Youth eating disorder calls on rise

Worries about body image have led to a rise in the number of young people contacting Childline about eating disorders, new figures show.

The NSPCC service carried out 5,934 counselling sessions across the UK about eating disorders and eating problems in 2017-18, up 22 per cent on the previous year.

Childline counsellors dealt with 231 contacts from young people in Scotland about eating disorders during the period.

Young girls were the overwhelming majority of those who got in touch.

Nearly one in six counselling sessions mentioned anorexia. One in ten mentioned bulimia and almost a third mentioned negative or distorted body image.

Childline said thousands of other calls about mental health issues discussed eating disorders or problems, bringing the total number of sessions referencing the subject in 2017-18 to 11,752. The charity said social media was putting pressure on some youngsters.

Leanne Ferries, Childline manager for the Aberdeen base, said: “Young people tell us that they feel under pressure to look a certain way and live a certain life and it’s worrying that we are seeing so many children contact us about eating disorders as a result.”