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Introduction for the original 1990 CUP publication

I hadn’t heard of anorexia until I was twenty years old. My secondary school education had provided lessons about drugs, sexually transmitted diseases, how to write a curriculum vitae and fill in a tax form, but no one mentioned anorexia… in spite of the fact that one of my best friends began to stop eating in the sixth form. It went by unnoticed, or unchallenged. Teachers ignored it… no one knew anything was wrong. All we knew was Ann was becoming a lot thinner.

Some months after we’d left school and gone our separate ways, I heard from a friend that Ann had fainted on her doorstep and rushed to hospital apparently weighing about four stone. When I contacted her she was well on the road to recovery and told me her story. This was the first time I’d heard the word ‘anorexia’. It meant little more to me than scurvy, i.e, a very rare illness. I never expected to hear it again.

In 1986 I was faced with the problem of a girl (Jo – we nicknamed her Jo the Unicorn as she had played a unicorn in my King of Elfland’s Daughter musical production, so you can see where Jo the Goat comes from) seeking help from me, her teacher, as she believed she had symptoms of anorexia. Like the school I had attended as a pupil, and the school I then taught at (unlike Oaklands!), there was no literature on anorexia, though I do believe that those who opted for cookery in the upper school were given a brief warning about the dangers of dieting. Eventually we convinced this girl to visit her doctor. She was sent home with a terse:

‘Well, come back in three weeks and we’ll see how much you weigh.’

This was a girl who had broken her scales at home and was admitting to hiding food. It was one thing for teachers not to know about anorexia… but doctors? I was astonished.

In the course of researching for this play, I visited the local Health Education Department. They had no books on anorexia, only five or six newspaper articles and were embarrassed to admit that little was being done to promote recognition of this syndrome, despite the fact it was beginning to receive media attention.

Maureen Dunbar’s book (and later the film) Catherine has done much to heighten public awareness of this potentially fatal syndrome. This play has continued her good work and offered increased understanding so that early preventative action can be taken. Through Patricia (and Jo the Goat!) we can see that there is hope and people can recover.

I am pleased to say that the two women who inspired my involvement in this issue are building new lives for themselves. Although they too carry a message of hope, I do believe that some of their pain could have been alleviated by a greater awareness of anorexia.

Mark Wheeller

Support and advice for anorexics and their families can be sought from:

www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk

www.eating-disorders.org.uk

Details of local contacts in your area are freely available to callers ringing the national helpline.