Coronavirus Presents New Challenges For Those With Eating Disorders — Here’s How Survivors Are Seeking Out Support Online

Staying home to help prevent the spread of coronavirus has brought major life changes for many. For those who have been diagnosed with an eating disorder, social isolating can pose a serious risk to their recovery. When U.S. health officials began recommending that people stay at home in March, Allison Caswell didn’t expect doing so would trigger old anxieties about food that she struggled with daily in the past. For one thing, Caswell, a 29-year-old in Wilmington, North Carolina, had been in recovery for her eating disorder for 12 years. For another, as a health care worker, she felt that she had a good understanding of the major lifestyle changes that would come with social distancing. However, a trip to pick up supplies at the grocery store ahead of social isolation set off familiar discomforting feelings for her. “I didn’t really think it was going to be an issue,” Caswell says. “It didn’t happen until I started going to the grocery store and the foods that I find comfort and joy in were suddenly not there. The shelves would be empty and it kind of triggered the anxiety and this sense of fear of, ‘What is actually happening?’ I think eating disorders are about control and this is something that none of us have control over whatsoever.” According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), at least 30 million people of all ages, genders and backgrounds, suffer from an eating disorder in the U.S. along with mil...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized clickmonsters COVID-19 feature Source Type: news