‘Don’t share before and after pictures of weight loss and gain, it’s harmful’, eating disorder campaigner speaks out

EATING disorders have never been a bigger problem in Scotland – with more than 400 adults and dozens of children on NHS waiting lists for treatment.

During the pandemic, the number of teen girls with such illnesses doubled. And in 2023, there were 20,640 people who reported eating disorder symptoms – more than 25 per cent higher than five years earlier.

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It’s hoped Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2024 (EDAW), which runs until Sunday, will play a crucial role in addressing major health issues like anorexia, which has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.

HAYLEY MORRISON, 24, was at death’s door due to the eating disorder and couldn’t even sit down because of the pain.

But the social media star, from Elderslie, Renfrewshire, bravely shared her recovery journey online where viewers were inspired by her determination to get better.

Today, she writes for the Scottish Sun to stress how important awareness of eating disorders is.

TIME is precious when it comes to eating disorders.

The long waiting lists give individuals too much time to decline. And the improbability of full recovery rises consid­er­ably the longer the person has the illness.

As someone who has been exposed to the online community of those both in and out of recovery for several years, this time of year can be triggering.

The large majority have good intentions, aiming to raise awareness of illnesses that are silent killers.

But that said, it can become a toxic environment of before and after photos, low weights and food diaries.

It is important to spread the right message, not to create new problems and build on existing barriers, which further stigma.

Eating disorders are complex mental illnesses and there is nothing glamorous about having one.

Perfectionism and eating disorders tend to be closely associated. This desire to do everything to your best ability can be seen in the way eating disorders present.

Many people seem to care more when you are showing physical signs of struggling in a smaller body.

But those suffering from bulimia, ARFID (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder) or even atypical anorexia, who are not in a body typically aligned with society’s image of what it “looks like” to have an eating disorder, do not provoke the same responses.

These are almost treated with contempt due to historical bias and generalisations.

They carry their own set of devastating physical and emotional effects.

It’s a vicious cycle of torment and shame. It’s like having invisible scars.

For me, and others in similar situations, we thought it was a simple diet that got out of hand.

I remember pleading with my treatment team during a hospital admission that it was merely calorie counting gone too far and that I did not need to be there.

But months later — and after uncomfortably discussing things from years prior — everything started to make sense.

Anorexia materialised as a coping mechanism, a way to control something while everything around me felt out of my control.

An eating disorder monopolises your life and leaves you with nothing but food, behaviours and rules. It provides you with deep gratification and it can take you out of a situation, a job or even just generally removes you from functioning in society — it is an escape that then keeps you safe.

Just like any addict, it becomes your drug of choice.

No two stories are alike. But there is a time and place to tell your story, and this week is not the time for it.

This week, let’s be supporters and advocates and write letters and scream and shout about the injustices. That, still, ­people are dying from eating disorders.

There are no specialist units for eating disorders on the NHS. There are only eating disorder beds within general psychiatric units like the one I was placed in.

I could say my struggles have made me stronger, but they have put me up against things no young person should face.
An eating disorder is not a choice.

Recovery is a battle we face every day. I shouldn’t be spending my young adult life like this, but I am — as are millions.

Let’s change the narrative.

Let’s put the particulars and the details of our own journeys aside for a week.

Let’s leave our before and after pictures in our camera rolls and let’s place value on everyone’s struggle, not only those who got the most physically and mentally unwell. This isn’t a competition — everyone is valid.

The intention of EDAW is not to show how physically unwell you became but to do quite the opposite.

The bottom line is eating disorders can affect anybody in any body.