Content warning
This page discusses suicide and self-harm. If you are struggling right now, support is available at any hour.
This article does not describe specific behaviours, weights or numbers. That detail is known to be harmful to people who are unwell and is not needed in order to get help.
Eating disorders carry some of the highest mortality in psychiatry, and they respond much better to early treatment than to late treatment. Both facts argue for referring sooner than feels proportionate.
Why treatment is dual
An eating disorder produces physical consequences that require medical monitoring, and it is maintained by psychological mechanisms that require psychological treatment. Treating only one side does not work. This is why dedicated programmes exist rather than general outpatient therapy.
Where it happens here
Singapore General Hospital runs a dedicated Eating Disorders Programme. The usual route in is a referral from a GP or polyclinic.
What gets in the way of referral
- The belief that someone must look unwell to be unwell. Eating disorders occur across body sizes.
- The assumption that this affects only adolescent girls. It does not.
- Waiting for the person to ask for help. Many will not, and the illness itself argues against it.
- Treating it as a phase to be waited out, which allows the physical consequences to accumulate.
If you are a parent
Family involvement is a recognised part of treatment, particularly for adolescents, and your role should be defined by the treating team rather than improvised at home. Ask specifically what your part is, because guessing tends to produce either policing or withdrawal, and neither helps.
When it is urgent
Eating disorders can become medical emergencies. If someone collapses, cannot be roused, or is in immediate danger, call 995. For distress at any hour, national mindline is on 1771 and Samaritans of Singapore is on 1767.