Eating disorders

What is an eating disorder

An eating disorder is a mental health condition and can negatively affect physical health, psychological and emotional wellbeing and day-to-day activities, such as friendships, interests and school. Anyone can get an eating disorder, but teenagers between 13 and 17 are mostly affected.

The most common symptoms of an eating disorder are disordered eating behaviour and a preoccupation with body image. It is more than just going on a diet and can take over your life.

Signs of eating disorders

Eating disorders can be different from person to person. The general signs include:

spending a lot of time worrying about your weight and body shape
secretive behaviour around food
self-consciousness when eating in front of others
making yourself sick or taking laxatives after you eat
low self-esteem
sudden or drastic changes in diet
large changes in weight, both up and down
perfectionism
irritability and mood swings
tiredness
social isolation
feelings of shame, guilt and anxiety
exercising a lot
going to the bathroom a lot after eating

Specific eating disorders

Anorexia nervosa

If you experience Anorexia Nervosa, you restrict how much you eat to the point that your body is not getting the energy and nutrition it needs to be healthy. Alongside this, there is usually a strong fear of gaining weight and distorted ideas about how you look.

Bulimia nervosa

If you experience Bulimia Nervosa, you may find that you eat lots of food at once, sometimes feeling like you cannot stop. This is called bingeing, and often comes after feeling low, upset or worried. You may then feel guilty or ashamed after bingeing and do things to try and get rid of the food, which is called purging.

Binge eating disorder

Binge eating disorder means eating large quantities over a short period of time, even if you aren't hungry or feel like you don't want to do it, you feel out of control of the binge. Afterwards you may feel shame, distress or guilt.

Avoidant or restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID)

ARFID is when someone avoids certain foods, limits how much they eat or does both. Beliefs about weight or body shape are not reasons why people develop ARFID. Possible reasons for ARFID include negative feelings over the smell, taste or texture of certain foods.

Atypical eating disorder or other specified feeding and Eeating disorder (OSFED)

This means you meet some but not all the criteria for an eating disorder like Bulimia or Anorexia or have a combination of symptoms from more than one. Atypical or OSFED can be a confusing diagnosis. It can seem like you are being told your problems are not as serious as other eating disorders, but this is not true. Atypical/OSFED is just as serious.

Causes

The development of an eating disorder is quite complicated. Eating disorders can be triggered by lots of different things such as:

a person's genetics
their biology
stressful life events at home
school or friendships
trying to cope with difficult emotions

Often it can be a combination of all these things. We do know that anyone of any age, can develop an eating disorder.

Eating Disorder clinic

The Eating Disorder clinic is held every Tuesday from 9am to 8pm at Liberté House, La Motte Street, St Helier.

Parent's and young people are invited to the clinic for assessment, review, monitoring of physical health, psychological progress, concerns and pharmacological intervention, if appropriate.

Additional support outside of the clinic will be offered where clinically indicated. This may include dietetic support, individual one to one sessions or family therapy, subject to waiting list.

Eating disorder pathway

Accessing the eating disorder service

Referrals can be made by your GP, healthcare professional or educational professional.

Received referrals

All referrals to CAMHS are processed during a weekly meeting. They are screened by management to determine the appropriate pathway for each young person. If Eating Disorder Service is indicated the following flowchart will be followed:

Assessment
Community Treatment	A combination of treatments depending on what is best for the individual, following the NICE recommended family based approach where possible.
Inpatient	Used as a last resort when treatment in the community is no longer safe, effective or the physical risk is too high. At this point a stay in in Hospital may be needed, but this would always be discussed with you first.
Intensive Support	This may be required if a young person's physical or mental health means they need additional support in the community.

Eating disorder team

The eating disorder team have specialist training and experience in working with children and young people with significant eating disorders.

We help young people to work towards recovery from their eating disorder by providing evidence-based support to manage physical, psychological, emotional and mental wellbeing.

Consultant Psychiatrist
Specialist Nurse Practitioner
Psychologist
Family Therapist
Psychotherapist
Dietician
Health Care Assistant
administration staff

We provide a range of treatments techniques, which are evidence based and recovery focused:

collaborative working with young persons and their family
regular clinic appointments with consultant and nurse to monitor physical observations, review progress and determine future care plan
where clinically indicated, support outside of clinic will be offered for family therapy, skills group or individual therapy sessions.