Health. Support groups to break the taboo of eating disorders

Weight loss, hair loss, pregnancy... Faced with the consequences of eating disorders, support groups are offered to those affected and their loved ones by several associations and institutes. Generally led by caregivers or volunteers who have experienced the same experience, the support group can then allow a "liberation" of speech and suffering.

"There is a supportive effect of the group, because they [people who suffer from eating disorders, editor's note] will find people who they think understand them. They feel safe in the support group, they feel they can talk. They will be interested in what happens to others and this will allow them to be less judgmental of themselves," notes Dominique Vignaud, president of Enfine, a listening and support association for eating disorders.

For families, too, the benefits can be numerous. "It's an opportunity to talk about what they're going through, because eating disorders put families in great difficulty, and they often feel very guilty and helpless. Welcoming them will also help relieve their anxiety, which also weighs on the person suffering," the specialist analyzes.

"When these disorders enter the family through a young person who is ill, it is extremely difficult because you have to understand the illness. It is the subject of many taboos, of denial, and families are not very open about it. The first step is to come out of denial and come to the support group," adds Philippe Gaubert, administrator of the Anorexie Boulimie Ouest association, which organizes support groups for families and mutual aid groups for patients suffering from ED.

However, support groups are not for everyone. "People who are aware that they have an eating disorder, who are not in denial and want to get out of it, then yes, it's great, it's helpful. Those, on the other hand, who haven't yet identified it as suffering, who come more from others, will tend to bring a very trivializing discourse on suffering and that won't necessarily do any good to others or to them," judges Elisa Bessellere. "For someone who is in great difficulty, psychological suffering, a support group once a week is not going to be enough. Support groups are a gateway to therapy, it's complementary, for people who are in a form of need, who feel that talking will help," adds Dominique Vignaud.

The support group can also be difficult to take off. Elisa Bessellere can attest to this: the SOS ANOR Center of the association La Note bleue, of which she is the director, decided this year to end this practice due to a lack of participants. "Since Covid, our groups haven't restarted. Resistance was strong, it was a mixture of 'I don't want it to excite my eating disorder to see other people who may be thinner, more invested in the toxic relationship of the disorder' and other resistances such as 'I don't dare, I'm shy, I don't want to share my experience,'" she explains.

The specialist would, however, like to revive them in the future: "It takes a tremendous amount of energy for the group to come together, but once it does, it's great. It's a really powerful moment: loneliness disappears, there's a shared language, the suffering is understood, and it allows you to feel less alone." "Loneliness in a mental health disorder is an aggravating factor, so it's valuable," she insists.