10,000 teenagers battle eating disorders
Bodywhys’ 2001 annual report shows that almost 1,500 victims or their families contacted the helpline last year, although lines were only open six hours a week.
Calls have increased steadily, from 226 in 1997 to 1,448 last year, when the organisation also sent out 1,149 information packs.
While there is no Irish database of eating disorder sufferers, British figures suggests that the number of people aged between 14 and 20 who suffer from eating disorders has reached 10,000, according to Bodywhys
However, that estimate was described as conservative by the director of the Eating Disorders Unit at St Patrick’s Hospital, Dr John Griffin.
“I can only quote from my own practice, but bulimia, particularly, is increasing enormously. “It is a huge problem and it is growing,” he said.
There is a constant waiting list of between two and three months for the eight-bed unit in St Patrick’s, where Dr Griffin sees three to four new patients every week. Children as young as seven are now developing body image disorders, he said, describing the development as “a frightening new phenomenon.”
Children are constantly exposed to slick images of very thin models in the media, prompting them to develop unrealistic expectations and the perception that they have to be thin and beautiful in order to be accepted.
“There is huge pressure on young people to be thin and we are seeing that at the pre-pubescent stage now. Most of these kids will grow out of it, but a proportion will go on to serious dieting throughout puberty and develop full-blown clinical symptoms,” he said. A Government taskforce is currently examining submissions on child and adolescent psychiatry and is due to report on eating disorders.
Bodywhys’ development director, Barbara Doyle, said that the organisation has appealed for more research to establish the exact extent of the problem, in addition to more focused educational and awareness-raising campaigns and dedicated community counselling and hospital services for sufferers.
Bodywhys’ helpline now operates five days a week on 01-2835126.
