Under the spotlight during Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2021

In the year we all went into another lockdown, the incidence of binge eating disorder (BED) has gone up – just as the restrictions curtailed people’s activities, BED spiked because it is a disorder that particularly thrives in isolation.

As individuals were forced to isolate themselves from friends, family, work colleagues and almost all public interaction, it caused fractures in the support networks relied upon by people with eating disorders.

As Action Mental Health marks Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2021 – with a focus on BED – Deborah McCready, project worker with the charity’s specialist eating disorder service, AMH everyBODY gives an insight into how BED flourished in lockdown.

“In the backdrop of a pandemic, it’s significant that eating disorders thrive in isolation and it’s the one thing that we have all been forced into in the past year,” she explained. “We have all been more isolated and we are all finding that our normal coping mechanisms may have changed and that we have had to get more creative to develop new ways of coping. We haven’t been able to go out to chat with friends or get out into fresh air or pursue the hobbies that would have kept us well.

“Any eating disorder is a mental health condition; it’s a way of coping with difficult or distressing situations in life so it’s a coping mechanism and at the minute things have increased where our stress and anxiety have increased and the one that that is readily available for people to have some control over is food, so that’s why it has increased eating disorder during the pandemic.

“There are misconceptions that it’s young people but it’s a mental health condition so can affect people from every single walk of life and they have no particular look, shape or size.  They are as diverse as the people they affect.”

The rest is best left to those whose daily battle with their binge eating disorder has been vastly improved by the intervention of AMH everyBODY.

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Tips for Coping

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Case study one

One man’s struggle to be seen and truly heard

Binge eating disorder is exhausting. Not only are you battling your own thoughts and feelings, that inner critic in your head (the eating disorder voice that often triggers a binge) but then there’s also the shame from medical professionals, family and friends that this is something you’re choosing to do to yourself. I was so lucky that I had a very compassionate GP who was able to signpost me to your service for support. That hasn’t always been the case though. I’ve lost count the amount of times over the years I’ve tried to speak about my struggles with binge eating disorder, only to be given weight loss advice. One GP gave me a leaflet for Slimming World and told me to keep the foods I binge on out of the house.

It’s felt like people just see a man in a larger body and that’s all they see. They see my weight before they see me. I know now that the weight stigma has delayed my access to treatment and support that I would have received if I had the very same symptoms but was in a smaller body. Feeling dismissed and shamed for my weight only left me further isolated and increased my binge behaviours. The very diets that were being prescribed to me led my binge eating disorder to spiral out of control. I was absolutely miserable and felt like I was failing at very corner, whilst constantly having to justify that I even deserved support.  The harder I tried to diet, the bigger and more catastrophic the binge, and the more intense the feelings of shame after, and the cycle continued like that for a number of years.

From my very first meeting with AMH everyBODY I was treated like a human being. I was asked more about my feelings, what else was going on in my life, at no point at all during our whole support have I ever felt judged, I wasn’t reduced to a number on a scale. I can’t even begin to describe what that alone has done to remove the shame, and in turn reduce my bingeing.  The biggest turning point for me was taking shifting the focus completely away from weight and instead looking at health behaviours, things like being able to express and communicate my feelings with my family. Looking at ways I can manage stress and the environments that can be triggers.

I was also encouraged to start to learn to tune in and listen to my body, to learn to identify hunger and fullness cues, move away from rules and restrictions around food and also reframe some of my critical thinking. I found joy in walking again, previously I viewed exercise or movement as pressure and was only successful if I was focusing on weight loss or numbers. When I started to focus on how my body actually felt and that walking was a time for me to relieve stress, I started to get so much joy from it. It didn’t feel like pressure. I was learning to tap in to and trust and listen to my body.

My advice to anyone supporting a person with binge eating disorder is to listen to them without judgement. The shame of binge eating disorder sits so heavy on your shoulders and when you’re met with support and understanding, when people see you as a whole person that’s when you start to recover.

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Case study two

BED is like a ‘bully in your own head’

“I can’t quite remember just exactly when my experience with binge eating disorder began, but from early childhood I’ve felt a deep shame about my body. My first experience of body shame was during P.E in school. I was left out of team sports because my body was bigger than the others so assumed that I couldn’t be as good at the sports. I was picked last and during hockey matches I was overlooked and dismissed. I felt completely invisible. Everybody else thought my body was wrong, so it wasn’t long before I just stopped trying.  The shame others made me feel about my body made me just want to hide myself away, and that’s exactly what I did. That’s when food became my comfort, my distraction from the deep feelings of self-loathing I had been taught about my body. We aren’t born believing our bodies are wrong, that’s something we learn from others and that body dissatisfaction was just one of the reasons behind nearly two decades of binge eating disorder.

