Eating disorders: challenges of the pandemic

Summary

This week is Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions. People with eating disorders use food as a way of managing difficult feelings and maintaining control, particularly when life seems uncontrollable.

In March 2020, the world changed in a blink of an eye when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Dr Joanna Silver, Counselling Psychologist, discusses the additional challenges the pandemic brought for many people with eating disorders.

Content

Food challenges

In the early days of the pandemic there were many reports of food shortages. This was extremely anxiety provoking for people with eating disorders who rely on ‘safe foods’ and found that these foods were out of stock. Some people who suffered from binge eating disorders reported that the emphasis on stockpiling foods in case they ran out led to many binges. Some people with eating disorders find it easier to eat out with others and the inability to do this was hard for some.

Staying at home

Various orders to stay at home over the past two years have been challenging. Routines are usually helpful for people with eating disorders and many people felt scared to be at home with their daily routines so changed. 

Many children struggled with school being suddenly cancelled and felt out of touch with their peers. Some children found it difficult having so much time at home and became invested in losing weight as a project and a way of gaining a sense of achievement. Teachers are often excellent at picking up the early signs of eating disorders in children, and many eating disorders went unnoticed during the pandemic.

Some people really struggled when the gyms closed and felt an extra pressure from social media to use lockdown as an opportunity to ‘get fit’.

Managing feelings

Many people felt out of control during the pandemic and experienced a variety of feelings, including fear, loneliness and uncertainty. This led many to turn to food as a way of maintaining an illusion of control.

Treatment challenges

Recent analysis from the Nuffield Trust showed a quadrupling in the number of under-19s waiting for treatment for eating disorders since the start of the pandemic, with more than 2,000 on the waiting list.

For some people, treatment abruptly stopped at the beginning of the pandemic which was extremely disruptive. 

Others were offered remote treatment. Some people really struggled with this and found it difficult to connect to professionals online. Treatment for an eating disorder often involves being weighed by a professional and remote treatment often meant that people had to weigh themselves which was challenging for some.

Despite these challenges, it is important to note that many people find remote treatment extremely effective. Even though many services are now seeing people face to face, many people opt for remote therapy as they find that it is more accessible and flexible.

Conclusion

Sadly, the pandemic has really impacted people with eating disorders and there has been a great demand on eating disorder services. Dr Agnes Ayton, the chair of the eating disorders faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said in a Guardian article in January: “The hidden epidemic of eating disorders has surged during the pandemic, with many community services now overstretched and unable to treat the sheer number of people needing help. We are at the point where we cannot afford to let this go on any longer."

Early intervention is so important in the treatment of eating disorders and I would really encourage people to seek help for themselves or others if they are worried.  I would recommend your GP as a first port of call as well as BEAT which is an excellent charity.

About the Author

Joanna is an experienced Counselling Psychologist with an expertise in Eating Disorders and Body Dysmorphic Disorder. She is the Lead Psychological Therapist at Orri, a  specialist private clinic, for those aged 16+, for expert treatment of Anorexia, Bulimia and Binge Eating Disorder.