It s an ugly illness. It brings on ugly things and it just brings darkness into your life.
Róisín Doyle, 20, a first-year student at NUI Galway has struggled with anorexia and bulimia for five years. An eating disorder is something that wants you all to itself. It doesn t want you to enjoy life, Róisín explained.
March 1 to March 7 is Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which aims to draw awareness to the seriousness and complexity of eating disorders.
According to the HSE, in Ireland, over 188,000 people will have experienced an eating disorder at some point in their lives.
An article in the Irish Medical Journal earlier this year noted there was a 66% increase in admissions with eating disorders in 2020 compared to 2019.