According to an article in the Independent, an increasing number of women in their 50’s and beyond are being treated for anorexia and other eating disorders. Youthful looking older celebrities (including Madonna and Sharon Stone) have been linked to older women having unrealistic expectations of how they should look as they age.

Anorexia is most commonly associated with young teenagers, however Ursula Philpot (chairman of the British Dietetic Association’s Mental Health group) has commented that “older women now make up at least 10% of eating disorder patients”. It was also suggested that these statistics could be a result of better diagnosis, however this remains unclear at present.

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Networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace are being urged to clamp down on pro-anorexia sites. A spokesperson for MySpace said they were working with organisations such as B-eat, but believe it is “hard to distinguish between support groups and pro-anorexia groups”.

According to an article on the BBC website, over 1.1 million Britons are known to suffer from an eating disorder, however experts believe the numbers could actually be much higher as many cases go undiagnosed.

The rise of the Internet and new media has helped individuals easily access information on how to get thin, and Susan Ringwood from B-eat said they “were not calling for such sites to be banned completely, but for greater awareness of the dangers and for more support online so the sites are not the ‘only refuge’”.

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National figures have shown that over a 13 month period, 206 children under the age of 12 were treated for an eating disorder in Britain and Ireland. One girl of just six years old showed signs of an eating disorder, including food avoidance, fear of weight gain and excessive exercising, however was not officially diagnosed with anorexia as she wasn’t severely underweight.

Figures from research conducted at the Paediatric Surveillance Unit estimated that 3.5 children in every 100,000 in the UK are treated for an eating disorder. The youngest child to be diagnosed with anorexia was eight years old.

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Young girls are crying out for help – last year one in six calls to a 24 hour mental health helpline came from young girls considering suicide. Depression, eating disorders sexual abuse and bullying seemed to be some of the main problems affecting young girls – according to the article on the BBC website, rates of depression and anxiety have increased among young people in the UK by 70% in the last 25 years. That’s a huge percentage, and an extremely worrying one.

Joelle Leader, assistant director of ChildLine said “At the moment, there are simply not enough therapeutic services for children with these problems, and we are urging the government to give this issue urgent attention.”

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According to the American Psychological Association, sexualisation can be harmful for young girls. An article on the BBC defines sexualisation as “…occurring when a person’s value comes only from her or his sexual appeal or behaviour, to the exclusion of other characteristics, and when a person is portrayed purely as a sex object.”

Television, magazines, music videos and video games all have a detrimental effect according to the report, and sexualisation can lead to depression, lack of confidence and eating disorders. The media’s portrayal of young women as sex objects negatively affects young girls in many ways, including “cognitive functioning, physical and mental health, and healthy sexual development.”

The task force from the American Psychological Association called on parents, health professionals and school officials to be aware of the potential impact sexualisation may have on young girls. They also said the government has a responsibility to reduce the use of sexualised images in the media.

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According to an article on the BBC, individuals claiming incapacity benefit because of mental illness has hit an all time high of £1.1m. The government said spending on mental health had risen by 25% in five years.

Figures show that claimants are now younger and more likely to be female and that drug and alcohol problems, eating disorders, stress and depression are increasingly becoming reasons for claims.

Spending more money on early intervention in mental health services was suggested to save money spent on benefits.

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Experts are now seeing younger and younger children with eating disorders such as anorexia. There has recently been lots of media attention on “size zero” models, and the government has even attacked fashion for undermining the confidence of girls. But is fashion really the cause? An article written on the BBC explores the thoughts of young girls suffering with anorexia.

One young girl, Natasha, believes models and fashion have nothing to do with why she stopped eating, and it is her own personal view of herself that is important to her. Natasha was admitted to Rhodes Farm Clinic after her weight fell to less than four and a half stone. Since Rhodes Farm clinic opened 16 years ago it has seen the average age of clients drop, and now even treats those as young as eight.

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According to an article on BBC News, more than 80,000 people in Scotland are believed to be suffering from eating disorders. This has prompted NHS Quality Improvement Scotland to set out treatment plans for conditions such as anorexia and bulimia. The guidelines are welcomed by campaigners, but greater funding has been called for.

Mark Reilly from EDA agreed that treatment in Scotland was “sadly lacking” compared to the rest of the UK, and also welcomed the new guidelines. The guidelines made “recommendations for treating teenagers and warned about inaccurate information on the internet.”