Eating disorders linked to bullying suggests new survey
November 20, 2009
New research by the charity Beat suggests that there is a strong link between eating disorders and bullying in young people. The research involved interviews with six hundred people who were suffering from eating disorders such as bulimia, overeating and anorexia. A staggering ninety-one percent of the sixteen to twenty-five-year-olds involved in the study said that they had been the victims of bullying and nearly half of those surveyed said that they believed that bullying had in some way contributed to the fact that they suffered from an eating disorder.
Beat’s chief executive, Susan Ringwood says that the new research shows that diseases like anorexia cannot simply be attributed to young people wishing to look like underweight models or film stars. She says that for most people eating disorders are part of their brain chemistry and genetic make-up but goes on to point out that external factors such as bullying can mess with peoples self esteem and contribute to the onset of eating disorders. The charity says that it is receiving more calls, letters and emails than ever from people who claim that their eating disorder stems from the fact that they are being bullied.
Twenty-three-year-old Sam Thomas says that his eating disorder started when he was at school and the victim of homophobic bullying. He says that he developed bulimia because making himself ill became a way in which he could release his anxieties. Sam now helps other men with eating disorders through his website and says that he believes that many people develop disorders simply as a coping mechanism for bullying.
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