Today is International No Diet Day. One of the questions many people have is how do you diagnose an eating disorder?
This occurs for people who become concerned about a friend, a child or themselves. Most people find going to the text books unhelpful as the categories can be confusing and varied. This is complicated further by the many variations of eating disorder that exist, e.g. anorexia, bulimia etc. All of which can present very differently and can be therefore difficult to spot.
Eating Disorders are not simply disorders of eating, nor a misguided attempt to be thin nor about vanity. Eating disorders are serious mental health disorders
Eating disorders have long been perceived as a disorder of the female population however the existence of eating disorders among men has been referred to as far back as the 17th century. It is estimated that 10% of all referrals for eating disorders are men but this figure is inconsistent across the literature and the reported figures are anything from 5% - 25%