I was probably about 12 when I started my first diet. Of course this only made things worse. My obsession with those numbers was anything but healthy. The stress and shame over my body became all consuming.  Before others made me feel like my body was wrong and the shame started I actually felt like I probably was quite healthy. Healthy in the sense that I had no feelings of self- hatred, I wasn’t binge eating, I did actually enjoy sports and I was certainly less stressed.  My silence and isolation became a prison.  My shame was an iron gate keeping me trapped. Any time I felt any form of pain, I binged.

I was overlooked for a promotion in work, I binged. I fought with family, I binged. I felt shamed at a doctors appointment, I binged. My marriage broke down, I binged. I binged any time I dealt with pain to temporarily numb myself, but then the disgust I would feel after started the whole process all over again. Living with an eating disorder is like having a bully in your head waiting for you to trip up, offering you a solution to ease the distress but then making you feel bad for “giving in.”

For years I didn’t tell anyone about my binge eating disorder because honestly I didn’t even realise it was recognised as a serious eating disorder until I saw something shared online.  An article that spoke about it not being a choice, that it wasn’t about greed or lack of will power or just eating too much.  That it was a mental health condition and that a binge felt out of control. That’s exactly how I felt, it was almost like an out of body experience and felt so distressing because I felt powerless and unable to stop. I didn’t enjoy or even taste food during a binge.

In fact, my relationship with food because so disordered that I couldn’t even remember the last time I fully enjoyed or felt satisfied with food. What I’d like people to understand about binge eating disorder is that it is never really about the food. For me it was all about how I felt, and I didn’t know how to deal with any of those feelings, or deal with any early trauma.

Talking helps.  It so scary to speak up, especially if you’re apprehensive about being believed but if you are suffering in silence you deserve support and every time you start talking you take away some of that shame. You take the power away from your eating disorder.

Because of the support I’m receiving from AMH everyBODY I feel free. I feel lighter in my head. Now I don’t feel pushed in any way to do things, because of other people’s choices.  I’ve been able to switch off from hating myself and actually start to see that actually I do have a lot of strengths that I just hadn’t been paying any attention to. I feel like I can cope a bit better, and have hope that I can continue to find myself.

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If you live in the Southern Health Trust Area you can contact the AMH everyBODY Team – T: 028 3839 2314 or E: [email protected]

It is estimated that approximately 1.25 million people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder with an estimated 18,000 and 20,000 individuals living with an eating disorder in Northern Ireland at any one time. That person might be you, your sibling, your parent, child, neighbour – anyone.

This year, Action Mental Health marks Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2021 during the unprecedented times of a pandemic, when one particular illness has been on the rise –  Binge Eating Disorder (BED). It is estimated that one in fifty people experience Binge Eating Disorder.

Fittingly, Eating Disorder Awareness Week this year focuses on Binge Eating Disorder and how it has thrived in the isolation Covid-19 has enforced on society, when sufferers have been denied their usual coping mechanisms and support networks.

Among Action Mental Health’s myriad services is its own specialist eating disorder service AMH everyBODY. Serving people with eating disorders in the Southern Health and Social Care Trust (SHSCT) area, its team are this week sharing their expertise and guidance on coping with an eating disorder to everyone.

Seen as a ‘lifeline’ by the clients, AMH everyBODY not only supports service users, in partnership with the SHSCT, but also their families, who are often left feeling helpless and unsure how to help their loved ones in need.

Statistics show that eating disorders claim more lives than any other mental illness, with one in five of the most seriously affected dying prematurely from the physical consequences or by suicide.

AMH everyBODY promotes a greater understanding and awareness of eating disorders, promotes positive lifestyle choices in people about eating to develop preventative, self-supporting skills and break the associated stigma.

Often, unhelpful assumptions that eating disorders are merely attention-seeking behaviour or fad dieting is what stops people seeking the support they need – having an eating disorder is a serious mental health condition.

AMH EveryBODY project worker, Deborah McCready comments:

“The focus of Action Mental Health everyBODY’s approach is recovery through partnership; a partnership between the person, their family and the SHSCT, who, in working collectively, will provide comprehensive support towards recovery.  AMH everyBODY provides much needed support not only to the person affected but also to their families and friends at the very popular Carers’ Group monthly meeting – which is currently online.

“AMH everyBODY exists to bridge the gap on the clients’ journey from the moment they seek help until they eventually get to speak to a medical expert, as with existing waiting lists this can be a long time.

“When people have taken that important step and are willing to engage and seek help AMH everyBODY offers a recovery approach in sessions when people will receive information and support to develop skills, stay focused and healthy until they see a therapist.” 

Prior to appointments people can feel unsupported and alone, contact with AMH everyBODY at this time will help people support themselves and get the best from their therapist when they meet.

