I had anorexia in the 1970s – and it came back in lockdown | Ask Philippa/in /by
The loneliness that triggered this was not your fault, says Philippa Perry. Have self compassion and get professional help

The question In the 1970s, I was anorexic and was in hospital for months as a teenager after being admitted as a medical emergency weighing just 5st. In those days, treatment was harsh, drug-based and punitive in tone.

I recovered to live a fulfilling life. I was married for 30 years, raised two children, worked as a teacher and ended my career as head of a large comprehensive school.

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‘Why don’t you just stop?’: living with Australia’s most common eating disorder/in /by

Binge eating disorder affects many thousands of Australians, and for most it got worse over the pandemic. But few seek help – or even know they have it

Since Sam Ikin was a child his urge to devour food was out of his control. He didn’t want to be fat. “I wanted to look good. But the more I deprived myself of something, the more I craved it,” he says.

In one go, he might end up eating a couple of packets of biscuits or a whole big bag of chips. “You’re not conscious of the quantity that you’re eating, you just want to keep eating. And then once you finish what’s in front of you, you start thinking about what else there is,” he says. He would “come out of it” when he had run out of food, get interrupted or because he had got to the point where he simply could not eat any more.

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Lena Zavaroni: fame, anorexia and the tragedy of a 1970s child star/in /by

Zavaroni was in the charts at 11 and died after years of illness aged 35. Her father talks about their family life as a new stage show about her is about to open

There are a few recordings of television interviews with Lena Zavaroni around online. One with Russell Harty where he comments that her eating disorder must save on restaurant bills and another when Terry Wogan tells her to eat up so she can get back to “your chunky self”.

The little girl with the big voice was 10 when she appeared on Opportunity Knocks – television’s predecessor to Britain’s Got Talent and Pop Idol – singing Ma! He’s Making Eyes at Me, 11 when it was a hit and 13 when she was diagnosed with anorexia, a barely known illness then called the “slimmer’s disease”. Before she died in 1999 the girl from Rothesay on the Scottish island of Bute had hosted her own TV shows, performed at the White House and shared a stage with Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball. She remains the youngest artist ever to have a record in the Top 10 UK albums chart. Lena was huge.

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Lena Zavaroni: fame, anorexia and the tragedy of a 1970s child star/in /by

Zavaroni was in the charts at 11 and died after years of illness aged 35. Her father talks about their family life as a new stage show about her is about to open

There are a few recordings of television interviews with Lena Zavaroni around online. One with Russell Harty where he comments that her eating disorder must save on restaurant bills and another when Terry Wogan tells her to eat up so she can get back to “your chunky self”.

The little girl with the big voice was 10 when she appeared on Opportunity Knocks – television’s predecessor to Britain’s Got Talent and Pop Idol – singing Ma! He’s Making Eyes at Me, 11 when it was a hit and 13 when she was diagnosed with anorexia, a barely known illness then called the “slimmer’s disease”. Before she died in 1999 the girl from Rothesay on the Scottish island of Bute had hosted her own TV shows, performed at the White House and shared a stage with Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball. She remains the youngest artist ever to have a record in the Top 10 UK albums chart. Lena was huge.

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Eating disorders among teen girls doubled during pandemic, CDC study shows/in /by

Another study showed increases in visits related to behavioral health among children aged five to 17

Emergency room visits for eating disorders among 12- to 17-year-old girls doubled during the coronavirus pandemic, according to new research from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – a troubling existing trend that was likely worsened by the stress of living through the prolonged crisis.

“​​We are seeing such a high volume of patients in need of eating disorder care as well as worsening severity,” said Tracy Richmond, a physician and the director of the eating disorder program at Boston Children’s Hospital, who was not involved in the CDC study. “It feels really clear for those of us who take care of teenagers that there is an absolute second pandemic of mental health needs in adolescents.”

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Eating disorders among teen girls doubled during pandemic, CDC study shows/in /by

Another study showed increases in visits related to behavioral health among children aged five to 17

Emergency room visits for eating disorders among 12- to 17-year-old girls doubled during the coronavirus pandemic, according to new research from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – a troubling existing trend that was likely worsened by the stress of living through the prolonged crisis.

“​​We are seeing such a high volume of patients in need of eating disorder care as well as worsening severity,” said Tracy Richmond, a physician and the director of the eating disorder program at Boston Children’s Hospital, who was not involved in the CDC study. “It feels really clear for those of us who take care of teenagers that there is an absolute second pandemic of mental health needs in adolescents.”

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GP: ‘Teenagers at risk due to lack of tailored mental health services’/in /by

Doctor says patients with serious disorders such as anorexia nervosa are being ‘bounced back’ to GPs

Dr David Turner is a GP in Hertfordshire
“A particularly serious problem has arisen with the provision of mental healthcare for children and adolescents over the last 18 months. This is the first time in my 25-year career as a doctor I have felt the need to speak out publicly. I and many other GPs feel the issue has become critical and it is only a matter of time before a child dies.

“Provision of mental healthcare by child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) was never great pre-Covid. Since the pandemic it has become appalling. There are two main reasons for this: underinvestment in mental health services for decades and a spike in demand.

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Women losing their periods because of restrictive diets and excessive exercise/in /by

UK eating disorder charity Beat says problem, fuelled by social media, increasing even among those who are not underweight

An increasing number of women are losing their monthly periods because they are following a social media trend for restrictive diets and excessive exercise, experts say.

Charity heads and nutritionists have raised the alarm about the increase in hypothalamic amenorrhea, a condition where the body enters survival mode because it is under-fuelled, causing menstruation to stop. It is a reversible disorder caused by stress related to weight loss, excessive exercise and trauma.

Martha Williams, a clinical advice coordinator at the leading eating disorder charity Beat, said the condition was becoming more widespread, and was often seen in people who were not underweight and did not have a low body-mass index.

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NHS unable to treat every child with eating disorder as cases soar/in /by

NHS Digital figures for England show 41% rise in hospital admissions of people aged 17 and under

The NHS can no longer treat every child with an eating disorder, a leading psychiatrist has warned, as “worrying” figures reveal hospital admissions have risen 41% in a year.

A dramatic surge in cases during the pandemic has left already struggling community services overstretched with many unable to care for everyone who requires help, experts said.

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David Baddiel and his daughter on his social media addiction: ‘it can reward and punish you’/in /by

Despite the abuse and anger, the comedian spent hours a day online. But then his daughter Dolly became dangerously drawn in. Was it time for a rethink?

Over the past 30 years, I have read and heard David Baddiel’s thoughts on many subjects, including sex, masturbation, religion, antisemitism, football fandom, football hooliganism, his mother’s sex life and his father’s dementia. “I am quite unfiltered,” he agrees, “mainly because I am almost psychotically comfortable in my own skin.” But today I have found the one subject that makes him squirm.

How much time does he spend on social media a day? “Oh, um, too much,” he says, his usual candour suddenly gone. What’s his daily screen time according to his phone? “It says four hours, which is a bit frightening.”

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