Eating disorder sufferers starved of support
I have been at this University for nearly two years. I know where to get toasties if I’m hungry on a Tuesday night, where I can find condoms, chlamydia tests, booklets on plagiarism and pens with the number for the National Student Survey on them. I have never, however, received any guidance about how to cope with eating disorders. No booklets, no talks, nothing.
Recent figures reveal an 80% rise in the number of young girls admitted to hospitals in the UK with an eating disorder in the last decade. It is estimated to effect 1.1 million people in the UK, and in my experience, nearly every person you talk to can tell a heartbreaking story about a cousin, a sister, or a friend. It’s a widespread illness which tears families apart, and it’s shocking that at York there isn’t a more open acceptance and a visible support network available.
When we arrive at university, fresh-faced and eager, we embrace a freedom otherwise unknown to us. We can stumble home at three in the morning and no one will blink an eye. We can stay in bed until midday and it’s considered a social norm. After 18 years of closeting in the nest, we’re finally free to spread our wings and, accountable to no one, we embrace it wholeheartedly. But it’s easy to forget how vulnerable we are too. Suddenly, we’re surrounded by strangers and we don’t have the support system offered by a family or the pastoral care offered in a school environment. Whilst some relish it, it can be hard for others to cope, especially those for whom an eating disorder has already been a part of their life. Without constraint, they are now free to eat and exercise as they like, and it can have fatal consequences.
Whilst it might seem an awkward thing to attempt, creating a system of recognition and support is essential for students in need. Without family, friends are often unable to cope and ill-equipped to deal with the mental and physical torments of a eating disorder, and the student can slip through the welfare net without anyone really realising it. The gym seems a good enough place to start as any. Universities like Durham and Leeds seem to have the idea, with a well-trained support staff available to spot the danger signs and pull the student into a net of support before it gets too late. A similar system is not an option for York, it is a necessity. Grassroots awareness needs to improve and build from the bottom up, so that young people suffering from eating disorders feel that there is someone to turn to, and even if they can’t or don’t want to seek help, they have friends who know what to do and where to go for them. So, with Freshers’ Week looming near once more, let’s see some different topics on the welfare booklets this year.
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Hear hear.
I’d add, some would observe that external support processes cannot replace internal support processes, and that the latter are spurred by reflection of the disastrous consequences of eating disorders – within the afflicted individual and also on their nearest and dearest.
Other behavioural disorders such as depression are ultimately resolved, according to my experience, by the resolve of the afflicted individual. This is because the root of the problem is buried the character of the individual and techniques to reform character by external means are undesirable and tortuous!