The Christmas season and New Year’s Eve pose an increased risk for people with eating disorders (EDDs), especially due to the strong emphasis on food, disrupted routines, a lot of stress and increased attention from the environment. According to Denisa Šoltésová, director and social worker of the non-profit organization Trojlístok in Prešov, food plays an important communicative and symbolic role during the holidays.
“Very often, instead of naming our emotions and needs, we try to hide them behind some kind of food. When I like someone, I offer them food. When I no longer want someone in my company, I no longer offer them. Dining has a certain communicative function, but Christmas is specific. Food plays a very big role there, and for people with eating disorders, it is an all the more difficult time.” warns the expert.
“We are more perceived by the environment and controlled. Many times it is good food, so we are also more at risk of some loss of control and then overcompensation, so Christmas is really an increased risk for several reasons.” said Šoltésová.
According to her, an increased focus on food and commenting on eating can make a difference worsen the psychological experience. Even seemingly innocent comments about who ate how much or how they look can be perceived as pressure, attack or non-acceptance, and such an approach can lead to worsening symptoms, overeating, restricting food or an increased need for control, according to the expert.
Risk factors are also a change in the daily routine and the feeling of constant surveillance by loved ones. “If the pressure is high and the person does not yet have strategies for coping with the burden, it can lead to a worsening of survival and thus also a worsening of the disease itself,” says the expert.
She advises relatives of people with eating disorders to avoid evaluative comments and, in case of doubt, to seek professional help. “The person with the problem does not have to seek it out immediately. Parents or partners can consult a psychologist, in a counseling center or on a helpline,” advises Šoltésová. Help is necessary for her, especially if physical health problems, worsened psychological experience or disturbed relationships and social isolation appear.
When coping with New Year’s Eve and the holidays, she advises people in recovery to maintain a regimen and realistic expectations. “It is important for a person to prepare strategies, perhaps even a schedule of the days, how they will probably go, so that he does not set too high goals, but one or two tasks that he can manage during the day. In the event that he deviates from some prepared strategy or set boundaries that day, so that he does not perceive it as a fundamental failure, but as a specific situation.” adds Šoltésová.
