Backbench business

Heather Wheeler Excerpts

Thursday 14th February 2013 Westminster Hall

[Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) (Con)]

I appreciate being called to speak, Mrs Osborne, particularly because I am going to nip off later to the second debate in the main Chamber. I hope that my hon. Friend the Minister will forgive me. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Osborne.

I begin by paying tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes) for securing this very important debate during eating disorders awareness week 2013. She is respected by hon. Members on both sides of the House for her knowledge of this issue. I thank her for the tireless way she is championing an issue that is one of the most pressing and, if the medical profession’s statistics are to be believed, one of the most rapidly growing health issues that the nation faces. Indeed, male admissions to hospital are up by 68% in 10 years.

I also pay tribute to the all-party group on body image, of which my hon. Friend is the chair and which exists to inform the media, the fashion industry and wider society of the complex issues arising from poor body image. Body image is, as reported by the First Steps charity, which works in my constituency of South Derbyshire, one of the most significant causes of disordered eating behaviour. It is heartening that such groups exist and it is evidence that, in some small measure, awareness of the issue is starting to grow. Only a few years ago, the very idea of a group committed to improving body image would have been met with a roll of the eyes and a dismissive comment, yet the reality has always been that women, and now increasingly men, spend fruitless hours examining themselves critically in front of the mirror and obsessing over every lump and bump. They are often driven to self-loathing by what stares back at them.

Poor body image and a media full of unrealistic and unobtainable examples of body shapes that we are told to emulate are undoubted drivers in individuals who go on to develop eating disorders. Many who suffer low self-esteem and poor body image, especially men, go on to suffer serious mental health problems, often manifested in eating disorders and chaotic, dysfunctional and disordered lives, and suffer lifelong unhappiness. Therefore, the focus of the all-party body image group is more than welcome; it is essential and, indeed, it is a weather vane for how attitudes towards such real human issues are changing for the better as awareness of these issues improves.

Eating disorders are a complex issue to discuss in just a few minutes. It is a shame that this debate is not getting the priority that it deserves, perhaps by taking place in the main Chamber, but I am very grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for allowing the debate to be held in Westminster Hall. The number of MPs and, indeed, members of the public here today is testimony to the issue’s importance. Having the debate in the main Chamber would have gone a considerable way towards assuring sufferers that Parliament is at least serious about raising awareness of these issues and the problems that people face.

Of course, not all people with eating disorders come forward to get the help that they need. The most accurate figures of which we are aware are those from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. They suggest that 1.6 million people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder, of whom about 11% are male. Worryingly, the most vulnerable group are our young people, particularly those between the ages of 14 and 20.

[Jackie Doyle-Price]

Bearing in mind that we have heard from previous speakers in the debate that there is a critical window for intervention to support these people, and given that the incidence of these disorders tends to occur in the mid to late teens, does my hon. Friend think that there is a case for more education of our schools and teaching staff so that they know what signs to look for?

[Heather Wheeler]

Absolutely. I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention; she is absolutely right. We have been debating in the main Chamber what should go on the curriculum for personal, social, health and economic education. Perhaps the Minister can reflect on that in his speech. I apologise to him again for the fact that I will not be here at the end of the debate. I will read his speech in Hansard next week.

It is the case that 1% of the population between the ages of 15 and 30 suffers from anorexia. About 40% of those who suffer never fully recover and 30% suffer the illness in the long term. Official figures show that eating disorders rose by 16% in England from 2011 to 2012. The scale of the problem is therefore hard to ignore.

This subject raises issues pertaining to public health, mental health, nutrition, education and the way in which families are supported in dealing with disordered eating behaviour at an early age. That final point is, for me, the most important one and the one on which I shall focus in the few seconds that I have left. I am referring to how we raise awareness of disordered eating behaviour in such a way and at an early enough stage that recognition and treatment are possible and at a time that predates the long-term physical health problems that eating disorders can cause.

So many who suffer from eating disorders start to experience their troubles as children and adolescents. Many suffer in silence, and in so doing curse their lives, not just with a disordered relationship with food, but by destroying both their physical and their mental health in the process. That will probably affect every aspect of their lives: their career, their relationships and even, sadly, in some cases, their ability to become parents themselves.

The underlying cause of much disordered eating behaviour is a person struggling to cope with anxiety, stress and poor mental health. The cause of that anxiety and stress may be bullying. It may be an escape from abuse or traumatic events. The cause may be a lack of control, bereavement, poor parenting or simply uncertainty over one’s place in the world. However, the cause is undoubtedly psychological. The illness therefore deserves genuine sympathy and understanding, not dismissive attitudes, which compound the problem. Perhaps over time, the disordered eating behaviour may be modified through self-discipline or self-awareness. The sooner someone gets the treatment they need, the more likely they are to make a full recovery.

For the reasons that I have set out, this issue deserves at least equal priority with other physical and mental health problems. We cannot ignore or be indifferent to the obvious consequences of eating disorders. We have only to look at those who so bravely suffer them to see why we as a society must do more to tackle them, and we must start by raising awareness of their existence, their causes and their cures.