Hi,
I have a friend who is a young autistic woman and who has an eating disorder (not eating enough, controlling her diet, obsessively exercising). She's struggling to get a referral for her condition. It's affecting her mental and physical health in a big way and I'm worried about her. She's open about her condition (to me at least), and she's seeking professional help, so I'm fairly confident she'll be open to my support. I don't feel comfortable just standing by!
I want to be able to help her, but I'm aware that it's more complicated than helping a non-autistic person who has an eating disorder (which isn't a simple task to begin with). I read somewhere that autism lends itself to eating disorders for various reasons (sensory difficulties such as not liking certain smells/flavours/textures, a need for control and order, anxiety about following the social "rules" including ones about appearance, excessive interest in things which can include exerising), so autistic people with eating disorders may need different care than other people. They can have different motivations and need different support.
Does anyone know how I could help my friend? I could do with advice both on what to say, and how to offer help without her feeling threatened and shutting down the coversation! I'm going to be searching around the internet as well, I just thought I'd widen the search by asking on here.
- Jack
