Suffolk charity issues advice for people with Eating Disorders ahead of Christmas
One of the things they suggest is being open and honest about your anxieties
As Christmas approaches, Debbie Watson, founder of East of England-based not-for-profit Wednesday’s Child, has offered guidance for people struggling with eating disorders and their families.
Advice to those struggling
Watson urged those affected to focus on the social and festive aspects of the season rather than letting food dominate their thoughts. She said:
“Try to make the focus less about the food and more about the fun, the frivolity and the seasonal occasion of family coming together. The trouble with an eating disorder is that we put it on a pedestal. We make it front and centre of everything we do in life.”
She highlighted the anxiety the festive season can trigger for someone with an eating disorder:
“While we're going through that terrible journey with the illness… anything that has in the element of the construct, like the Christmas period has food front and centre, it makes it all the more frightening, scary, horrifying for that person that's in the middle of that illness.”
Watson encouraged people to recognise the “eating disorder voice” when it prompts avoidance of social events:
“A year from now, do you want to be the person who's continued to withdraw from your friends, from your family, from your social life because of this terrifying illness? …Everyone we see through Wednesday's Child who gets on the road of recovery says I am so glad I learnt to dial down that voice and just let my friends and my family be the people I was interacting with, not the eating disorder.”
She also stressed the importance of relationships, which can be severely affected by an eating disorder:
“How many relationships get destroyed by having an eating disorder? And that might be spouses, it might be siblings, it might be parent-child relationships. And that's just because in a way that eating disorder becomes… almost like that more important person. It is the priority relationship when that person is in cognitive malfunction because they are malnourished, they are prioritising their eating disorder behaviours.”
"Christmas is never perfect"
Finally, Watson offered reassurance for those facing the pressures of the festive season:
“Christmas is never perfect. There will always be something that will go wrong. You will either hate your Christmas present, the Turkey will be awful, or you'll spill red wine down your best dress. Something will go wrong, so just cut yourself some slack. It's not going to be perfect, but you can make it wonderful.”
Wednesday’s Child provides support for people affected by eating disorders across the East of England.
Help for eating disorders
BEAT- Eating disorder charity.
Email: [email protected]
Call: 0808 801 0677
NHS Adult Eating Disorder Service
If you are in need of urgent help or medical advice for yourself or someone else please contact 999 or the Samaritans on 116 123 if you or someone else is in immediate danger. If you are looking for medical advice contact your GP or 111.