….is a website is put together by a group of young women with eating disorders. Each post is reflective of a constant struggle with body image and self esteem. This blog also contains informational posts.
If you want to look at it, follow this link:
Archive for the ‘18 - 35's’ Category
My Eating Disorders….
December 9, 2008Men ‘unhappy’ with their bodies…….
December 9, 2008The following article is provided by the BBC and relates to the programme Manorexia which was shown on BBC2 on Saturday 13 September, at 13.45pm. You may be able to get a repeat on IPlayer. ED in boys and men is often ‘not seen’ as families are often unaware and don’t ‘look’ for it.
By AnthonyBaxter. Revealed Presenter.
One of Britain’s leading eating disorder experts says as many as one in five young men are deeply unhappy with their body image.
Dr John Morgan said that for every man with an eating disorder there were 10 more who desperately wanted to change the way they looked. “One in five young men have some degree of quite extreme distress,” he said. Dr Morgan said he had also seen a big rise in the number of men with anorexia and bulimia. Dr Morgan, who runs the Yorkshire Centre for Eating Disorders in Leeds, told the BBC’s news programme for teenagers, Revealed, that men who were unhappy with their bodies would like to change them.
Eating disorder
While the official estimate for the number of men with an eating disorder stands at around 10-15% of all sufferers, the real figure is much higher. “We know that 1 in 20 young people suffer from some degree of disordered eating and that at least 15% of them are men and yet that’s a tip of an iceberg,” he said. “There are men who have problems with compulsive exercise and excessive bodybuilding who have an illness, but we haven’t defined them. Our definitions of illness have been focused on women, rather than men.”
In 2000, a report for the Eating Disorder Association found that not enough was being done to help care for men with eating disorders. Eight years on Dr Morgan says the situation is now worse. “When the report was written there were some units that had dedicated expertise in male eating disorders. A couple of these have now closed down,” he explained. “There’s a lack of funding, a lack of interest. You’re dealing with a situation where you’re trying to develop a national service for men across the country, but the Health Service is now more focused on the local.”
Seriously ill
At 13, George became seriously ill with anorexia. He says initially doctors didn’t spot the problem. He said: “The diagnosis is very vague, especially in boys. It’s not something that someone would presume was the case. “I was tested for cancer, Aids, gluten allergies, and all various things like that, which really, I knew deep down, were completely irrelevant.” George was eventually admitted to a clinic where he was told he had just four weeks to live. His body had started to eat its own muscles and organs to survive.
“Anorexia dictates everything you do,” George said. “Everything that your healthy mind says is right, ‘You can eat this, it wont make you fat at all, in fact, it’s completely healthy, it’s what normal people do’. “But then anorexia would jump in straight off and be like – ‘What are you doing, this is terrible. You’re driven by an evil, deceiving affliction that’s not good, it’s really wrong’.”Dr John Morgan said he believes images of male beauty in the media are part of the problem, and that there’s now just as much pressure on young men to look slim as there is on women. “The ideal male body image has changed into quite an unhealthy shape,” he admitted.
Huge pressures
In the past blokes have been comfortable with beer bellies. Now, men and boys are under huge pressures to look good.” He explains that while the slim but muscular look, a six-pack, big arms, and a slim waist, has become the cultural ‘norm’, it’s not a naturally obtainable figure. Dr Morgan added: “It’s completely unhealthy, and to achieve that sort of shape you’ve got to be either working out for hours in a gym, making yourself sick, or taking certain kinds of illegal drugs.”
While it’s often actors, models and celebrities who are blamed for putting pressure on the rest of us to look slim, it seems stars are under an equally intensifying amount of pressure.
Marcus O’Donovan is an actor who’s been in Holby City and the recent Narnia film, Prince Caspian. He said getting in shape for a role and enjoying a normal life is very difficult. “The pressure is increasing on everyone to look better and better and better,” Marcus said. “I like to eat, it’s that simple, I love my food, and I do find that I’m quite worried. I have to watch what I eat and make sure that I train. It’s quite difficult to balance that and a really happy lifestyle.”
The Eating Disorder Charity, BEAT says that since May this year, it’s seen a huge increase in the number of men coming forward and asking for help. The charity says it thinks high profiled cases of eating disorders, like John Prescott’s battle with bulimia, encourages more men to seek help.
Revealed Manorexia is on BBC2 on Saturday 13 September, at 13.45pm.
If you’re worried about any of the issues raised in this report and want to talk to someone about it you can call the BBC’s Action Line on 0800 110 100 which is free from UK landlines.
Published: 2008/09/12 06:32:23 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
Grey Thinking…
December 4, 2008….is a mental health blog written by someone with experience of the issues raised, who has a particular interest in eating disorders, and who would like to share positive thinking, ideas and research with others with similar life experiences. Some interesting thoughts here, written in a direct and open way. Well worth a look if ED is your interest.
This is the link: http://greythinking.wordpress.com/
Book Prescription Scheme
October 17, 2008Updating the Book Prescription Scheme
I recently had the opportunity to talk to Dr. Neil Frued at a conference in Powys. I provided him with some feedback on The Book Prescription Scheme – a scheme that many people have benefitted from, some whilst on a waiting list for counselling.
I stated that although the scheme had received lots of positive feedback in terms of GPs, many people found that some of the books were too complicated, or that they were not very easy to read. I also talked to him about the lending library in the Monmouthshire Mental Health Resource Room, where service users and carers can borrow many books, videos and DVDs. I proposed that videos and DVDs would be a good idea for people who have lower levels of literacy, and also people who find concentrating for a long time difficult.
