![]() As I’m telling you my story, I can try and decipher some of the reasons for my own, which I only really began to unravel by confronting this head on through treatment. I cannot speak for all those with eating disorders, and that’s the point – as humans, we’re all different which means our reasons for facing any mental challenge are going to be different. So if not a desire to be thin and look like the celebrities and models in magazines, then why?Īs with many mental health issues, it is not simple to extract a reason or cause, which is partly the problem with the traditional stereotypes ‘it’s wanting to be thin’, ‘it’s about control’ and so on. I did not look in the mirror and think I looked good, but there remained a compulsion to over exercise and under eat. When I was thin I did not want to look the way I did. So I could put on weight, but the internal struggle would remain. Though my disorder had a very physical effect, it was about my mind. For my story at least this is simply not true. There is a common misconception that these disorders are driven by an ambition to weigh less. I would read recipe books and cook for my friends almost obsessively, barely eating any of these meals myself but vicariously enjoying my efforts through watching others consume.Īs I’ve already said, I was not the young teen striving to be thin. I loved food, in fact as I fell deeper I became obsessed with food. There are many myths and assumptions around eating disorders that probably helped me to disguise it from those around me and to myself.įood is not always the enemy. With the cold facts on paper and the physical damage revealing itself I was finally forced to make a change. The subsequent investigations through blood tests and DEXA (bone density) scans revealed the damage that had been done through a few years of being underweight. The physio who had seen me through the recovery of the injury started to question why the fracture occurred and it was the first time that I ‘heard’ someone challenge me on my weight. This was treated, but it set in motion a series of events that would lead to my diagnosis. I was a keen runner (more on that later) and had suffered a stress fracture in my tibia. On paper, I didn’t fit the stereotype of an anorexic. While I’d suffered from some extended periods of low mood I’d navigated my teens and university with a ‘normal’ body image and felt no pressure from peers or outside culture to lose weight or look a certain way. I was a young professional who was working hard at building a career, I was surrounded by a large group of friends and had a close family with whom I had regular contact. Which is why at the age of around 25 I was struggling to comprehend the diagnosis I was being given. But the truth is that eating disorders affect many people, at many different stages of life and in different ways. ![]() We might imagine the young female teen who has been surrounded by imagery of the feminine ideal and influenced by celebrity culture so starves herself to achieve ‘the look’. Which is mental health exists on a scale of thriving to struggling, and all iterations in between.Įating disorders come with their own assumptions and stereotypes. This is because, probably like the majority of us, I had an image in my mind of what someone with an eating disorder looked like.Īt Unmind we try to dispel the traditional images that are summoned when we think of ‘mental health’ – classically in greyscale, images of people with their heads in their hands – and replace them with the truth. It’s a struggle even at this point for me to write down those words because it took a long time for me to admit to myself that I was indeed, anorexic. However, if you were to meet me for the first time today it would probably be the furthest thing from your mind. ![]() I have an eating disorder, specifically anorexia. Vicki Pope, Head of Strategic Client Success EMEA at Unmind, dispels the myths as she shares her experience of overcoming anorexia. "I struggled to comprehend the diagnosis I was given." Eating disorders like anorexia are surrounded by assumptions and stereotypes.
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