Visitor numbers are expected to top 20,000 at the second coming of youth well-being and education movement Zeminar, which aims to equip Generation Z with the tools to deal with life’s challenges, writes Clodagh Finn

There has been a 30% increase in the number of people attending support groups for eating disorders in Ireland.

Bodywhys is reporting a 10% increase in people with eating disorders using their services last year.

The drama comes fresh from Netflix being accused of glamorizing teen suicide in their series, 13 Reasons Why.

In a special report, Irish Examiner journalists looks at teen mental health. A special Irish Examiner / ReachOut Ireland teen mental health survey was designed to capture the views of teenagers in Ireland in relation to youth mental health and the issues that affect them.

The age at which people start developing an eating disorder has fallen in recent years. Bodywhys, the Eating Disorders Association of Ireland, has found that the average age of onset of anorexia nervosa has dropped from 15-24 to 14-19.

Social media triggers body image issues in young people, according to a study by Bodywhys, the eating disorder association of Ireland.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today

There has been a huge increase in the number of older people contacting a helpline for eating disorders, it has emerged.

Department of Health figures suggest that around 200,000 people suffer from eating disorders, so the number of people affected by this heartrending condition is a multiple of that. Parents and siblings, relatives and friends are often left bewildered as they watch a loved one suffer from this indiscriminate, complex mental health problem.

The number of young people seeking help from an online support group for an eating disorder increased by over 80% last year.

Today, May 6, is International No Diet Day.

Peer pressure on teenagers to look like models, actresses, even porn stars is everywhere. Áilín Quinlan talks to eating disorder experts about what parents can do to offset this pervasive influence.

The number of people contacting a helpline for eating disorders rose by 30% last year according to Bodywhys, the national voluntary organisation for those affected by the condition.

A helpline for people affected by eating disorders has seen a 30% jump in callers in the past year.

The majority of people suffering from eating disorders in this country are women aged between 25 and 35 years - and not teenagers.

A leading support group for sufferers of eating disorders says the disease is "no longer a teenage issue".

IF ACTRESS Cate Blanchett, model Crystal Renn, and comedian Sarah Millican were to meet for coffee, they would probably have a common gripe.

The end of a 364 kilometre journey from The North to the South-East of Ireland is almost in sight for a woman who's walked every step of the way in a bikini.

IT’S more than a century since women everywhere were liberated from their corsets by the bra.

Fear of being negatively judged is discouraging people with eating disorders from getting help.

Experts are gathering in Dublin today to discuss the impact of airbrushed images on young people - and their self image.

IMAGINE you are a rake-thin woman.

Irish teens are too stressed about body image, says Arlene Harris.

CELEBRITY designer Liz Hurley is in the firing line for selling teeny weeny children’s bikinis. Her latest swimwear range for eight to 13-year-old girls includes a leopard-print string bikini, the Cheetah Cha Cha, the Collette Bikini, a barely there top with a cheetah trim and the Tweeny Polly Bikini, a ruffled two-piece. The under-eight range also includes two-pieces and bikinis. The collection has been slammed by parents as being totally inappropriate.

Images of celebrities before and after being airbrushed, slimmed, and enhanced are helping parents talk about body image to their children.

Helen O’Callaghan gets the skinny from experts on the latest blockbuster diet which promises results in six weeks flat.

YOUR diet’s healthy during the week, but you binge on junk food at the weekend. Guilty, you eat too little for the next five days, or you wait until 6pm to eat a solid meal.

Students who have been lending each other a hand and raising mental health awareness have reported a big change in their Dublin school.

ARE MEN more body conscious now than they were 10 years ago?

Today is International No Diet Day and Claire Droney wonders why so many women are obsessed with their weight

NO national public beds are dedicated in hospitals to people with eating disorders.

IT is an unfortunate but entirely illustrative irony that Eating Disorders Awareness Week began yesterday, just as half the world sat up agog at the chemically and surgically modified waif-women who high-heeled it up the red carpet to the Oscars ceremony at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angles or at London Fashion Week.

Placing the Central Mental Hospital beside a super prison in north Co Dublin will isolate patients and reinforce stigmas liked to mental illness, experts warned the Oireachtas Health Committee today.

THE Government has failed to deliver on its own policies to improve services to treat more than 7,000 Irish people suffering with eating disorders, a campaign group has claimed.

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) has been accused of “misappropriating” funds by diverting almost 50% of a special budget for mental health services into other areas of healthcare.

A TEXT helpline aimed at young people with problems has been getting 120 appeals for help per day since its launch last August.

THE celebrity-driven “size zero” phenomenon is having “serious effects” on Ireland’s young people with more than 7,000 Irish teenagers now suffering from eating disorders, a leading expert will tell a conference in Cork today.

THE Government has been accused of failing to deliver on mental health commitments by a coalition of campaign groups.

Helping those suffering from mental illness must be made a priority by the next Government, campaigners will insist today.

DELAYS in getting treatment are putting people with eating disorders are at an increased risk of dying.

YOUNG people with eating disorders are at a greater risk of suicide due to a shocking lack of specialist child and adolescent mental health services, Fine Gael’s Dan Neville has warned.

FINANCE Minister Brian Cowen’s next Budget must fund measures to tackle the rise of eating disorders like anorexia and compulsive over-eating, health campaigners warned last night.