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.

Informal Support Services

Enough! - OUSU facilitated student run support group for students affected by eating disorders and those caring for them. The group discussion is facilitated by student volunteers, both male and female. The OUSU VP Women has responsibility for general co-ordination, maintaining the maillist and publicity.

For more information about the group see the website (link underneath) or contact the VP Women at enough@ousu.org.
http://www.enough-oxford.org.uk

Friends' support group - OUSU-facilitated support group for the friends and supporters of students affected by eating disorders. The group meets once a term, and is an opportunity to meet others who care for, or are worried about, a friend or loved one. It is open to both male and female students.

For more information about the Hilary term meeting, or general information and advice about supporting a friend, contact the VP (Women) on women@ousu.org.

Nightline - student run listening service

Peer Support  - student run listening service.  Look out in your college for details or contact your welfare officer.

BEAT Self Help Network Group in Oxford:

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.

In Oxford there is a Community Mental Health Team, while clinical trials about disordered eating are being run by the Warneford Clinic of the Psychiatric hospital.  This unit specialises in eating disordered and has both in-patient and out-patient care.  Your doctor can refer you to this, if she/he thinks it best for your treatment. 

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.  OUSU will soon have a collection of books on disordered eating that we'll be able to discreetly pidge you, so have a look back here in a while for more details. 

In the mean time, 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.