disordered eating

We don’t know how many Australians have eating disorders, and that’s a worry

Last week, federal health minister Greg Hunt announced that more than 60,000 Australians will be asked about their mental health and well-being as part of the Intergenerational Health and Mental Health Study. The mental health survey will be run in 2020, with new data on how common mental illness is due the year after. This [...]

Getting teens to follow strict diets in the Fast Track trial is risky, but so is obesity itself

The Fast Track to Health study is a year-long dietary trial in adolescents with obesity. Since it started in Sydney and Melbourne at the end of 2018, it has been criticised for increasing the risk of eating disorders in people who may be especially vulnerable to these conditions. Sydney-based clinical psychologist Louise Adams started up [...]

I Finally See That Calorie Counting Worked Against Me

Pixabay Images Puberty had hit me hard. My body wasn't changing, it had changed – I just woke up one morning to find stretch marks and curves. I no longer looked like my friends, in fact I stuck out like a sore thumb. Once my mum found me crying. I hated my body. I [...]

The Unique Body Image Problem Posed By Social Media

iStock Images Social media is a strange beast. Consider the app, Facetune, which makes the application of Valencia seem like child's play. Facetune is the Photoshop of selfies; it allows you to retouch your skin, add make-up, whiten your teeth, widen your mouth, change your eye colour, change your hair and basically make [...]

‘At First, She Just Missed Breakfast’: Living With My Sister’s Eating Disorder

Hugh Johnson for the Guardian The siblings of those with anorexia or other eating disorders are often overlooked. The UK’s leading eating disorder charity, Beat, has described siblings as the “forgotten victims”. In one report on the charity’s website, eight teenagers with anorexic sisters were interviewed about their experiences. All were negatively affected, [...]

Attention, Teenagers: Nobody Really Looks Like That

Flikr Images The universal truth of puberty and adolescence is body change, and relatively rapid body change. Teenagers have to cope with all kinds of comparisons, with their peers, with the childhood bodies they leave behind, and with the altered images used in advertising and in the self-advertising on social media. It may [...]

Go to Top