What is an eating disorder?
Lots of us have a complicated relationship with food. For many of us, university is the first time where we have total control over our diets and this can be incredibly daunting.
It’s completely natural to struggle and to be unsure of the best way to take care of your health and relationship with food when you’re on your own and support networks may now be far away.
Sometimes, the thoughts and feelings we have surrounding food may become more difficult, and our eating may become disordered. Often, those with eating disorders will use disordered eating as a means of dealing with stressful situations in their life, particularly those they feel they have no control over.
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rates of all psychiatric disorders, and while they can be challenging to treat, there is help and support available.
Symptoms of eating disorders
There are a few different types of eating disorder, including Anorexia, Bulimia and Binge Eating Disorder. Each type of disorder is associated with the prevalence of different behaviours and feelings, however there are some common symptoms which are listed below. To read in more detail about the different types of eating disorder, check out the Mind UK website here.
Common symptoms of disordered eating may include:
- Feelings of shame or guilt
- Feelings of loneliness, especially if nobody knows about your eating problems
- Low self-esteem, hatred towards your body
- Feeling a need for control, or that you are struggling to stay in control
- Anger if you are challenged about your weight, or food behaviours
- Anxiety surrounding food and mealtimes
You do not have to be underweight to have an eating disorder- the thoughts, feelings and behaviours you have surrounding food are the most important factor in diagnosis.
Where to find support
Try talking to friends or family members:
- Friends or family members are a good place to start, though it can be daunting opening up about your eating behaviours, especially if you have been hiding them for a long time
- It can help to write down how you feel, how long you’ve been struggling and how you feel they may be able to support you best
- You can read more on disclosing to a friend or family member on the Beat website here.
Seek professional help:
- GPs are the first step in getting professional support with an eating disorder. They can help you figure out if you are experiencing one and refer you to specialists. At Royal Holloway, you can attend an Eating Disorder specific appointment with one of the GP’s-register with the on-campus GP surgery here. Alternatively, you can find other local GPs here .
- Doc Ready is a handy website which can help you prepare for the appointment in advance, inform you of your rights and how to start a conversation with the Doctor.
- You can self-refer to the Berkshire Talking Therapies service here- they also have self-help resources available on their website.
Other resources:
- Beat offers specialist advice and support on eating disorders, you can call them on their student helpline at 0808 801 0811, or have a look on their website for resources, advice and FAQs on Eating Disorders. You can even direct friends, family and other supporters to their website for information for them.
- Contacting the Wellbeing team at the University by emailing wellbeing@rhul.ac.uk - they can offer advice and support and direct you to the most appropriate service either internally or externally.
- The University also offers a free counselling service. This can help if you are on a waiting list, or unsure what to do, or if you just want to chat to someone. You can request a specific counsellor if you’d prefer to speak to someone of a specific gender, or perhaps you didn’t connect with the person you saw before.
Worried about a friend?
See our article here on supporting someone with an eating disorder.
If you’re concerned that a friend may be struggling with their mental health, then there are a number of steps you can take to offer them support.
Check out our resource about starting conversations about mental health here for a good starting point. You may wish to share the support resources above with them and offer your support, for example, you could offer to accompany them to a doctors appointment to make it less daunting.
Alternatively, if they are a student you can contact the Wellbeing team to report a concern- read more information about this here.