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E.D.contact
is
a group of parents, carers and friends of Eating Distress sufferers.
Some
of us have gone, some of us are still going through the enormous
trauma and
confusion
of
experiencing Eating Distress.
In this difficult time we feel DESPAIR, GUILT and PAIN,
where do we
go and what can we do? This can be a very hard time for families
to see their
wonderful
children suffering from anorexia - bulimia - over eating. It seems
there is very little help
available
and even less understanding of Eating distress.
We
always have to bear in mind , that Eating Disorders - as manifested in
psychological
handbooks - are only describing the behaviour around food. If this is
not understood, the sufferer
is left so desperately alone with one of the most horrific
psychological conditions - Eating Distress
!
Psychiatric wards, where the main objective is
an increase in weight, are not the answer. On a wider
international
level it is more than clear among
sufferers, professionals and parents alike that these
weight-gaining
programmes are utterly out-dated, inappropriate and counter
productive.
Eating Distress is not a food problem or even a diet gone wrong.
Eating Distress is not a gender
issue. Men are affected also.
Eating Distress is nobody's fault, therefore nobody is to be blamed.
There is a growing awareness in the media and among health board
officials about the different
types of Eating Disorders
such as Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia
Nervosa, Binge-Eating Disorder and other
forms
of Eating Disorders, but these are only descriptions of the sufferers
difficulties around food and
say
very little or even nothing about the underlying condition-
Eating
Distress.
Often sufferers use food as a means of expressing their
emotional distress.
In our website we
will use both - Eating Distress and Eating Disorder - but we prefer the word
Eating Distress to the label Eating Disorder.
Sufferers are not out of order,
sufferers are distressed.
Sufferers are often seen as being
manipulative and attention seeking, selfish with very little self
esteem.
In reality
Eating Distress sufferers are very strong spirited, sensitive,
creative and kind
human
beings, who lost the ability to cope with life, who lost the ability
to know how to live, how to
feel
self worth and the core of their own existence.
Sometimes
the sufferer can't feel the sense of his/her self at all anymore.
He/she feels only pain and
confusion, which is a most traumatic experience. The sufferers daily
reality is the
negative assumption about her/him self, and the control around food
takes over the mind.
The sufferer
needs help and understanding and definitely not to be labelled.
Difficulties around food can be
a negative and self-destructive coping mechanism of a very
sensitive human soul. But if the sufferer feels to be understood and
unconditionally respected
as the wonderful human being she/he is, and with the necessary
financial support, professional
help ( not only weight gain programmes and medication ) and above all
- love, full
recovery is
possible.
With
the rising statistical figures of eating disorders in Ireland anyone in any walk of life
could find themselves having to deal with this trauma.
As sufferers, parents, teachers, doctors,
nurses, therapists, social workers, health board officials, health
insurance companies and
politicians we all should work together regardless of any personal or
professional differences .
WE ALL ARE ONE TEAM !
To be aware of the " problem "
is just one side of the coin. To act and take necessary
steps
towards a change is the other even more
important one.
Many changes are needed in Ireland regarding treatment facilities and
programmes, but what it is
need most of all is a better understanding of Eating Distress in general.
Every sufferer should be given the same opportunity to recover from
an eating distress
irrespective of status,
income or address
With this website we would like to reach out and give support with
practical
information;
where
to
go, where to find help. We would like to share our experiences.
We
in E.D.contact believe we just can't accept things as they are, we
believe we have a
responsibility to work towards necessary changes. All awareness about
eating disorders in
general is only a lip service as long as it doesn't help directly the
eating distress sufferers and their
families, who
need help so desperately.
Click on links below to find information about:
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