Hansard

I congratulate my colleague Emma Harper on securing this important debate on an issue on which I have long campaigned. I brought a members’ business debate on the issue to the Parliament in February 2008. My former colleague Dennis Robertson led on the issue with great passion during his five years of serving in this Parliament, and I am delighted that Emma Harper has picked up the cudgels.

In 2009, I lodged a motion that expressed concern about the proliferation of pro-anorexia websites, which portray anorexia as a glamorous lifestyle choice rather than a potentially fatal psychiatric illness. More than a decade later, such sites still exist. They offer tips on how to accelerate weight loss and disguise fasting from concerned friends and family, as well as advice on how best to induce vomiting and use laxatives. Pro-anorexia websites reach a wide audience and are particularly aimed at young women.

If we are serious about protecting people from eating disorders, we must do more than just monitor dangerous pro-ana sites. I echo calls from charities such as Beat for social media platforms to act to ensure that content that promotes conditions such as anorexia cannot be posted.

Last year, a study by Youthworks Consulting, which works with schools and local authorities, revealed that eating disorders had overtaken cyberbullying as the top source of online concern among 10 to 16-year-olds. Figures for cyberbullying have remained virtually static since 2014, whereas figures for eating disorders have risen steeply. The data also showed that the proportion of young people who view pro-anorexia sites increases dramatically during the teenage years, from 22 per cent of 12-year-olds to 44 per cent of 15-year-olds.

The numbers are deeply disturbing and completely unacceptable. Beat estimates that around 1.25 million people in the UK have an eating disorder, and it is clear that such disorders are reaching epidemic proportions.

Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder, from medical complications associated with the illness as well as suicide. Meanwhile, bulimia is associated with severe medical complications and binge eating, and sufferers often experience medical complications associated with obesity.

In every case, an eating disorder affects quality of life, often of not only the sufferer but those who care for them. It is important to treat such conditions as early as possible, rather than when weight is critically low. Family members of people who suffer from eating disorders often believe that their doctor is not well informed. Greater education of the medical profession is required if people are not to be turned away because their weight is “not yet low enough”, as has happened in the past.

Specifically, diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders must be taught appropriately and assessed at all Scottish medical schools. The topic of eating disorders is generally overlooked in medical training, with severe consequences for the prognosis and safety of patients. For example, on average just 1.8 hours is spent on teaching about eating disorders, and one in five medical schools in the UK do not provide any teaching on the issue at all. The result is patchy service and inadequate treatment of sufferers. Each of Scotland’s junior doctors should gain clinical experience during their foundation training.

Eating disorders are often hidden away from society. I am therefore pleased by the Scottish Government’s recent announcement that eating disorder services will be subject to a national review that is designed to assess and improve support for people living with such disorders. At a time when and in a society where much revolves around unrealistic physical representations on television and social media, it can be tempting for girls, boys and adults to negatively change their behaviour to conform to some body-image stereotype. For others, eating orders are a manifestation of deep-rooted internal issues, trauma or depression. Anyone can be impacted by an eating disorder; such disorders tend to creep up on people, some of whom are not even aware that their relationship with food is unhealthy and that they have a disorder.

Eating disorders awareness week plays a vital role in focusing attention on the causes and symptoms of, and solutions for, these conditions, and I am always keen to support it. I look forward to the publication of the Government’s review in spring next year and its recommendations to inform improvement work throughout 2020 and 2021.