Eating disorders
A recent article in the i Newspaper (3rd November 2016) by Eve Simmons highlights a real lack of information regarding men with eating disorders.
Statistics appear skewed probably partly by the male psyche and society’s unconscious restrictions on men “owning up” to having any sort of mental health issues. So understandably a lot of eating disorder information is aimed at women but as Eve Simmons article points out “men get eating disorders too.”
Figures from The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence estimate 11% of eating disorder sufferers are male and 6.4 percent of all adults displayed some form of an eating disorder. So as they point out those figures in fact point to more like a 25% figure for males.
The good news is that it is possible to recover from an eating disorder and with the right help and focus remove this often devastating illness from your life.
Here is a copy of the SCOFF questionnaire developed by John Morgan at Leeds Partnerships NHS Foundation Trust that can help sufferers check if they have some or all of these pointers
* Do you ever make yourself sick because you feel uncomfortably full
*Do you worry that you have lost control over how much you eat?
*Have you recently lost more than one stone in a three month period?
*Do you believe yourself to be fat when others say you are thin?
*Would you say that food dominates your life?
According to SCOFF a positive of two or more answers to these questions should raise your awareness of a possible issue.
Mental/health Awareness week will take place May 8 – 14th in 2017.
