Adult survivors of abuse and eating disorders

February 1st, 2010 by Jayne Cox

Reaching adulthood after childhood experience of any form of abuse takes immense courage and can be a painful and lonely journey. If you’ve developed an eating disorder, anorexia, bulimia, emotional eating or used food to cope with abuse, then you are not alone. Sadly it’s quite common for clients to tell me how they’ve held their ‘secrets’ for many years in fear of reprisals, that their disclosures will hurt their families or in fear that they wouldn’t be believed. How can they possibly expect anyone to understand the devastation, pain and hurt of something that happened years ago?

The truth is it often feels like the abuse is still happening, the mention of a name, a smell, photographs, family reunions, almost anything can trigger a flash back. It's hardly suprising that survivors look for ways to cope with these distressing thoughts and feelings, however damaging these mechanisms may be. The good news is we're talking about it now and there is professional help out there. I would always recommend you seek support with your journey to wellbeing and this can take the form of therapy/coaching or informative websites and helplines. If you’ve suffered any kind of abuse and subsequently developed an eating disorder or distress, you needn’t be alone and it may be you start the day by telling someone you trust about your 'secret'. It’s a positive first step.

Resources that may be helpful include:

www.napac.org.uk The Nationally Association for Children Abused in Childhood

www.safelinewarwick.co.uk UK Charity offering information and support

www.sasian.org Information on sibling abuse

www.b-eat.co.uk Uk largest resource for eating disorders information

www.aest.org.uk/survivors/male Male survivors support

www.mengetedstoo.co.uk A website dedicated to supporting Males with eating disorders


You’re not alone, today we’ll move clouds, tomorrow mountains...