First, she pointed to world data that 26.6% of people with bulimia and compulsive eating attempt suicide.
A girl jumped out of the window
“Psychologically, the feeling of guilt is very difficult to bear. Also in Latvia, a girl jumped from the 9th floor in 2021. She worked with me, she had bulimia and alcoholism. But no one talks about it, and the cause of death is considered suicide. But we – all the specialists and the family – know what really happened.”
At the time of the tragic accident, the woman was only 21 years old. “All the media said that it was simply suicide – the girl had jumped out of the window. But working with the family revealed not only eating disorders, but also psychological trauma.
Just couldn’t stand it and jumped
This girl worked hard and wanted to change, but her psyche was already twisted. She just couldn’t stand it and jumped. She really wanted to change, come to support groups, she worked. She just didn’t get out of it. That’s what people do – they see no way out.
Of course, along with her eating disorder, she also had depression. Also, people in depression often see no way out. Also, in my work experience, there have been several suicide attempts because people simply don’t see a way out of it.”
Suicide attempts end with a life in a wheelchair
Dove admitted that this case of suicide is not the only situation she knows of related to eating disorders. “I also received messages on Instagram from people who remained in a wheelchair and who tried to end their lives in the same way.”
Balode, together with other specialists, is ready to fight to collect data on suicide attempts and suicides related to eating disorders in Latvia. “That’s why we talk about it more and more, so that families are not ashamed to talk about what really happened, why there was depression, why suicide happened.
It is easy to write: died by suicide. But why? Where is the reason? There are such statistics in the world, but in Latvia – 0% of suicides related to eating disorders. In the world, these cases make up 26.6%.”
We recognize our mental problems more and more
She is very happy that recently Latvian society has moved forward when talking about mental illnesses. “Everyone is very empathetic about depression and understands what it is. Everyone understands emotional abuse. I’m glad that eating disorders are being talked about more and more everywhere.”
Unfortunately, many people are still not ready to talk about these issues publicly, especially revealing their experiences. “But they are starting to turn to more and more for help. That’s the main thing – that they get help.”
Balode would like to implement a social campaign about eating disorders in Latvia. Similar campaigns have taken place in Great Britain, Lithuania and other countries, but Latvia still has a long way to go in this respect.
Why does the child eat all the time?
“I hope that one day we can speak freely and be more understanding.” The specialist also invited adults to delve into the question of why some children are getting chubbier and spend a lot of time in front of screens. Parents often say: “He’s already obese and just plays computer games all day, does nothing, etc.”
“But you have to start talking to these teenagers and understand why they do it. Why does he eat all the time? Often the answer lies in the fact that there are problems in the family. In order for the child to escape from the reality that surrounds him or from the bullying at school, which is now being talked about a lot, he goes out, buys buns and eats his stress. This can lead to an eating disorder. It is necessary to understand their reasons.
Young people eat their stress
There is a lot of talk that the American culture is coming to us and all the children eat burgers, but for many children the problem has worsened a lot with the covid pandemic. Young people don’t show the stress that we all have about security threats, but eat them up. They just don’t talk, they eat.
Parents think: the child eats chips and everything in turn. But it is important to understand the reason in time, so that later it does not happen that teenagers realize that everyone is laughing at them, they are fat, and then they start not eating.” In this way, you can fall into the second ditch and settle into not eating.
Encourages to dig deeper and understand why the child feeds on chips
Parents should understand that it is normal for teenagers to eat chips and other unhealthy foods, but it is not good if the child does it uncontrollably often and a lot. Parents often ask how to stop a child if he eats chips all the time?
“One must understand the reason why this is happening! It’s not that they eat chips that’s bad, it’s why they ask for so much junk food!”
Not to condemn, but to support
It is easy to condemn: “You eat too much or too little! You should eat differently!” But it would be much better if we, as adults, try to understand how we can help children and young people. It would be better to ask, “How can I help you?” It would be much worse to yell, “I see you’re eating too much. Eat less or healthier! You will be overweight!”
Questions like: “How can I support you? How are you feeling? What’s wrong with you? How can I help you?” When we see a person who has some unusual deviations in the field of eating, it is better to ask how we can help and how they feel, rather than instructing them to eat and condemning them.
New mothers need support
Often, new mothers become victims of eating disorders because they cannot cope with the burden of daily responsibilities.
“They have so many responsibilities. They often lack support, but they find it in chocolate and all kinds of bars,” the specialist said.
Support, love and being together can save you from eating disorders
Pigeon summed up: fellow human beings should not focus more on how to fix the eating issue of a child or young person, but on how to improve their well-being and emotional state.
“How can we make him happy and support him? Then we can take a look. Magically, but it often happens like this: where there is support, love and being together, eating begins to normalize,” she told about her observations.
