Eating disorders seen rising among Japanese women
Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, which are generally perceived as ones suffered by young women, have also been found among many middle-aged and older women.
Self-help groups and other organizations supporting sufferers of eating disorders are calling on older patients not to hesitate to ask for outside help.
A 50-year-old woman from Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, became anorexic three years ago.
Before then, she used to weigh 55 kilograms, not particularly overweight for a woman who is 160 centimeters tall.
"My ideal weight is 45 kilograms. No matter how hard I tried, I managed to lose only 5 kilograms, or down to 50 kilograms, so I felt obese and ugly, and I had no self-confidence," she recalled.
Three years ago, her husband was hospitalized, leaving her to suffer mental fatigue and to lose her appetite. She lost 10 kilograms in three months.
From that time on, she said, "I began enjoying losing weight and got hooked on not eating."
Taking dietary supplements instead of eating three meals a day, she became hardly able to take any food.
Eating disorders have often developed when young girls go on diets at puberty.
Recently, however, an increasing number of middle-aged and older women, such as the 50-year-old woman, suffer from eating disorders.
Women with eating disorders visit the Food Addiction Recovery Center (FARC) in Yokohama to seek help. Of the 10 women now regularly visiting, eight are in their 30s or older, and the oldest is 66.
A 48-year-old woman who has been suffering from bulimia since she was 18 saw her condition deteriorate after giving birth to her first son 11 years ago and starting to suffer mental stress from looking after him and from stress she felt in her encounters with other child-rearing mothers.
Naoko Hosono, 50-year-old director at FARC, said, "I have the feeling that more people are suffering from eating disorders--not only child-rearing young mothers, but also middle-aged and older women."
"There are many women in their 50s or 60s who want to remain attractive today. This didn't use to be the case with women who were busy raising kids," said Megumi Goto, head of the clinical departments at Narimasu Kosei Hospital in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo.
"But many mothers seem to be trying to stay attractive even when they're busy raising their children these days, and so they may become more prone to suffer from eating disorders than before," Goto said.
Sufferers in self-denial
At Nippon Anorexia Bulimia Association (NABA), a self-help group for sufferers of eating disorders based in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, the number of phone calls from people in their 30s or older seeking advice about eating disorders began rising about 10 years ago.
Today, such phone calls from people in their 30s and older account for half of the total number of phone calls directly coming from the sufferers themselves.
There are also many cases in which people who were members of the association more than 10 years ago sought help again as they became middle-aged and older.
Momoe Tsuruta, the 47-year-old representative of NABA, said, "In many cases, sufferers are in denial--they can't accept the truth behind their eating disorders.
"If that root cause remains unsolved, even if the symptoms are gone, they'll develop the symptoms again when they face new difficulties," Tsuruta said.
A 66-year-old woman who regularly visits FARC said, "I want people who bottle up their troubles to know that there are many comrades in their same generations suffering from the disorders."
FARC plans to hold a seminar in Yokohama on March 7 to raise awareness of eating disorders.
source: The Yomiuri Shimbun
Self-help groups and other organizations supporting sufferers of eating disorders are calling on older patients not to hesitate to ask for outside help.
A 50-year-old woman from Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, became anorexic three years ago.
Before then, she used to weigh 55 kilograms, not particularly overweight for a woman who is 160 centimeters tall.
"My ideal weight is 45 kilograms. No matter how hard I tried, I managed to lose only 5 kilograms, or down to 50 kilograms, so I felt obese and ugly, and I had no self-confidence," she recalled.
Three years ago, her husband was hospitalized, leaving her to suffer mental fatigue and to lose her appetite. She lost 10 kilograms in three months.
From that time on, she said, "I began enjoying losing weight and got hooked on not eating."
Taking dietary supplements instead of eating three meals a day, she became hardly able to take any food.
Eating disorders have often developed when young girls go on diets at puberty.
Recently, however, an increasing number of middle-aged and older women, such as the 50-year-old woman, suffer from eating disorders.
Women with eating disorders visit the Food Addiction Recovery Center (FARC) in Yokohama to seek help. Of the 10 women now regularly visiting, eight are in their 30s or older, and the oldest is 66.
A 48-year-old woman who has been suffering from bulimia since she was 18 saw her condition deteriorate after giving birth to her first son 11 years ago and starting to suffer mental stress from looking after him and from stress she felt in her encounters with other child-rearing mothers.
Naoko Hosono, 50-year-old director at FARC, said, "I have the feeling that more people are suffering from eating disorders--not only child-rearing young mothers, but also middle-aged and older women."
"There are many women in their 50s or 60s who want to remain attractive today. This didn't use to be the case with women who were busy raising kids," said Megumi Goto, head of the clinical departments at Narimasu Kosei Hospital in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo.
"But many mothers seem to be trying to stay attractive even when they're busy raising their children these days, and so they may become more prone to suffer from eating disorders than before," Goto said.
Sufferers in self-denial
At Nippon Anorexia Bulimia Association (NABA), a self-help group for sufferers of eating disorders based in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, the number of phone calls from people in their 30s or older seeking advice about eating disorders began rising about 10 years ago.
Today, such phone calls from people in their 30s and older account for half of the total number of phone calls directly coming from the sufferers themselves.
There are also many cases in which people who were members of the association more than 10 years ago sought help again as they became middle-aged and older.
Momoe Tsuruta, the 47-year-old representative of NABA, said, "In many cases, sufferers are in denial--they can't accept the truth behind their eating disorders.
"If that root cause remains unsolved, even if the symptoms are gone, they'll develop the symptoms again when they face new difficulties," Tsuruta said.
A 66-year-old woman who regularly visits FARC said, "I want people who bottle up their troubles to know that there are many comrades in their same generations suffering from the disorders."
FARC plans to hold a seminar in Yokohama on March 7 to raise awareness of eating disorders.
source: The Yomiuri Shimbun