Eating disorders are serious emotional and physical illnesses, in which sufferers use food and sometimes exercise in different ways, to manage difficult circumstances in their lives and the feelings that come with them.  It is important to remember that food is not necessarily the problem, but is in fact the underlying factors (typically, low self esteem and lack of worth).

Sufferers will use their eating disorder as a coping mechanism to be able to get from one day to the next and/or through times when they feel unable to cope.

What anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorders, compulsive eating/exercising and ‘bigorexia’ have in common is that people use them as strategies for  dealing with difficult life situations they feel are beyond their control.

For a list of the signs and symptoms of each please see our 'signs and symptoms' page.