About eating disorders

Newbridge House is a specialist centre for the treatment of eating disorders in young people.

Eating disorders are complex conditions which have a very serious impact upon an individual’s physical and psychological health. There are three principle main types of eating disorder – anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. We describe their characteristics in more detail in dedicated sections for each individual eating disorder.

There is also another category medically known as eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS). This is used to describe people with characteristics of an eating disorder who do not have the typical symptoms doctors used to diagnose the main eating disorders.

People with eating disorders often have other difficulties such as self-harm and depression which also need to be addressed in order to effectively treat their eating disorder. Evidence from many studies show early diagnosis and treatment of an eating disorder offers the best outcomes for individual patients, before behaviour becomes very entrenched and physical side-effects most devastating.

It is also very important for treatment to take place in a dedicated, specialist eating disorders centre, where all staff understand eating disorders and there is integrated support from a wide variety of specialists. Anyone with concerns about an eating disorder should see their GP or school nurse who will be able to carry out an initial assessment and refer you to an appropriate service.