Eating disorders and the help available will be in the national spotlight from 1 – 7 March 2021.

National Eating Disorder Week is held each year and is organised by eating disorder charity BEAT. Oxford Health will be supporting the week on social media to raise the profile locally, so be sure to keep an eye on the Trust’s social media accounts.

This year’s main theme is binge eating – a disorder that will affect one in fifty people in their lifetime. It is actually the most common eating disorder but also the least understood. It isn’t about being greedy or lacking in willpower, but a serious mental illness which many suffer with alone, often with the fear of how others might react the reason they don’t reach out for help.

You can find out more about binge eating on the BEAT website here – https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/types/binge-eating-disorder

Viki Laakonen, Oxford Health’s Deputy Medical Director and Medical Lead for the CAMHS Eating Disorder in BSW, said: “Eating Disorder Week is really important as it raises the profile and hopefully helps more people to identify when they or someone they love has a problem.

“By spotting the warning signs you can get on the pathway to treatment and wellness.

“Eating disorders span both physical and mental health and people who suffer from them can face other kinds of ill health and even premature death, so it is really important to catch it early.

“The BEAT charity has put together a simple checklist to help people spot possible eating disorders and I’d suggest that if you do just one thing for Eating Disorder Week it would be to familiarise yourself with it.”

• Lips – Are they obsessive about food?
• Flips – Is their behaviour changing?
• Hips – Do they have distorted beliefs about their body size?
• Kips – Are they often tired or struggling to concentrate?
• Nips – Do they disappear to the toilet after meals?
• Skips – Have they started exercising excessively?

You can find more information on spotting an eating disorder on the BEAT website at https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/tips

Oxford Health will be sharing and posting its own content over the week, so be sure to keep an eye on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.