Common misconceptions

When looking through some of the media on eating disorders and reading some people's thoughts and attitudes on the subject; I felt that it was necessary to try and dispel some of the myths surrounding eating disorders. There are also some important facts, that it seems a lot of people do not know and have not considered.

"Anorexia is the most common eating disorder"
No. 1.6 million people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder, 10% of theses people suffer from anorexia making it the rarest eating disorder.

"Only women suffer from eating disorders"
This is a common misconception that is not at all true. The condition can affect anyone, including men. Around 15-20% of cases involve boys and men. Figures suggest that out of the 1.6 million sufferers, 1.4 million are female and 180,000 are male. So, although females are at the highest risk, males suffer too.

"Eating disorders are just an extreme fad diet."
Not at all. An eating disorder is a serious mental illness that can take over and claim lives. They have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness and 20% of sufferers die prematurely.

"It's obvious when you look at someone if they have an eating disorder"
A mental illness means that it is a persons thoughts and feelings that are involved. Not everybody suffering from an eating disorder will be obviously underweight or will look ill. Often they can go undetected, particularly bulimia.

"You can never recover from an eating disorder."
Eating disorders are treatable and you can make a full recovery. Early treatment is important, the sooner a person gets the help they need, the more likely they are to make a full recovery.

"Eating disorders are caused by the modern day pressure on body image."
There are several factors that interact that play a role in the onset of an eating disorder and although our social and cultural environment plays a part in this, it is not the only factor. Also, eating disorders are not a modern phenomena, they were first observed and recorded in the 15th century.

"An eating disorder is just attention seeking."
Someone with an eating disorder does not choose to be ill, they can find it very difficult to accept that they are ill and seeking help can be a huge challenge.