How to- A guide for discussing eating disorders and body image

[Peregrinefalcon]

HOW TO: A Guide for Discussing Eating Disorders and Body Image

Eating disorders are serious and complex mental health conditions with psychological and physical impacts. Eating disorders are not a lifestyle choice. While there can be limited media depictions of what an eating disorder looks like, they can impact people of any age, weight, shape, sexuality, gender identity, cultural background or socioeconomic status.

Research demonstrates that how we talk about eating disorders can be highly triggering to someone living with an eating disorder. Information that may seem harmless to those who have never experienced an eating disorder can indeed be harmful to those who have. As more people turn online for support and guidance, it is important that we are able to talk about eating disorders in a safe and supportive way.

Use safe language

Our words have power, and it’s important that we use trauma-safe language when talking about eating disorders on the forums. By trauma-safe language, we mean language that is not graphic, upsetting or triggering for others to read.

As we want to keep the Forums a safe space for all, it is important not to include information that is detailed and specific regarding engaging in eating disorder behaviours.

These can include:

Exercise	Distance/time of exercise: “I ran for X minutes” “I walked for X km”
Diet	Descriptions of calories, specific mention of diets: “I eat X calories per day”; “I burned X calories”, “I am on the X diet” Avoid labelling foods with value judgments such as “bad” or “junk”
Body image	Weight, BMI, body fat %; terms used to describe self/others such as ‘fat’, ‘skinny’, ‘obese’. Language that does not centre around appearance, size, shape and weight. More acceptable terms include: “in a higher-weight body”; “in a smaller body”
Behaviours	Discuss behaviours in general terms (eg: ‘purge’, ‘binge’)  without reference to specific descriptions, steps, or implements used

The Inside Out Institute for Eating Disorders has a fantastic resource for navigating difficult conversations, including this helpful table:

(https://insideoutinstitute.org.au/resource-library/navigating-difficult-conversations)

Use trigger warnings

Help other forum members make an informed decision about whether to read on by including a trigger warning.  
You might add TW: Eating Disorder in your title or in the first line of your post.

When might Moderators, Community Managers or Peer Support Workers step in? 
 

The SANE Forums team may step in when a post breaches our safety guidelines, and could impact the safety of the person posting or the wellbeing of those reading.  

We will remove or edit posts that mention:

• Eating disorder behaviours (recommending diets, descriptive weight loss/gain strategies or any numbers relating to weight, BMI, clothing size, calories or exercise)

Check out the suggestions earlier in this post to help you stay within the guidelines. 

If we are concerned about your immediate safety, we will email members to: 

• Check in to see if a member is safe for now and offer referrals to crisis support 
• Check in with others who may have been upset by something they have read on the forums 
• Let members know if a post is removed or edited
• Offer suggestions of how to bring posts back in line with the guidelines 
• Let a member know if we are involving emergency services, if doing so doesn't put the person at further risk of harm

SANE has a responsibility to keep the Forums safe for everyone. This means that there may be times we will need to make tough decisions to remove a post, email you about the guidelines, or pause an account. 

Support Services: 

The Butterfly Foundation 1800 ED HOPE thebutterflyfoundation.org.au

Butterfly’s National Support Line, 1800 ED HOPE, provides confidential support for: -       People with eating disorders -       People with body image issues -       Family members -       Friends -       Anyone with a question about eating disorders or negative body image. The Butterfly Foundation’s counsellors are professionally trained, compassionate and experienced in discussing eating disorders. Butterfly provides personalised coping strategies and support, and information to help increase your understanding of your, or your loved one’s, illness. They also offer guidance on treatment options and connections with other services and specialists.

National Eating Disorder Collaboration 1800 33 4673 www.nedc.com.au

The National Eating Disorder Collaboration is a great resource for up-to-date information and research on eating disorders. It also provides a list of state-by-state treatment services for inpatient, outpatient and community support programs in their ‘Services and Support Organisations’ section.

Eating Disorders Victoria https://www.eatingdisorders.org.au/ 1300 550 236

Free support services available at EDV include: -       The EDV Hub, a helpline for general eating disorder information and support -       Telehealth Nurse for treatment navigation and planning -       Telehealth Counselling for emotional support and phone check-ins -       Online Support Groups and Courses -       Carer Coaching for 1:1 family support -       Peer Mentoring for 1:1 recovery support -       E-learning for self-paced education for the whole community -       Podcast and newsletters The EDV Hub is available on 1300 550 236, Mon – Fri 9.30am – 4.30pm AEST

Eating Disorders Queensland www.eatingdisordersqueensland.org.au (07) 3844 6055

Eating Disorders Queensland is a statewide, community-based not-for-profit organisation. They promote positive body image and prevention of eating issues. Supportive therapeutic options for individuals living with eating issues and their families and friends are also offered.

Women's Health Works whfs.org.au 08 9300 1566

Women’s Health Works provides women with a range of education, information and support for eating disorders, including self-help groups for people experiencing an eating disorder.

Eating Disorder Families Australia 1300 195626 https://edfa.org.au/

The national peak organisation providing support and education for carers and families impacted by an eating disorder.

For more immediate support, please do not hesitate to reach out to:

Lifeline: 13 11 14 or Crisis Chat 

Suicide call back service: 1300 659 467 or online counselling 

Samaritans: 135 247 

If in immediate danger: 000

[NatureLover]

@David_888  I don't think what you have said is helpful, in fact, I think that it may be triggering for someone with an ED. 

I don't have an ED myself, but suggesting a personal trainer could be triggering, I think, as exercise is a huge issue in EDs. 

I also find your post very dismissive of people with an ED. EDs are incredibly complex and hard to treat. They also have the highest incidence of mortality of any mental illness, so need to be treated with respect and compassion. 

For all of these reasons, I am going to call a @moderator  for @David_888 's post. 

[NatureLover]

@Peregrinefalcon  Thank you for your very helpful post above. 🙂

[Eden1919]

@NatureLover  I agree as someone with an Ed that was offensive and it isn’t the first time I have seen this user say something offensive perhaps the @moderator s can have a chat with them. 

[tyme]

Hi @Eden1919 @NatureLover ,

Thank you for flagging this with us.