Food addicts as likely as anorexics to ring eating disorder helpline

OPERATORS of a helpline for eating disorders get as many calls from food addicts as they do from anorexics, it was revealed yesterday.

Now the eating disorders charity Bodywhys is launching a self-help guide to help people who say they are addicted to consuming too much food, a condition known as binge-eating disorder (BED).

As many men as women are believed to have the condition, which sees sufferers go through periods of excessive or binge eating to cope with emotional or psychological problems.

Last year, 460 people contacted the charity’s helpline about the over-eating condition — the same amount as those who rang in with anorexia, which sees sufferers starve themselves.

Calls from both groups accounted for 34% of the 2,700 pleas for help received by the Dublin-based charity last year.

Helen MacWhite of Bodywhys said a lack of accurate statistics on the disorder meant it was difficult to identify whether binge-eating was a growing problem. Around 2% of the adult population may suffer from the disorder, she said.

She added: “We are finding that more and more people are ringing our helpline about binge-eating, whereas before people didn’t talk about it or see it as a disorder. They thought they could get over it with willpower.”

The charity is publishing a self-help guide on Thursday called Binge Eating — Breaking the Cycle.

Bodywhys boss Jennie O’Reilly said the booklet was written in response to the concerns of sufferers.

She said: “They want to know how to achieve recovery from what they often experience as an enslavement or addiction to food.

“People who binge-eat can experience an overwhelming sense of shame and self-loathing that makes it very difficult for them to seek the help they need.”

Callers had often waited years before deciding to seek support over the condition, she said.

Psychologist Domhnall Casey, who works at Ireland’s only public weight management clinic, at St Columcille’s Hospital, in Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, and specialises in treating food disorders, and is due to talk about binge-eating at the launch.

He said over-eating was linked to mental health conditions like depression as well as the need for people to “push down” negative feelings about themselves and past experiences.

The helpline can be contacted on 1890 200444.