Christine Morgan National Website on Eating Disorders Interview

Christine Morgan National Website on Eating Disorders Interview

The first Government initiated national website to provide comprehensive and reliable information on eating disorders has been launched at www.nedc.com.au

Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses that cause significant physical impairment. They are far more prevalent than many are aware, and they are too often fatal.

In launching of the website, the Federal Minister for Mental Health, Mark Butler, said "I am delighted to see this new online resource available for all Australians, providing the latest evidence-based information about eating disorders. It is a strong collection of helpful material, designed to meet the needs of parents, teachers and health professionals, and draws from the most up-to-date international research and best practice."

The new website explains eating disorders, provides information on where to get help across Australia, and features an evidence-based clearinghouse for research and resources on eating disorders.

"Eating disorder behaviour has increased two-fold in Australia in the last five years, with data indicating that approximately 15% of Australian women will need clinical intervention for an eating disorder in their lifetime. Approximately 9% of all Australians, both men and women, will be affected by an eating disorder at some point in their lives," said Christine Morgan, National Director of the National Eating Disorders Collaboration. "This is why it is important that we start to make eating disorders a health priority. One shared source of evidence based information will support communication about eating disorders between health treatment professionals, teachers families, and young people," Morgan said.

Development of the new website has involved consultation with hundreds of representatives from eating disorders sector, including people with a personal experience of eating disorders and their families and carers, researchers and clinicians together with experts from related fields including mental health, public health, health promotion, education, and the media.

"The new website gives people the information they need about eating disorders, to help prevent and treat this serious and highly complex mental illness," Mr Butler said.

The Australian Government has committed $3 million over the three years to June 2013 to help fund the National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC), an important project being delivered in conjunction with the Butterfly Foundation and experts across Australia.

The NEDC project started in 2009 with the overarching aim of bringing together the expertise needed to develop a nationally consistent approach to the prevention and management of eating disorders.

With a current membership of more than 300 individuals and organisations from across Australia the NEDC works collaboratively with other eating disorder initiatives to encourage proactive prevention and treatment.

The NEDC is coordinated by The Butterfly Foundation, which provides the infrastructure to bring together a diverse group of national professionals to work together as a community of practice. We encourage all health, education, fitness and social welfare professionals, and the families of young people at risk of developing an eating disorder, to find the information they need at www.nedc.com.au

Interview with Christine Morgan

Question: What is www.nedc.com.au?

Christine Morgan: www.nedc.com.au is really exciting because it is the first time the Federal Government, in the eating disorder sector, has provided funding for this sort of initiative. The website is designed to be there for anybody who has a question about eating disorders; whether that is somebody who is living with the experience of an eating disorder. Whether that is themselves or somebody in their family or a friend or it might be someone who is worried that somebody else may have an eating disorder or it could even be a health specialist who is working with people, with eating disorders and need further information including teachers. The idea is that whatever angle they are coming from they are going to www.nedc.com.au and finding factual information about eating disorders including prevention right through to how you identify, treat and support someone with an eating disorder.

Question: What is an eating disorder?

Christine Morgan: An eating disorder is a very severe psychological and psychiatric disorder that is diagnosed with psychiatric diagnoses criteria. It is a psychological illness that manifests itself in a way that can potentially cause very severe physical harm.


Question: Can you talk about the different causes of eating disorders?

Christine Morgan: There is a genetic vulnerability and that vulnerability can drive a certain personality type and common to all mental illness is what we call an environmental trigger. An eating disorder manifests itself in very disordered eating and exercise behaviour and is accompanied by very significant psychological distress and in treating the disorder you need to treat the eating and the exercise behaviours and the underlining psychological stress.


Question: How are diets and calorie counting related to eating disorders?

Christine Morgan: It would be fair to say that anyone who has an eating disorder has dieted and dabbled in significant dieting. It does depend on if you are looking at Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorders as there food intake will be varied across the spectrum.

Not everybody who goes on a diet will have a clinical eating disorder. That being said, a significant amount of the population who engage in disordered eating (Lemon Detox Diet, Soup diet) have been shown to cause quiet significant physical impairment in their own right.


Question: What treatment is used for eating disorders?

Christine Morgan: It's a very complex treatment that has a multidisciplinary approach that requires a range of clinicians in the team including a GP (or paediatrician), a psychologist and a psychiatrist as well as a dietitian to help with the food side of things and in most cases you will need a family therapist, social worker and a mental health nurse.

For those where the eating disorder has become what we call entrenched in a person, the average recovery time for Anorexia nervosa is between five and seven years; it is a really bad place to be. What we have found is that if you can identify and intervene early and if the person is young and you can actively involve their families in the treatment options we can significantly reduce the period of treatment and there is also a higher success rate.

One of the drivers behind the website is to raise community awareness for what we should be looking out for, it is like other illnesses as those that pick the disorder will be those who are closest to the person and the earlier we can identify and intervene the more affective the treatment will be.

Question: What advice do you have a for a someone who suspects their friend of having an eating disorder?

Christine Morgan: First of all they will need to arm themselves with some facts and on www.nedc.com.au you can find out what the warning signs are and what to be looking for. On the website we also have practical aids on how to engage a conversation with someone who you expect may have an eating disorder.

One of the most important things is to establish communication and not to only focus on eating or food but perhaps the perspective of the person seeming to be stressed, isolated or upset. It is important to come in on an emotional level because the reality is that the eating behaviours are a symptom of something that is happening a lot deeper.


Question: How common are eating disorders?

Christine Morgan: There are a range of eating disorders including Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorders or an atypical eating disorder and the most recent statistic is that 1 in 15 women will suffer from an eating disorders which requires a clinical intervention, in their lifetime. It is a very high figure. Peak presentation for eating disorders is in adolescents, for Anorexia nervosa it is around 14 years of age but we are seeing presentations in younger years with children as young as 7 or 8 being hospitalised. Bulimia nervosa peaks around 17 or 18 years of age and binge eating disorders peak in the early 20's.

Eating disorders affect females and males; the long term statistic is that 1 in 10 eating disorder cases affect males but we are finding increasing representation in young boys now and that could relate to the negative body issues which boys and girls are feeling.


Question: How is the new website www.nedc.com.au working with The Butterfly Foundation?

Christine Morgan: The Butterfly Foundation is the coordinating organisation for the NEDC and our duty is to get people to get and get things done. The latest website is a NEDC website: www.nedc.com.au.


Interview by Brooke Hunter