How can we help?
What is an eating disorder?
Eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and “other specified feeding or eating disorders”.
- Thinking about food all the time
- Dieting
- Missing meals
- Eating alone
- Counting calories
- Worry around meal times
- Guilt after eating
- Worrying about losing control around food
- Comfort eating
- Weight loss
- Frequent changes in weight
- Missed menstrual periods
- Vomiting after eating
- Signs of damage due to vomiting (like grazed knuckles)
- Worries about body shape and weight
- Frequent checking of your body shape or weight
- Avoiding looking at your body
- Comparing your body with others
- Eating meals very slowly
- Excessive exercise
- Frequent trips to the bathroom during or shortly after meals
- Stealing food
- Regularly asking for reassurance from others about food, body weight or shape
- Avoiding lots of foods
- Avoiding social situations
"An eating disorder is never the solution to a person’s distress or difficulties. It is always the problem."
"FREED allowed me to realize that having an eating disorder doesn't define me, and my life does not have to be this way forever. I, like all humans, am worthy of happiness."
What's next?
Ask another question, or follow the link below to take the quiz "Do I have an eating disorder".What are the different types of eating disorders?
"FREED has helped me understand my eating disorder for what it is. So far it has helped me to spot thoughts better and understand the process in my head. It’s also helped me to treat it as a legitimate problem."
"Whatever your eating disorder diagnosis, help is available. The sooner you make changes, the sooner you can get on with your life."
What's next?
Ask another question, or follow the link below to take the quiz "Do I have an eating disorder".Do I have an eating disorder?
"The earlier you get help for your eating disorder, the more likely you are to make a rapid and sustained recovery."
"When I began FREED, I had no hope that I would feel better. I wanted nothing more than to be skinny and I didn't want to listen to anyone who said that there were other, more important things. Now, six months on, I see that there is more to life than my weight and I can enjoy food again. Being able to eat without feeling guilty every time has been life changing."
What's next?
Ask another question, or follow the link below to see options for help and support.Can I have an eating disorder if I’m not underweight?
Eating disorders are serious conditions regardless of body size. There are effective treatments for all eating disorders.
"I thought I didn’t deserve help because I wasn’t thin enough. I now know that how you look on the outside says very little about how you’re feeling on the inside. Eating disorders aren’t just about weight. Everyone deserves help!"
"You can have an eating disorder whatever your weight."
What's next?
Ask another question, or follow the link below to see options for help and support.What is FREED?
Young people getting help for their eating disorder through FREED are given rapid access to specialised treatment which gives special attention to challenges we know young people face during these years of their life, and in the early stages of an eating disorder.
FREED is a flexible evidence-based treatment approach focused on early intervention; making it much more effective than traditional treatments at reversing the changes to brain, body and behaviour caused by eating disorders.
The FREED service was developed and tested by the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust Foundation’s Eating Disorders Unit and King’s College London. When FREED was compared with “business as usual”, FREED reduced the amount of time an eating disorder was left untreated. FREED patients waited less time for assessment and treatment and had better treatment outcomes. Most made a full recovery from their eating disorder within one year. Using the FREED service was a positive experience for patients, carers and staff.
FREED confirmed that treating people as early as possible leads to better results for eating disorder treatment.
In 2016, FREED was introduced to three new eating disorder services in the UK. In 2018, FREED was introduced to eight new services. By 2020, we hope that at least 20 services will be using FREED. FREED is also being used in South Australia under the term EmergED.
People sometimes ask why FREED is only for those aged 16 to 25 with an eating disorder of up to three years. If someone has only been unwell for a short time treatment seems to work better. This is most true during adolescence and young adulthood. People with eating disorders also experience changes to their brain, body and behaviour. In the first three years of illness these changes are more easily reversed.
Eventually, we hope that everyone with an eating disorder will be able to access tailored, specialist treatment quickly. FREED is one step towards this goal.
"If it wasn't for FREED's rapid intervention, I would not have been well enough to pursue my dream of going to university. It makes me emotional to think how much my life has changed in one year of treatment. The steps have been small, but each step has brought me closer to, as well as made me feel I am worth, recovery."
"We’re really excited about FREED because it’s making a difference to the care that we provide to patients, and they tell us that it helps them at the point that they need it."
What's next?
Ask another question, or follow the link below to see options for help and support.Why is early intervention important?
Early intervention means getting help and support as soon as possible when you need it. Research tells us that we should try and reach someone with an eating disorder within the first three years of the illness. People with eating disorders experience changes to their brain, body and behaviour. In early stages these changes are more easily reversed.
After three years, eating disorder symptoms tend to become “hard wired” in the brain. Symptoms can still be changed, but it gets harder to make changes. There may be long-lasting consequences. The sooner you get help, the easier it is to recover quickly and fully. Early intervention also means you are less likely to miss out on study, relationships and other opportunities because of your illness.
There are two key things that stop early intervention for eating disorders: difficulties spotting the illness early, and difficulties getting help. You can use our quiz “Do I have a problem” to see if you have difficulties that need help. You can use our guide to seeking help and support for assistance with getting the help you need.
"FREED has really saved my life. Early intervention is crucial and without this I probably would not be where I am now - I am sustaining a job, have moved out to a new home, and able to love myself. I still have eating issues and anxieties but I have come so far in my wellbeing and quality of life."
"Without FREED I am not sure I would be here today, getting early intervention was such a positive thing to happen to me when I was in a really dark place, and it gave me lots of hope for the future."
