ABSTRACT

Eating problems, such as anorexia and bulimia, go well beyond dieting and threaten the overall health and wellbeing of those affected. This behaviour needs early intervention before it becomes ingrained and dangerous. It is hard to ameliorate once established and often continues into adulthood. Anorexia is avoiding eating and seeing food as ‘the enemy’; bulimia is a binge-purge cycle – the purging can take many forms: vomiting, laxative abuse, use of diet pills or over-exercise. Compulsive eating is also a sign of mental health difficulties and low self-worth. All eating difficulties require a multi-disciplinary approach with families, mental health personnel and the school nurse. Teachers cannot actively address this behaviour itself but can support strategies that might help: this includes giving the student agency so they feel more in control, fostering links with peers, raising awareness of relevant strengths and of inner discourse. See Resources, and also High Levels of Anxiety in the previous section and Self-harm in this section.