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Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2025: breaking stigmas and myths in society

As we mark Eating Disorders Awareness Week, taking place this year between 24 February and 2 March, we spoke to our Eating Disorders service about some of the misconceptions, stigmas and myths that society has about eating disorders and how these can sometimes be a barrier for those seeking for help and the impact they can have on people going through an eating disorder. 

Eating disorders are still shrouded in misconceptions. The polarising and divisive views on eating disorders that label people as “silly”, “attention seeking”, “have no self-control” and “weak”, minimises the seriousness of this mental health condition and instead reinforces stigma and shame for the person with an eating disorder.   

The stereotypical view that eating disorders are a “white middle-class illness” and a “lifestyle choice” also acts as a barrier to accessing treatment and inadequate identification of the eating disorder.

Between 1.7 and 3.25 million adults in the UK are affected by an eating disorder but only 282,000 have received a formal diagnosis. Eating disorders do not discriminate against age, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. They are not a choice but influenced by environmental, biological and psychological factors that cause severe distress, so it is important we increase awareness and detection of eating disorders to improve access to treatment.

Myths and stigma as a barrier to access treatment

The societal stigma and myths surrounding eating disorders acts as a barrier to treatment. As a society we are sometimes too fixated about how people’s bodies look like; the ever-changing beauty standards and our treatment of people who are slim and overweight. We demonise food and champion diet culture with the message we must change our bodies to be happy leading to a fat phobic nation that subscribe to the thin ideal.

Despite binge eating disorder (BED) being the most diagnosed eating disorder in the UK, people suffering this disorder are underrepresented in eating disorder services.

BED is thought to affect 1.2% of the general population, compared to 0.3% for bulimia nervosa (BN) and 0.6% for anorexia nervosa (AN). This is influenced by the belief system of “I am not sick enough”. There is the misconception you will be able to “see” if someone is suffering from an eating disorder. However, in many cases it is hidden in plain sight and because a person does not look visibly underweight, they can hold the belief they are not deserving of help. This invalidates people’s lived experiences of eating disorders and can influence further deterioration.

Consequently, it can be hard to recognise or accept that you or someone you love has an eating disorder because we systemically praise people for losing weight and hold negative stigmatising views towards people struggling with food. This contributes to the unconscious bias that moral superiority and weakness is attached to your relationship with food.

Eating disorders hold many different functions and are a coping mechanism to manage life’s difficulties. They can reflect low self-esteem, perfectionism, need for control and certainty, emotional regulation/communication, self-punishment, self-worth, identity, and protective.

Eating Disorder treatment, including the one we offer at the North London Foundation Trust, looks at addressing the causes of the eating disorder and rebuilding the person’s relationship with food and body.

An eating disorder is a severe mental illness and has a profound impact on quality of life. Early intervention is important for recovery and an eating disorder is not something you can recover from without treatment. It is important we support ourselves and those around us to understand eating disorders more fully and reach out to services for treatment.

Support available

If you feel you would benefit from eating disorder support, please reach out to your GP for a referral to your local ED service.

Our service has available Eating Disorder Recovery Hubs which provide outpatient assessment and NICE recommended treatment for adults with eating disorders who live in the borough of Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Camden and Islington.

Read here to find out more.

More information

Eating Disorders Awareness Week is marked every year to raise awareness of eating disorders and that they can affect anyone at any time of their lives. This year, the theme is about how eating disorders can affect anyone. You can find out more about this week and learn more about it on the Beat eating disorders website.

Our Eating Disorders service has some resources which may be available for you:

Read our Eating Disorders myths and a guide on how to spot the signs of an eating disorder:

Spot the signs - Eating Disorders