A survey of 2,157 people by the Eating Distress Awareness Group is to be launched on Eating Distress Awareness Day next Friday at the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin.
Some 6 per cent of Irish people say they suffer from eating distress and 95 per cent say they know someone who does. Yet 51 per cent of people know "very little" or "nothing" about the condition.
The survey was conducted among nurses, office workers, university students, teachers, civil servants, doctors and customers in pharmacies and health-food shops.
The number of people who admitted to having an eating disorder - six per cent - is low compared to US surveys, some of which have found rates of 20 per cent amongst university students.
We already know how preoccupied young people are with their weight: 35 per cent of Irish 10- and 11-year-olds are either on a diet or think they should be, the Slan survey found.
That only half the 4,800 surveys were returned may reflect that many sufferers were afraid to admit to their affliction, believes Marie Campion, director of the Marino Therapy Centre in Dublin, which gets 6,000 calls to its eating distress helpline annually.
The media "has a lot to answer for" in its reporting of eating distress, 70 per cent of the public believe. Fifty-four per cent think the media handles eating distress in an "unbalanced", "prejudiced" or "discriminatory" way and 95 per cent blame the fashion industry for encouraging eating distress. The majority for respondents - 55 per cent - believed sufferers needed medical help, but 50 per cent thought that GPs did not provide enough support.
The term "eating distress" covers anorexia, bulimia, laxative abuse, overeating, yo-yo dieting and self-harm.
Most don't realise alcohol and drug abuse may be directly related to eating distress, says Ms Campion. Nor do they understand that people who appear to be of normal weight may be secretly damaging their bodies through eating distress behaviours.
People in the caring professions tend to suffer more from eating distress because they are super-sensitive individuals who feel emotions deeply and like to nurture others, says Ms Campion. Nurses and teachers comprise a large proportion of the helpline calls the Marino Therapy Centre receives.
Yet sufferers may receive little sympathy from others. One-third of respondents said that people with eating disorders were "hard to talk to" and one-quarter thought that they could "pull themselves together" if they wanted to. Only 17 per cent of the general public believed that people with eating distress could make a full recovery, whereas 100 per cent of people with the condition who have recovered believed that fully recovery was possible.
"More awareness has to happen," says Kielty Oberlin, a counsellor with the Marino Therapy Centre in Clontarf, Dublin, where the awareness group is based. "People seem to think you can tell by looking at someone whether they have an eating disorder," she says.
In reality, the person with eating distress who is nine stone is more likely to have long-term, life-threatening medical problems than the person who is four stone, she says. You can be a normal weight and still suffer from kidney and liver damage and heart attacks brought on by low potassium levels, caused by purging.
Ms Oberlin, a former model, actress and TV journalist, suffered from eating distress herself before recovering and pursuing a career in psychotherapy.
The Eating Distress Awareness Day takes place next Friday, 6-10 p.m. at the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin. Doctors, psychotherapists, sufferers and their families will take part. Admission is free. The Eating Distress Helpline operates for men and women Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday 6-8 p.m. 01-8333063. The Marino Therapy Centre number is 01-8333126.