What Are Eating Disorders?

Eating disorders involve unhealthy patterns of eating, which can show up in different ways, such as:

• Strictly limiting how much food you eat
• Eating a lot of food in one go (bingeing)
• Getting rid of food by making yourself sick or using laxatives
• Fasting or skipping meals
• Exercising too much
• Or a mix of these behaviours

For many young people, body weight and shape can feel really important and even affect their self-esteem. Things like peer pressure, the media, and social media can make this worse by pushing ideas about body shape, dieting, and weight loss.

Sometimes, controlling food feels like a way to manage difficult emotions or stressful situations. If you have an eating disorder, you might find yourself constantly thinking about food, calories, and setting strict rules around what, when, and where you eat.

Types of Eating Disorders

There are three main types of eating disorders:

• Anorexia nervosa (anorexia)
• Bulimia nervosa (bulimia)
• Binge eating disorder

Anorexia is the most common eating disorder among teenagers, and it’s a serious illness. It has the highest death rate of any mental health condition. In the U.K., young women are especially at risk, but boys can develop it too. With anorexia, you might become obsessed with controlling your body weight, which leads to extreme dieting and over-exercising.

Bulimia usually starts in late adolescence. It involves cycles of bingeing (eating large amounts of food) and purging (trying to get rid of the food by vomiting, using laxatives, or excessive exercise). Bulimia often becomes a way to cope with difficult emotions, like stress or anger.

Binge eating disorder is another serious condition, though it’s less common in young people. It involves eating large amounts of food in one sitting, but unlike bulimia, it’s not followed by purging.

How Do Eating Disorders Affect Mental Health?

Eating disorders aren’t just about food—they’re mental health conditions.

With anorexia, the psychological effects often appear before the physical ones. You might become overly focused on your body weight and develop a distorted view of how you look. Anxiety, especially about eating in front of others, is common. Other mental health conditions, like depression or OCD, can also occur.

With bulimia, the bingeing and purging cycles can take over your life and make it harder to maintain relationships. Since many people with bulimia are a ‘normal’ weight, it can be easy to hide, which makes it difficult for others to notice.

If you’re struggling with anorexia or bulimia, you might feel a lot of shame and keep your symptoms secret, which can make it even harder to get help.

Identifying the Signs

Here are some signs that may indicate an eating disorder:

• Skipping meals or saying you’ve already eaten when you haven’t
• Avoiding eating around others
• Eating very slowly
• Regularly going to the bathroom after meals
• Withdrawing from social activities
• Refusing to join in with P.E. or other physical activities

There are also some physical signs, like:

• Thinning hair
• Dry skin
• Wearing baggy clothes to hide your body
• Frequently complaining about feeling cold

If you notice these signs in yourself or a friend, it’s important to talk to someone who can help. Eating disorders can also affect your mood, making you feel low, irritable, or cause unpredictable mood swings.