as the effects.

Topics also included in this leaflet are:

What is normal eating, and what isn't?
What is the signs of anorexia nervosa?
What is compulsive eating?
What are the symptoms of bilimia nervosa?
Who is affected by eating distress?
What Causes It?
   Vulnerability to stress
   Media pressure
   Family problems
   Spiritual quest
   Nutritional deficiency
What can be done to help?
   Talking treatments
   Self help groups
   Alternative therapies
   Hospital admission
What forms does specialist treatment take?
What can friends and relatives do?
Useful organisations