Anorexia Nervosa
WHAT is Anorexia Nervosa?
Anorexia- is a serious mental illness, which can affect anyone of any age, gender or background. This is the biggest killer of any mental illness and early intervention is the key to recovery. People with Anorexia restrict their food intake and often use other behaviors to get rid of the food by laxatives miss use, over exercise. They also often experience a very deep overwhelming fear of gaining weight.
Anorexia impacts not just of a person mental but also the person physical wellbeing. A person who is suffering from an eating disorder is often unable to consider the severity of the illness and go to great lengths to hide the problems.
What Are the Warning Signs?
Most early signs of anorexia center on preoccupation with food or dieting. Behavior may appear obsessive or compulsive, and begin to consume more time. Eventually, disordered eating patterns will become more noticeable to others and potentially disrupt schooling, career, and relationships with family and friends.
If you’re concerned that you or someone you love may have an eating disorder, watch for these early warning signs of anorexia:
- Refusal to eat.
- Denial of hunger, even when starving.
- Difficulty concentrating.
- Skipping meals.
- Making excuses for not eating.
- Eating only a few certain foods considered safe, usually those low in fat and calories.
- Adopting meal or eating rituals, such as cutting food into tiny pieces or spitting food out after chewing.
- Weighing food.
- Cooking elaborate meals for others but refusing to eat.
Psychological signs:
- Fear of fatness or pursuit of thinness.
- Excessive focus on body weight.
- Distorted perception of body shape or weight – for example, thinking they are much larger than they are.
- Underestimating or denying the seriousness of the problem, or believing there isn’t a problem at all, even after diagnosis.
- Spending a lot or most of their time thinking about food.
- Anxiety, particularly about eating in front of other.
- Low confidence and self-esteem.
- Perfectionism and setting very high standards for themselves Other mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
SAFA FAQ`s
What age of people do SAFA support?
We work with clients aged 11+. There is no upper age limit.
Do you have support for drug and alcohol abuse?
We recognise that alcohol or substance misuse is a form of self-harm. We recommend that you have not been dependant on alcohol or drugs for 6 months prior to referring to SAFA.
Where can I get face to face support?
We offer counselling in Barrow in Furness, Kendal and several other locations around the county.
Where to get help?
The first place to start is your GP.
We recognize that it takes courage to speak openly about your worries and concerns, perhaps take a family member or a trusted friend along for support.
Talking to your Doctor
This can feel incredibly overwhelming and makes the way you are feeling very real, often when we are in the grips of an Eating Disorder we are in denial that there is a problem.
It’s everyone around us who doesn’t like it or is jealous of you being thin. When we are able to move out of denial we can see that we have a problem which needs help. Often we feel weak for asking for help but in fact it’s a strength..
Are SAFA Counsellors qualified?
All of our counsellors are registered with the BACP (British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy).
Do you provide support and treatment for Eating Disorders?
The sooner someone is treated for an Eating Disorder, the better the chance of making a full recovery. We know that gaining access to treatment isn’t always as straight forward as we would like it to be.
SAFA is not a crisis service which can also be very frustrating for you. Because it takes courage to ask for help. What SAFA does offer is a professional 1:1 counselling to work with the core issues which are affecting you.
Referral Forms
To access SAFA counselling services
a referral form is required.
Self Referral
If you are a individual whom needs to self-refer, follow this link to take you to the referral process.
Professional Referral
If you are a professional practice and have a client to refer, follow this link to the referral process.
If you need to use our counselling services please fill out a Self Referral Form. If a Doctor or Profesional organisation is involved they can use the Profesional Refarral Form.
After filling out the referral you will initially be contacted by one of our trained counsellors via email. If you prefer to be contacted another way please specify on the form.
After filling out the referral you will initially be contacted by one of our trained counsellors via email. If you prefer to be contacted another way please specify on the form.
Each counselling session has a full cost of £85. We are inviting contributions of £35 per session payable at the beginning of each session which will reduce your waiting list time. If you tick yes we will be in contact with further information. Otherwise you will be added to the normal SAFA waiting list.
For any queries please contact us by clicking the link below.
For any queries please contact us by clicking the link below.
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Each year SAFA Cumbria provides counselling to hundreds of people to overcome their self-harming behaviours.
