The NHS needs to stop telling people with eating disorders to lose weight if they want help telegraph.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from telegraph.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
BMI test unsuited to males with anorexia
Denying people with eating disorders help until their body mass index is low enough is particularly dangerous for male patients, writes one parent
‘A tenth of anorexia nervosa sufferers are male. They have lower fat reserves, and their irreducible skeleton is a larger proportion of their body weight.’ Photograph: Gaetan Charbonneau/Getty Images
‘A tenth of anorexia nervosa sufferers are male. They have lower fat reserves, and their irreducible skeleton is a larger proportion of their body weight.’ Photograph: Gaetan Charbonneau/Getty Images
Letters
Tue 6 Apr 2021 12.27 EDT
Last modified on Tue 6 Apr 2021 13.02 EDT
How social media use shapes mental health
Summary
Harmful effects attendant to the information age has been the subject of serious scientific enquiries for a number of years.
Even accepting the fact that generally the digital space is more beneficial than harmful, it is none the less important to check on the potential mental health consequences of social media.
For some years now, a number of studies have found a relationship between the use of social media and some mental disorders.
Wednesday April 07 2021
Summary
Harmful effects attendant to the information age has been the subject of serious scientific enquiries for a number of years.
Dr Agnes Ayton, the chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists eating disorders faculty, and the mental health campaigner Hope Virgo shared a briefing paper with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) urging funding to meet demand and “as a direct result of an increase in the number and severity” of patients during the pandemic. The paper, seen by the Guardian, said there had been a significant increase in eating disorders among ethnic minorities and men.
Concern has been raised about “a state of emergency” for eating disorders, the briefing paper said. Hospital admissions have seen a fourfold increase in the last year without extra investment in specialist eating disorder inpatient services during this time, it added.
Lockdown made me realise I had a drinking problem
As a new study reveals a spike in those seeking help, one writer reveals how the pandemic was a wake-up call for her.
5 April 2021 • 6:25pm
Melanie Sims: ‘I wasn’t wetting the bed, I wasn’t drinking with breakfast - but did I have control? No. And that meant I had a problem’
If you asked most people to imagine their pre-pandemic selves, they’d probably look back and long for that carefree time. But I wouldn’t. Because the pre-pandemic me usually had a drink in her hand, and it’s only in lockdown, aged 48, that I’ve realised what a problem that was.