Scots mum warns families over hidden dangers of eating disorders during festive season
26.11.2022 - 08:29
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A Scots mum has warned parents to be aware of the hidden dangers that people with eating disorders face around Christmas time.
Emma Broadhurst, 51, has opened up about her family's struggle to manage her eldest daughter's eating disorder during the festive season, which left them feeling like they were living with an 'intruder' who became a sixth member of the family.
The mum of three says her daughter developed the mental health condition at the age of 17, with Emma initially growing concerned about her daughters 'extreme exercising' and explosive moods which created an underlying tension in the family.
Emma says that though she was unaware that she had eating disorder, she noticed that the behaviours appeared to intensify over Christmas with her daughter struggling to sit still and hardly eating. Now aged 22, Emma says her daughter has been in recovery for four years but explained that it was hard for the family during the festive period when there is such a focus on food.
Speaking to the Daily Record about the experience she said: "It was like having another member of family that you weren't aware of and then suddenly became an intruder and you couldn't get rid of. It was like having the world's worst-behaved person in your house 24/7 and you didn't know how to get rid of them.
"You couldn't talk to them. You couldn't rationalise with them, you can only engage with them. They just took over everything."
Emma says that being around the disorder was really challenging for family and friends with conversations often devolving into toddler style meltdowns as her daughter struggled to cope.
She continued: "We had two really bad Christmases - the first one we didn't know she had an eating disorder but we realised there was
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