Eating Disorders Exchange of experience on anorexia and bulimia

New portal for eating disorders to help sufferers

The exchange of experiences and information among sufferers of eating disorders should promote the healing process in anorexia nervosa and bulimia. For this purpose, the portal www.krankheitserfahrungen.de publishes a new module on eating disorders. Here victims should find help, hearing and support. On the Internet platform, people talk about their lives with the eating disorder. But other diseases are discussed here.

The people who report their illnesses here are all at different stages of their disease, sharing their experiences of the disease. The individual destinies are in the focus and are also processed with video, audio and text excerpts.

Anorexia nervosa is the most common eating disorder that can be associated with life-threatening consequences of malnutrition. A new internet portal of the Universities of Freiburg and Göttingen aims to educate and help people with eating disorders through field reports. (Image: Nomad_Soul / fotolia.com)

Of those affected for those affected

The portal reports on experiences with eating disorders. It includes both affected persons, relatives and experts. Currently, there are reports of 19 women between the ages of 18 and 63 on the portal, who have lived between one and 40 years with the eating disorder. While some are still acutely affected, others have already defeated their disease.

Eating disorders in everyday life

The individual reports deal with various topics, ranging from the beginning of the eating disorder, its impact on everyday life to various experiences with support services. The interviews with those affected can sometimes be viewed as video or listened to as audio.

Other modules available

The new module on eating disorders is the tenth experience on the platform that has been around for eight years. The portal was established by the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Psychotherapy at the Institute of Psychology of the University of Freiburg and the Institute of General Medicine of the University of Göttingen. In addition to experience with eating disorders here information about other diseases are exchanged. These include:

• Chronic pain,
• Type 2 diabetes,
• epilepsy,
• breast cancer,
• Prostate Cancer,
• colon cancer,
• chronic inflammatory bowel disease,
• ADHD in children and adolescents.

Recognize the problem

The portal aims to help sufferers identify and accept problems and illnesses and help counteract them. The reviews in the various categories should help. For example, an affected person reports that she has always thought that something is wrong with her eating behavior. However, for a long time she would have assumed that she was alone with her problem.

What happens during an eating disorder?

Losing weight, binging, nausea and vomiting, hiding and tricking. These are just a few areas on which sufferers of anorexia and bulemia provide information. Also on the changed body image, health consequences as well as thoughts and feelings is reported on the portal.

Message to other stakeholders and professionals

A common advice of those affected is: "Get help!" And refers to their own positive experiences. Possible contact points are psychotherapists, clinics, self-help groups, Internet forums, online consultations or the family doctor. The testimonials should help to overcome internal and external obstacles, because an eating disorder in many cases does not go away by itself. When food becomes a vital ingredient, one should urgently go into therapy, advise the experts of the portal. (Vb)