A new study from Duke Medicine and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine was released. The research focused on how bullying can affect the development of eating disorders in adolescents.
Trigger warning: Descriptions of eating disordered behavior and self-harm.
While researchers were surprised to find that those who solely play the role of the bully do have an increased risk for developing an eating disorder, they were not shocked to find that the research also revealed that the victims of bullying have an increased risk for developing an eating disorder as well.
Writer of this story Rachel Taylor: From a young age, I was bullied for being too big and it greatly affected my self-worth and confidence. I know now that it has direct ties with my eating disorder. (Photo courtesy of Proud2BMe)
I am one of those victims. From a young age, I was bullied for being too big and it greatly affected my self-worth and confidence. I know now that it has direct ties with my eating disorder.
It began in middle school. I was being bullied for the first time and wasn’t sure how to deal with it. I understood why I was being targeted: because I was fat. I didn’t have any friends except for my twin sister and my best friends since grade school; however, I did not have any classes with them and I was only able to see them during lunch breaks.
I was isolated for six hours a day, five days a week because everyone refused to speak to me—and if they did, it was as if they wanted the conversation to be as short as possible. My sixth grade year was one of the loneliest times of my life.
It wasn’t long after the abuse started that I began exploring different diets. I switched my breakfast for one of my mom’s Slim Fast shakes and I began researching different diets online. Eventually, that led me to pro-ana sites where I found extreme diets. The more extreme the diet, the more willing I was to try it—and the quicker I thought it would work.
I began to wish for an eating disorder, believing that it would make me thin and the bullying would stop as a result. What saved me from self-destruction was the arrival of summer vacation. Family trips, spending all day and night with my sisters, cousin and best friend, and feeling loved and accepted saved me.
And for a while, everything was okay. When the new school year came around, I was nervous but actually made friends pretty easily—many of whom I still talk to today. However, despite my bonding with my new group of friends, the bullying still occurred. If anything, the attacks escalated, lowering my self-esteem with each assault. Still, I carried on and even forgot about my previous ambition to develop an eating disorder.
Then, it all came crashing down…
To read the rest of this story from our partner, Proud2BMe, click here.
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