The incidence of eating disorders in Singapore is rising. To help prevent it from becoming more widespread, some trainee teachers have launched a campaign to promote awareness and understanding of the problem.

By Meiling Wong

Beware if you are a perfectionist!  You could fall prey to an eating disorder.

“Victims of eating disorders tend to be perfectionist,” says Dionne Chow, a member of HEART Connection, a group of trainee teachers who have launched a campaign to promote awareness and understanding of eating disorders.

The media industry is often blamed for popularising images of slimness and beauty but, says Ms Chow, there are many factors contributing to the disease. These include personality, self-esteem and social pressures.

It is the intrinsic need to be perfect that drives some people to the habitual behaviours that are detrimental to their health.

With eating disorders like bulimia, obesity, anorexia and binge eating, the victim often has a distorted perception about his or her body image and may become obsessive about attaining the “perfect” figure as they see this as a source of social acceptance.

Once a victim gets caught in the web of a eating disorder, it is often a downward spiral and a long and arduous road to recovery.

Kathryn Lee, another member of Heart Connection, says the doctor of a friend who is currently being treated for anorexia expects full recovery to take eight years.

The group of 20 student teachers, all from the National Institute of Education, aims to give the campaign a positive spin and advocates prevention rather than cure.

They have called the campaign ‘The Person Within’ because they want people to start “looking at the person as a whole, that is his/her personality, character, style and talent” instead of the physical, says Ms Lee.

“A lot of girls are facing body image issues, but there is no open discussion about it,” she adds. While the overall number of eating disorder sufferers is low, the incidence is rising and the problem could become widespread if nothing is done.

Eating disorders are not exclusive to women – many men also struggle with poor body image and eating disorders.

“The Person Within” campaign kicked off with a photography competition on 1 May. The competition is open to those aged between 13 and 35 years.  The winning entries will be announced at a road show at Tiong Bahru Plaza on 26 June.

The road show will include live performances and talks by survivors of eating disorders. For more information, go to The Person Within website.