THIS is Eating Disorder Awareness Week, which this year is focusing on the impact eating disorders can have on individuals in the workplace.
Disorders such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa are often difficult to address both in the home and at work. While there have been public awareness campaigns to highlight the effects of these potentially life-limiting illnesses, stigmatisation still exists – therefore sufferers are often reluctant to seek help for fear of being rejected or treated differently.
However, eating disorders are more common than you think. At any one time, as many as 20,000 men and women in Northern Ireland are living with one, many of whom will have a job or career.
Despite the obvious physical symptoms, such as significant weight loss or weight gain, it is important to remember that eating disorders are psychological in nature and not physical. Many sufferers will often appear industrious, composed and diligently organised to their friends or colleagues on the outside. Unbeknownst to them however, they may be experiencing extreme emotional distress.
The micro-management of food consumption is symbolic of how an individual is desperately seeking to regain some form of control on their lives and attempt to offset often erratic and irrational thoughts.
Despite the huge mental pressure, employees with eating disorders will often go to great lengths to excel at their jobs in order to divert possible negative attention and to prevent their disorder from being noticed. As a result, it can often be difficult for colleagues and employers to recognise when someone has an eating disorder.
Using bulimia as an example, where a sufferer engages in binge eating behaviour followed by purging (through vomiting, excessive exercise, or consuming laxatives) key behavioural signs to look out for include frequent trips to the bathroom, unpredictable mood swings, wearing loose clothing, or self-inflicted isolation from peers.
While you may have concerns that someone you know is suffering from an eating disorder, it's important to remember that these are deeply rooted psychological conditions that require diagnosis by a medical professional.
Sufferers are likely to be viewed as being disabled under the Disability Discrimination Act, in which case employers need to make reasonable workplace adjustments to assist their needs and handle the issue with sensitivity.
That said, line managers should avoid counselling an individual or assuming the diagnosis unless it has been volunteered by the individual themselves. Treating someone differently at work on the basis of an assumed medical disorder is simply wrong and is a recipe for disaster and potential litigation.
A sufferer’s productivity in the workplace can be negatively impacted due to the health implications of their disorder, such as chronic fatigue and low self-esteem. So rather than confronting an employee about them possibly having anorexia or bulimia, it is more appropriate to have a private discussion about their job performance.
Ideally, sufferers do best in a stable, secure working environment with empathy from work colleagues – whereas change in workplace structure, disrupted sleeping patterns (such as in night-shift rotas) and irregular meal breaks tend to exacerbate someone's condition.
The key to aiding an individual's recovery is to support their medical needs and respect their privacy. Again this should always be done in terms of addressing a work-related issue and not as an attempt to single a person out and label them.
By emphasising their value as an employee and encouraging their emotional welfare within the workforce, a staff member living with an eating disorder will in time regain their position as a productive and competent employee.
:: Dr Alan Black is director of Belfast-based occupational health providers Blackwell Associates. For more information call 028 9065 6131 or follow @BwellAssociates.