Dr. Frued took these comments on board and asked me if I would help him to get feedback from service users on books which they felt had helped them in their understanding of mental health and illness. He said he was currently in the process of looking at updating the Book Prescription Scheme with the Welsh Assembly Government, and would welcome the views of service users to guide him to the most appropriate materials.
I have send Dr. Frued a list of the current resources available in Monmouthshire, but would like to take people’s individual recommendations on what has been useful for them.
Please can you either reply to this thread via the SpeakEasy in Mons web-blog, or by e-mailing Andrew.Pugh@gavowales.org.uk
Many thanks in advance for your help.
Kind regards,
Andrew
Andrew Pugh
Senior Mental Health Development Officer
Gwent Association of Voluntary Organisations (GAVO)
Ty Derwen, Church Road, Maindee,
Newport, NP19 7EJ.
Tel: 01633 241572
E-mail: Andrew.Pugh@gavowales.org.uk
Web: www.gavowales.org.uk
BBC – ‘Mental risk’ of Facebook teens
September 11, 2008Any comments from Facebook users on the following report?
Children growing up alongside the rise of social networking websites may have a “potentially dangerous” view of the world, says a leading psychiatrist.
Dr Himanshu Tyagi said sites such as Facebook and MySpace may be harmful.
He told the Royal College of Psychiatrists annual meeting people with active online identities might place less value on their real lives.
And the West London Mental Health NHS Trust expert added this could raise the risk of impulsive acts or even suicide.
| It may be possible that young people who have no experience of a world without online societies put less value on their real world identities Dr Himanshu Tyagi West London Mental Health NHS Trust |
Dr Tyagi said that people born after 1990 did not know a world without the widespread use of the internet.
He warned that the current crop of psychiatrists were perhaps not fully prepared to help young people with internet-related problems.
While social networking sites offered great benefits, he said, there were potential pitfalls.
‘Unstimulating’
“It’s a world where everything moves fast and changes all the time, where relationships are quickly disposed at the click of a mouse, where you can delete your profile if you don’t like it, and swap an unacceptable identity in the blink of an eye for one that is more acceptable.”
He said: “People used to the quick pace of online social networking may soon find the real world boring and unstimulating.
“It may be possible that young people who have no experience of a world without online societies put less value on their real world identities and can therefore be at risk in their real lives, perhaps more vulnerable to impulsive behaviour or even suicide.”
He called for more investigation and research into the issue.
However, Graham Jones, a psychologist with an interest in the impact of the internet, said that while over-use of social networking sites could lead to problems, the risks posed by them had been overplayed.
He said: “For every new generation, the experience they have of the world is a different one.
“When the printing press was first invented, I am sure there were crowds of people saying it was a bad thing.
“In my experience, the people who tend to be most active on sites such as Facebook or Bebo are those who are most socially active anyway – it is just an extension of what they are already doing.”
Published: 2008/07/03 12:30:52 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
YouthHealthTalk.org
September 4, 2008VOICE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WITH DEPRESSION
Are you a young person who has experienced depression?
Or do you know a young person who has?
YouthHealthTalk is part of the UK health charity DIPEx that produces the award-winning website for young people; http://www.YouthHealthTalk.org; On the site you can watch, listen or read young people’s real life experiences of health, illness and lifestyle and find reliable information about different health conditions. The site gives a VOICE to young people and helps them know they are not alone with their concerns.
(Sorry but I just cannot get this link to ‘work’ No matter, just type or copy and paste it into the address bar and all should be well. Let me know if not.)
We are now looking for young people help us put together a new site on YOUNG PEOPLE & DEPRESSION. We’d like to hear from young people who are: aged 16-25 have experienced depression or ongoing low mood and would like to share their experiences through an interview or a video or photo diary. Every individual can choose whether they want video, audio or anonymous text version of their interview. They can even have an actor speak their words!
For more information about the project, please contact Ulla. If you then decide you don’t want to take part – no problem! Sharing your experiences can help others in a similar situation to know they are not alone.
Thank you!
email Ulla.Raisanen@dphpc.ox.ac.uk
phone 01865 289324
text 07805 828792
This information provided by Journeys who have been asked to make it available as widely as possible.
Journeys
029 2069 2891
info@journeysonline.org.uk
Truth Hurts – Report of the National Inquiry into Self-harm among Young People
June 22, 2008
The following is an extract from the Executive Summary of the Report, carried out by the Mental Health Foundation. To read the whole report please click the following link:
http://http://www.selfharmuk.org/docs/self%20harm%20report%20lowres.pdf
Self-harm among young people is a major public health issue in the UK. It affects at least one in 15 young people and some evidence suggests that rates of self-harm in the UK are higher than anywhere else in Europe. Self-harm blights the lives of young people and seriously affects their relationships with families and friends. It presents a major challenge to all those in services and organisations that work with young people, from schools through to hospital accident and emergency departments.
Levels of self-harm are one indicator of the mental health and mental well-being of young people in our society in general. Recently there has been a shift in government strategies, across the UK, towards recognising and promoting better mental health and emotional well-being for all children and young people. These initiatives may eventually do a great deal to reduce self-harm among young people but the Inquiry found that implementation to date is patchy and there is not yet an adequate evidence base specific to self-harm.
Change of name and web address.
June 19, 2008Thanks to Andrew for reminding me that Depression Alliance Cymru has now changed its name to Journeys, and the new web address is http://www.journeysonline.org.uk/ The Link pager has been updated.
Shelter Cymru
June 12, 2008Shelter Cymru has a new and local rate Advice line:- 0845 075 5005. Open 9.30 – 4.30 weekdays, and redirection to an emergency number at other times.
