20th Nov 09
Bullying linked with eating disorders
by Katie Naylor
A new report has revealed that almost half of the young people in Britain who suffer from an eating disorder believe that bullying contributed to their illness.
The charity Beat has carried out the biggest ever study connecting the two behaviours, in which researcher spoke to more than 600 16 to 25 year olds suffering from anorexia, bulimia or overeating.
Over those surveyed, 91 per cent said they had been bullied, while 46 per cent say they believed that bullying had contributed to their eating disorder.
Sam Thomas, 23 years old from Hove, said that her eating disorder began in high school when he had experienced homophobic bullying.
He went on to recall how he would hide in the boys’ toilets because that was the only place he couldn’t be found, and used to comfort eat on anything that was in his lunchbox, including sandwiches, crisps, biscuits, anything that he could get his hands on.
Thomas continued by saying that he decided to make himself sick to get the whole thing over and done with, and realised that it brought a huge sense of relief from the built-up anxieties from all the bullying and tension that had come from it.
Thomas now runs a website to offer assistance with other men with eating disorders.
Susan Ringwood, chief executive of Beat said that stories like Sam’s challenge the view that people with anorexia or bulimia are obsessed with their bodies or desperate to look like celebrities in magazines.
Beat claims it has been receiving record numbers of emails, texts and phone calls from people who believe that bullying was a contributing factor towards their eating disorders.
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