Anti-eating disorders

Since the beginning of our First Campaign against Anorexia and Bulimia in Internet, launched in June 2004, and until the launching of the Second one in May 2005, Protegeles has received more than 200 demands of young girls suffering from an Eating Disorder.

Around 75% of the girls users of Protegeles’ anti-ED helpline services are under-aged girls from 14 to 18 years old and the remaining 25% are university students. They come from 8 different countries: Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Uruguay and Honduras. However, most of them are Spanish teenagers (56%)
According to a first rough diagnosis, we realise that most teenagers seeking help at Protegeles have developed or are developing bulimia nervosa (36%). To this percentage we need to add an additional 13% of girls who swift from anorexia to bulimia. This means that at least half of the girls using our service are suffering from bulimia. Meanwhile, we can consider that 28% of the girls are suffering from anorexia, 4% present binge eating crisis and the remaining 19% cannot be properly classified into any of the previous categories or we do not have enough data as to diagnose her illness.
Bulimia incidence is much higher among university students (72%) and 18-year old teenagers (62%) than among younger girls: 37% of 17 year-old, 31% of 16 year-old, 45% of 15 years-old and 45% of 14 years old.
The reasons why teenagers decide to contact Protegeles are the following:

They seek information, counselling and suggestions to overcome an Eating Disorders. Girls seeking this kind of help are very aware of the fact that they are ill and they are ready to face it. 44% of girls contacting Protegeles are seeking professional help.
They need support and understanding to face their ED. 31% of the girls are looking for this kind of help to face the problem
They ask for ways to loose weight in a healthy way. 10% of the girls we help at Protegeles ask questions about how to loose weight because they are, or they think they are overweighed.
They need help and want suggestions to avoid developing an ED. 7% of the demands of help we receive have a preventive character, that is to say, they are demands from young girls asking for advice not to develop an ED, or not to relapse.
They ask for suggestions and guidelines to stop vomiting. 5% of the girls contacting our anti-ED helpline want to stop vomiting or to avoid the purgative episodes.
They would like to know how to stop or at least control binging.

It is specially worrying the high percentage of young girls that affirm not counting on anybody at home to overcome the illness. It is even more appaling when it comes to parents. One girl out of three contacting us affirm not receiving any support from their families.
Near half of the girls (49%) is not being and has never been under specialised medical treatment for Eating Disorder.
61% of the young girls and teenagers receiving counselling at Protegeles say they feel afraid of the illness and how fast it is developing. The remaining 39% say they have never feel nor afraid nor surprised.
16% of the girls we help have already deliberated injured themselves. Most of the times they inflicted self-injuries with knives in arms and hands or they burn themselves with cigarettes.
29% of the girls we assist in Protegeles have thought of suicide as a valid option to their situation. Meanwhile, the remaining 71% have never thought of it.
15% of the girls contacting us had seriously tried to commit suicide.
Since the opening of the helpline we have obtained valuable experience in the field of Eating Disorders and we have been appalled by the relatively high percentage of the sufferers of ED that have been victims of sexual abuse during their childhood. This is the case for 5% of the girls that have ask us for help.
In order to optimize the service we provide through our helpline, that we have called First Personalized Help, it is very important to know the reasons why girls suffering from an ED have decided to ask for help through the Internet. These are their answers:

They appreciate the professional unselfish help they get. The majority of girls using our services (50%) most appreciate the unselfish aspect of the professional help we provide.
They appreciate the fact that they can obtain help from professionals specialist in the ED field. Public Internet Forums that these girls use seeking for support and help most of the times do not count on professionals to provide suitable counselling. For this reason, 34% of them do specially appreciate the fact that they can obtain professional help.
They appreciate the fact that they can obtain help and counselling in an anonymous way. 11% of girls pointed out anonymous help as the aspect they appreciated the most. At Protegeles, we never force girls to tell us neither their name nor their address. We think that keeping their personal data anonymous helps getting truthful and sincere information from them.
They appreciate the fact that they will not be judged at any moment ans whatever they say. This is the case for around 5% of the girls.

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