Eating disorders affect over 700,000 women and men in the UK at any one time, with research suggesting that this figure is vastly underestimated. It is thought some 80% of individuals who screen positively for having an eating disorder have never accessed help or support.  One of the most harmful symptoms of an eating disorder is silence – AMH everyBODY encourages people affected to speak out for support and know that a listening, understanding and confidential ear will be there to provide support towards recovery.

AMH everyBODY Manager, Colin Loughran said:

“This is a very practical model and one that could be used as a model of best practice throughout Northern Ireland. There is a significant shortfall in support services for people experiencing eating disorder and their families, prior to patients being seen by clinicians.”

If you live in the Southern Health Trust Area you can contact the AMH everyBODY Team – T: 028 3839 2314 or E: [email protected]

During Will to Give Week 22^nd – 26^th February 2021 and beyond, we are encouraging our friends old and new to consider leaving a gift in their Will to support the vital work of Action Mental Health. You really will be leaving a legacy of hope.

One in five of us will experience a mental health problem at some point in our lives, and your support will make a tremendous difference to the people that we support, across Northern Ireland.

Now more than ever, during these very uncertain times, we are planning for the future of the charity. We are adapting and evolving our work to meet the changing needs of the Northern Ireland public. 

Whilst we don’t know what the future holds we do know that the services we provide can and do have life changing impacts for local people. We want those services to be there for future generations.

Writing your Will and keeping it up to date is something we should all do and we ask that after you have considered the needs of family and friends that you consider leaving a gift to Action Mental Health.

By planning your Will and making this special commitment, you will help us as a charity as we look to the years ahead and plan for the changing face of the world we live in.

You can find out more about leaving a gift in your Will and also download our Gifts in Wills leaflet by clicking the link below:

Find out more

You really will be helping to improve the mental health of future generations.

Action Mental Health’s well-being and resilience training for young people has been hailed as integral to an award clinched by the South Eastern Regional College (SERC).

AMH MensSana’s Mindset programme, which is funded by the Public Health Agency, was delivered to students and staff, helping to offset and alleviate some of the particular challenges of the past year. Mindset enables the charity to reach out and support young people and adults in the community, to maintain positive emotional well-being and build resilience, as well as teaching the telltale signs of what to look out for in others’.”

SERC, which has campuses in Bangor, Newtownards and Downpatrick, secured a WorldSkills UK Diversity and Inclusion Heroes Award for Network of the Year. The college received the award in the large employer category in a virtual ceremony on January 28.

The college received the award for its work to ensure an inclusive learning environment across its campuses and in recognition of its commitment to ‘promoting and supporting diverse and inclusive practices and celebrate those making a real difference’.

Pivotal to the award was the delivery to 1500 students of AMH’s Mindset programme, along with a trans-student support service and well-being recovery room.

Karen Hillis, AMH Projects Service Manager commented: “Action Mental Health is delighted to partner with SERC to deliver Mental Health Awareness programmes to both students and staff alike to ensure that student wellbeing is at the forefront of college life during what has been a particularly challenging year. 

“Our ‘Mindset’ programme – funded by Public Health Agency – enables us to reach out and support young people and adults in the community to maintain positive emotional wellbeing and build resilience as well as know what to look out for in others’.”

In 2018, SERC was nominated in Action Mental Health’s inaugural Head First Awards in the category ‘Championing Young People’s Mental Health’. The nomination was secured for the college’s efforts and commitment to improving the emotional well-being and resilience of young people.

Catherine Shipman, Student Engagement Manager, SERC said the award ‘pays tribute to our staff, students, volunteers and community partners for their hard work and dedication in championing equality and diversity for our students at SERC’.

They have been busy bees in AMH New Horizons in Antrim despite lockdown! The AMH team have been out delivering Needle Felting packs to clients.

Each pack contains all the materials and equipment needed to participate in the Zoom Needle Felting classes. Current projects include a toadstool teacup garden and a picture!

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There is lots of evidence about the physical and mental health benefits of taking up a craft like needle felting. Needle felting is very therapeutic and clients say it really relaxes them and clears their minds of any worries they might have (quite useful in the current circumstances), it also gives the group the opportunity to catch up and have a chat.

The process of felting requires focus and concentration, so it has an inbuilt meditative quality.  This tends to bring a peaceful, calming atmosphere to the group as they work. 

One client, who is new to AMH New Horizons, attended the first of a set of needle felting classes and as a result has ordered and received quite a substantial delivery of materials so he can engage in this hobby himself, in his own time at home!

We are so looking forward to seeing the results!!

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Clients at AMH New Horizons Antrim take part in the ESF ‘Working It Out’ project which is part-funded by the Northern Ireland European Social Fund Programme 2014-2020, Department of Economy and Northern Health & Social Care Trust.