Why treatment is the key to recovering from an eating disorder
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31st May 2019
Kylie Van Der Deer has suffered with anorexia and a binge eating disorder since she was 15 years old. Her 20-year battle has taken its toll on her body and left her with lasting health problems. But she survived the world’s deadliest mental illness and wants to help others beat it, too.
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“It became really important to me to get something positive out there that people can watch from the privacy of their own homes,” Van Der Deer says. “I never ever in my life thought I would get to the point where this tormented mind wasn’t around. And that is why I am so ridiculously passionate about letting people know you can get better.”
Van Der Deer’s story is the subject of a two-part Compass special, A Peace Of Nourishment: Taking Self Worth Off The Scales, premiering on the ABC on Sunday, June 2 to coincide with World Eating Disorders Action Day.
The powerful documentary, filmed over four years by Van Der Deer’s partner Annie Flynn is a brave and emotional insight into her desperate search for a cure.
Unflinchingly, the camera keeps rolling during brutally honest therapy sessions and consultations with the world’s leading experts on eating disorders. She also tries a host of conventional and alternative therapies and delves into the latest research into brain science and genetics.
Van Der Deer says it took her four whole years of almost constant therapy to recover and there were plenty of ups and downs along the way.
But she says, when your healthy self is finally in front of your disordered thoughts, that is when you know you are better. “I actually feel free,” she says. “There is a whole new level where you don’t even have those thoughts and feelings.”
And when any rogue thoughts do pop up, “I jump in quickly to self-nurture myself and give myself some compassion”.
Van Der Deer has created a website to serve as an ongoing resource for other sufferers, their families and their carers, as well as those who want to learn more about the therapies she tried.
According to The Butterfly Foundation, there is no clear cut one-cure-fits-all for eating disorders and different people respond to different types of treatment. Van Der Deer says it took her a long time to put together a multi-disciplinary approach combining different treatments, so she hopes sharing her story will help others find their own cure faster.
“The most important thing is to find one person that you completely trust and that you will be 100 per cent honest with,” she says.
Multidisciplinary treatment includes psychology, psychiatry, dietetics, nutrition, general medicine, family therapy, as well as self-help and various complementary treatments.
The Butterfly Foundation estimates one million Australians suffer from an eating disorder, yet only 25 per cent are accessing effective treatment.
Because it can be extremely difficult raising the subject of eating disorders with a friend or loved one, The Butterfly Foundation website has a guide on what to say and what not to say. If you or someone you know needs help with an eating disorder, contact The Butterfly Foundation’s helpline, here.