Adult sufferers are on the rise among 35-plus

It’s Eating Disorders Awareness Week from February 27 and it has been proven in recent years by the UK’s eating disorders charity B-eat that eating disorders are no longer limited to teenage people or young adults.

It is becoming more widespread among middle-aged adults, and, in particular, those aged 35 upwards.

Within my own counselling practice, during the past 12 months, 71% of my current and past clients presenting primarily with an eating disorder have been aged 35 or over - which may surprise many.

It is all well and good Prime Minister Theresa May promising last month more support for people with mental health problems, encompassing eating disorder sufferers too, however, those promises were aimed specifically at children with eating disorders rather than the wider population.

It also begs the question about what help is there for those at mid-life, when in August 2015, NHS England allocated £30 million to improve eating disorder services solely in order to help children and young people’s mental health and well-being; again where is the help for the older adult eating disorder sufferers amongst us?

Surely their health and wellbeing is of equal importance; and in this day and age when times are hard, we cannot presume that adult sufferers are financially secure or are able to pay for their own treatment just because they are older. From evidence, I believe that the rise in adults at mid-life and beyond presenting primarily with an eating disorder or eating issues is due to more people within this age group undergoing divorce, bereavement, financial hardship and loneliness when children leave home.

There are also some with difficulties in accepting their ageing body, women experiencing difficulties in accepting that their body will usually naturally lay down menopausal fat stores in mid-life, anxieties that people in this age group may experience if they feel that they maybe could have pushed themselves harder and achieved more by their mid-life point, and others with negative feelings about looking older.

At the other end of the spectrum, those at middle age may be experiencing work related stress from holding down high-powered jobs - they may experience struggles to remain competitive in a workplace if they are competing with younger people who may bring fresh ideas and it may be difficult to find time for relationships and hobbies outside of long working hours and those high pressured jobs ... all additional sources of stress and anxiety which may lead to emotional turmoil and disordered eating.

For the majority of middle aged people suffering with the day to day challenges of an eating disorder, it seems they are left to suffer in silence and go unrecognised in the government’s eyes.

At best, these sufferers may be able to access an NHS counsellor who, in the majority of cases, will only be able to offer to see a sufferer for a maximum of six sessions of counselling, which is a drop in the ocean when the majority of eating disorders sufferers typically require a minimum of six months of weekly counselling treatment sessions; particularly as mid-life sufferers have most likely suffered with disordered eating for years before seeking help and with it being recognised, as stated by B-eat in 2014, that the longer the eating disorder has been in place, the longer it takes to eradicate.

So what the NHS can offer this age group for free is not ideal.

Where is the financial help and recognition for mid-life eating disorder sufferers, particularly for those who are unemployed or are on low incomes; and when will their mental health be taken as seriously as their young adult and teenage counterparts?

During Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2017, let us share the awareness across all of the age groups and not let awareness be confined to children, teenagers and young people.

Eating disorders do not discriminate, choose or limit which age groups they will affect or who will be affected; that depends largely on life experiences, traumas, family experiences, childhood unhappiness and emotional issues.

I offer free initial consultation appointments during Eating Disorders Awareness Week, February 27 to March 5.

Lynn Moore Food For Thought Eating

Disorders Counselling Service Yorkshire Business Centre Auborough Street

Scarborough