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An Interview With a 22-Year Old Female With Eating Disorders



Do you want to know what is it like to deal with eating disorders? Then read this interview. We talked to a 22-year old sales school student who enjoys playing in cuddling with animals (any kind, any time), watching series and drawing. Her struggle with eating disorders started in 2012, when she was 15. After 7 years her condition is much better, although her battle is not completely over, yet. According to the American Psychological Association (2017) eating disorders are characterised by severe disturbances in eating behaviours and related thoughts and emotions. People with eating disorders typically become pre-occupied with food and their body weight. Keep reading if you are interested in her answers.

  1. How would you describe your mental disorder?
It’s sometimes like you don’t want to eat although your body needs the food, other times it’s like you know you have to eat but your body doesn’t let you. For every meal you struggle and fight before, after and/or in between.

  1. Are you or were you in treatment for your disorder?
Yes, I was in treatment with a psychologist for a bit less than a year in 2014, but I’m now done with that.

  1. How has living with the condition shaped who you are today?
In a way it makes you stronger, because now I know what my weakness is and I can fight it more easily, in another way it destroyed my digestion.

  1. In what way did your disorder have the biggest influence/impact on your life?
The biggest effect was, and still is, that food controls my life. I love food, but it is also my enemy in a way.

  1. What was your opinion about yourself in the beginning of the disorder and now?
I thought I was fat and ugly, although others didn’t see me as such. And I felt like I didn’t deserve to eat. Why would you waste food on me? But now I don’t feel like I’m fat, although there are still times when I think I should lose some weight.

  1. What would you like the world to know regarding mental disorders?
Even though it’s true that they are in our heads it doesn’t mean they aren’t real. They are and many people still don’t understand that.

  1. What kind of reaction do you normally get from people if you tell them about your mental disorder?
I didn’t really get questions regarding my eating disorders, so I never really had to talk about them and, therefore, didn’t get any reactions.

  1. In case you had to tell someone, what reaction would you like to get?
I don’t think I want or wanted a reaction, because anything anyone would say would encourage me to proceed with what I was doing or trigger a defensive reaction.

  1. How does or did the disorder affect your close personal relationships?
With not enough nutrients and energy you freak out about almost everything, no matter how important it really is, so there are a lot of problems with family members, but it didn’t really affect my friendships.

  1. How could people help you?
They could help me by not forcing me to eat and by understanding that if I don’t eat for a day it doesn’t mean I’ll relapse.

  1. What helped you the most?
I think what helped me most was knowing I had people around me, that they supported me. So yeah, knowing I had support was really the best help.

  1. Would you like to add anything else?
Yes, I would like to add that not only skinny people can have an eating disorder, overweight people can have it just as well, although most people don’t believe this.

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