Seeking help for an eating disorder
Editor - Rachel Armstrong's brave
description of her struggles with an eating disorder and the impact of
her inhuman working conditions1 should break down some
barriers for those who still suffer in silence. None the less, her
creative outlets are not available to everyone. Access to support for
eating disorders can be very difficult for doctors and medical
students, given the perceived need to appear superhuman and the
practical difficulties of getting time off to seek help. However, in
treating medical professionals with eating disorders, I have found
occupational health departments extremely supportive. Paul
Robinson's article on eating disorders in the same issue also
highlights the benefits of certain interventions, especially for
bulimia nervosa, which carries a good prognosis.2 The first
step is the most empowering step, but also the most frightening. Paving
the way for that first step, contact with the Eating Disorder
Association (telephone 01603 621 414) can be particularly useful not
only in helping you to realise that you are not alone but also in
accessing local self help groups.
Eating disorders are common, especially in the caring
professions. As many as one in 20 women have bulimia, and this may be
higher among medical students and doctors. Often eating disorders are
solutions to problems as well as problems in their own right, and the
opportunity to explore the central issues in a neutral, non-judgmental
setting is essential, whether through the creative self expression
described by Dr Armstrong or through more formalised psychotherapy.
Consultants and hospital institutions can be surprisingly sympathetic
to this plight, and there is every reason to seek help.
John F Morgan, senior registrar, Eating Disorder Unit, St George's Hospital Medical School, London SW17 0RE
Email: farnill@hotmail.com
studentBMJ 2000;08:259-302 August ISSN 0966-6494
- Armstrong R. Why I left medicine. studentBMJ 2000;8:205.
- Robinson P. Eating disorders: essential information. studentBMJ 2000;8:189-91.
