After struggling with anorexia, I know that it is a mental illness. That's why I find the new research so disturbing

A new study in the journal Genetic nature suggested that anorexia originates in the body and in the spirit.

In fact, I was relieved when I read the news for the first time. Having lived with the disorder for more than four years, all research, to me, is good research. Necessary too. After all, eating disorders are a problem that continues to affect around 1.25 million people in the UK, according to the UK charity Beat.

But a few days later, I returned to examine the findings of the study, I found that the conclusions did not hold me comfortable. More specifically, the section that mentions people who develop anorexia is "genetically predisposed to increased metabolic rate, reduced body fat, and increased physical activity."

Personally, I do not come from a family that has a disruptive metabolism, nor from a group that trains together to do half-marathons bi-monthly and to eat protein-rich brunches. sometimes weeks.

Nobody is simply "predisposed" to restrict their consumption. In 20% of anorexic cases, people do it for the rest of their lives. Sometimes even to the point of death – not to mention the tragic case of Averil Hart, age 19, who died in 2017 after four years of fighting anorexia.

Today, I am able to read these conclusions, think about them, and then make a rational decision about what I perceive by them – specifically for my body and mind. But four years ago, in the midst of fighting anorexia, bulimia and depression, that would not have been the case. Reading this study would have been a blow for the period when I already had a rather dreary daily routine (wake up, avoid eating, avoid people, avoid eating, sleeping, repeating). I would have felt as if I was told that I should not suffer from anorexia. I did not have genetics for that.

Of course, one has to explore the physical side of the disorder, as this study does. After all, it's a mental illness with obvious symptoms. As the number of triggers increases, the weight of the patient is the opposite. in the Island of love When ITV leaders are empowered to claim that the lack of diversity in the body of reality shows encourages people to "attract each other", it is essential that discussions focus on our bodies as much as on our mind. This is particularly the case of new phenomena such as muscular dysmorphism, which sees people "mbadaging" and not recognizing their muscle mbad. But it seems wrong to reduce the severity of anorexia, a disease that manifests itself in the mind, to the result of low body fat and the propensity to run in the morning.

By examining the possible physical origins of this disorder, doctors risk playing one of the biggest misunderstandings around anorexia awareness: there is only one way for a person living with the disease to look.

The three main factors of this new study – metabolism, exercise and body fat – clbadify anorexia according to the physical appearance of a person. However, in 2019, we are reminded time and time again that this is not the case; a person can live with the disorder and have a moderately healthy appearance – in terms of height. Instead, sufferers suffer from the psychological impact and characteristic traits of anorexia, ranging from paranoia to depression, to severe and constant fear of gaining weight.

It is easier to understand a disease physically than mentally, hence the current struggle of the medical world to fight against mental illness. It's easier to think that only some of us are predisposed to a mental illness, but that some of them do not have the right genes because they reduce the number of people that the disease can potentially harm. But unfortunately, anorexia – like so many other mental illnesses – is not an exclusive club. Everyone can participate. Believe me, I know.

So yes, research on eating disorders is vital in all its forms and we need more. Although this study also recalls that, as progressive as we may be in this era of mental health awareness, there is still a dangerous temptation to try to understand what simply. is a physical mental illness, because we will be more likely to find a cure.