Module 2, food and health.0:09
Unit 2.1, exercise 1B.0:25
Mirror, mirror on the wall.0:46
In the beginning, I put it down to a simple case of exam nerves.0:50
My daughter Sarah had just turned 16 and was studying hard for her GCSEs.0:55
I knew she'd do well, as she was top of the class in all her subjects at school and had always been a high achiever.1:00
But as the time for the exams drew nearer, her behaviour started to change drastically.1:07
Sarah became sullen and withdrawn.1:15
She wasn't the lively teenager I knew, but the most worrying thing of all was that she was hardly eating anything.1:17
She refused to eat with the rest of the family and was having only light snacks in her room at the time.1:25
I didn't want to make a big deal of it, as I thought I'd just make her more anxious about her exams.1:32
I was convinced that once she'd taken the exams, she would soon settle down and everything would get back to normal.1:39
In fact, it got worse.1:48
By the middle of the summer, Sarah had become very skinny and pale.1:50
She also had wild mood swings, bursting into tears or becoming enraged by the slightest thing.1:55
I should say at this point that my initial reactions to this situation weren't very helpful.2:03
We had huge fights about her being too thin and I tried to persuade her to eat more, but she just turned her nose up at everything I offered her.2:09
When nothing I said or did seemed to make any difference, I really felt at a complete loss about what else I could do or who I could turn to.2:20
After a lot of thought, I realised that I would have to try other tactics.2:32
Screaming and tearing my hair out were definitely not improving the situation.2:37
I started by looking up eating disorders on various websites to get as much information as I could, and what I found out almost scared me to death.2:43
Anorexia nervosa is a condition that typically affects teenage girls.2:55
There are a variety of reasons as to why it can develop, but it is usually said to be because of a distorted body image and lack of self esteem.3:00
Some young women think they are too fat even when they are not, and feel that they are unattractive or worthless.3:11
The media have been accused of playing a role in the rise of eating disorders in recent years because of the way they portray women.3:18
Using underweight models in adverts, in glossy magazines and on television may be a factor in encouraging young women to equate thinness with beauty, glamour and success.3:27
I was shocked to discover that this disease can seriously damage the heart and make bones brittle and easy to break.3:39
However, the most frightening aspect of the condition is that in 10% of cases, it leads to the death of the sufferer.3:47
The information was terrifying, but it helped me to come to terms with the fact that that someone with a severe eating disorder needs love and support and urgent medical attention.3:56
It took a lot of calm and gentle persuasion to get my tearful daughter to agree to go with me to a doctor who specializes in eating disorders.4:09
That was two years ago and the road to recovery has been long and hard.4:19
Sarah spent two months in hospital to get her weight back to normal and since then she has been seeing a psychiatrist to help her deal with the underlying causes of the problem.4:24
It was tough for me too.4:35
I felt very guilty about her illness, that somehow it was my fault and I was a bad mother who had caused her daughter so much anxiety she had started to starve herself.4:38
But we've managed to get through it together.4:49
Now Sarah's looking forward to starting university.4:53
The colour has returned to her cheeks and she is back to being the vibrant young woman she was before the whole dreadful nightmare started.4:56
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