Eating Disorders

Information about eating disorders on the University website

- click here to find out about specific types of eating disorder, how to help yourself and how to help a friend, plus other websites with useful information.

Other Support Services

Enough! is a self help group providing support for students with eating disorders. The group meets every week through term time and is run by a small team of trained volunteers. The group meets in the Old Seminar Room, Wadham College. The group meets on a Thursday evening from 7.30 – 9.00.

For more information please visit their website or email Felicity at enough@srsh.co.uk (all emails are treated in confidence).

Nightline - student-run listening service

Formal Support Services

There are a number of different places you can go to for support of disordered eating in Oxford.  Some you can go to directly, others you need a referral from your GP or counsellor. 

Firstly, there are local GPs, one you are registered with or perhaps your college doctor.  Alternatively you can arrange an appointment with the University Counselling Service. GPs may also refer you across to the Counselling Service.

Anyone you initially approach should refer you to the type of care most appropriate.  If you do not yet wish to get help from your doctor or the counselling service, you might want to think about talking to your college welfare officer or college nurse. 

Useful books

Whether a sufferer or a carer you might find it helpful to have a look at some books on eating disorders.  Some are factual and suggest ways to help yourself, others are personal accounts. 

The following is a list of books available from the Oxford City Library, which is just next to the Westgate centre in town, near Primark (it's free to join, you just need some ID):

- Eating Disorders: The Facts by Suzanne Abraham and Derek Llewellyn-Jones. 

"This comprehensive guide considers why eating disorders occur, and then looks at each in turn, describing the eating behaviours, diagnosis and treatments available."

- A Shape of My Own: A Memoir of Anorexia and Recovery by Grace Bowman

"A memoir that is in part insider's expose and in part survivor's testimony, it explains the struggle for self-discovery, and chronicles the devastating battles waged for control over mind and body."

- Overcoming Binge Eating by Dr. Christopher G. Fairburn

"Do you have a binge eating problem or know someone who does?  This authoritative book provides all the information needed to understand binge eating and bring it under control."

- Anorexia and Bulimia in the Family: One Parent's Practical Guide to Recovery by Grainne Smith

"Anorexia and Bulimia in the Family is the first supportive self-help guide written by a carer for other carers... It is [Smith's] personal story."

- Boys Get Anorexia Too: Coping with male eating disorders in the family by Jenny Langley

"This...book combines a wealth of information with a readable and engaging case study.  The author was shocked and horrified when her son developed anorexia."

- Anorexia: a stranger in the family by Katie Metcalfe

"Katie Metcalfe takes readers through the daily struggle with this potentially lethal obsession.  It is a harrowing account of her triumphs and tragedies on the road to recovery after being hospitalised."

- Alice in the Looking Glass: A Mother and Daughter's Experience of Anorexia by Jo and Alice Kingsley

"Alice writes vividly and honestly about herself, her illness, her treatment and recovery, other sufferers she met, and her relationship with her mother, friends and two sisters."

- Thin: A memoir of anorexia and recovery by Grace Bowman

"A poignant account of surviving the urge to self-destruct, and growing into a shape of her own, Thin exposes the secrets and dispels the myths that surround anorexia nervosa."

Quotes are all taken from the books' blurbs.  We can't personally endorse them, but hope they are of some help.