Not just a teenage illness: Adults suffer from eating disorders too

Adult eating disorders are not as well documented as those in children and teenagers, but according to the National Eating Disorders Information Centre (NEDIC), there are signs that they are on the rise. 

"Canada does a very poor job of tracking national level data about eating disorders and their increases … especially within the hospital system," said Ary Maharaj, NEDIC's outreach and education coordinator, adding that there's been a lot more public information about pediatric patients from places such Sick Kids in Toronto.

However, Marahaj said that last year his organization spoke to about 6800 people via its toll-free eating disorder helpline, which was up 59 per cent from the previous year, and that most of those calls came from adults.

"I think people thought there'd be this initial spike after COVID," he said, but the numbers continued to climb in 2021 and he's seeing similar trends in 2022. 

As for why, he said it's partly due to the fact that so many people had their regular routines disrupted, but also because we've become more open to talking about mental health.

"I think over the course of the pandemic [we've seen] people who are potentially more comfortable in reaching out, or more comfortable in saying that this is an issue that I might have, and a bunch more people who I think are really at their breaking point," he said. 

Maharaj said that certain people are more likely to develop eating disorders than others. 

Part of it is genetic: "You see a lot more eating disorders running in families," he said.

And part of it is psychological: "[They're] more likely to be perfectionistic, more likely to be a black-or-white thinker. They have a hard time maybe labelling their emotions." 

Jennifer Li felt she was doing really well with her recovery but then relapsed during the pandemic. The 22-year-old student, who also does outreach and education work for NEDIC, found that she was unable to do the main thing she relied on to keep in shape — dance. 

"With studio closures it became like: What am I going to do? Am I going to be able to keep up with the physique that I want for my body and the aesthetic I want for my body ... and the kind of eating disorder thoughts came back," she said.

And it wasn't just the thoughts. She cut down on how much she was eating, and started purging again (making herself throw up), and although she's improving now, she thinks she may never be 100 per cent better.

That's something that resonates with personal trainer Dara Bergeron.

She's currently trying to assess whether or not her anorexia has made a come-back, and compares her experience of living with an eating disorder to an addiction: