Dublin father of four opens up about his 'living hell' battle with anorexia

A poignant new documentary airing on Monday will shine a light on the realities of people in Ireland living with eating disorders, following the stories of Sean, Amanda and Josh

Eating disorders are on the rise in Ireland, with an estimated 188,895 Irish people experiencing an eating disorder at some point in their lives, and over 85% of them finding it hard to access treatment.

Sean, a Dublin dad-of-four, was diagnosed with anorexia over a decade ago, and has opened up bravely about his “living hell” with the condition.

The 42-year old is one of three individuals who will speak on their lives with an eating disorder in an urgent RTE documentary called Anorexia, My Family and Me.

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Airing on Monday October 14th on RTÉ One at 9.35pm, the documentary is narrated by Angela Scanlon, who herself battled with anorexia and bulimia for 15 years.

In the documentary, Sean opened up about how the disorder has nearly killed him.

He said candidly: "The last decade is definitely the most severe and nearly killed me.

"Anorexia nervosa is just a hell. The power of it is just incredible."

He shared that his illness began with just running "once or twice a week," and escalated to weighing himself every day and running for hours and hours. "It took over my life. My biggest fear was not being able to run."

“I would run a marathon, and the whole way around that 42km was like, ‘I can’t eat too much nutrition. It’s calories.’"

“Absolutely starving, wanting to eat, want to eat so much, but you just can’t. I remember being out one night running and it was lashing raining, half five in the morning, and I just started crying."

Thankfully, Sean was able to take solace in therapy, and spend some time in inpatient therapy.

“For me, it was a massive turning point,” he said.

“I honestly think if it wasn’t an eating disorder, it’d be something else. It’s the cover-up of pain. I mean, the level of self-hate I’ve had all my life has just been massive.”

On average, 1,800 news cases of eating disorders are diagnosed nationwide annually, according to BodyWhys.

The documentary also features 16-year-old Josh from Wicklow, and 36-year-old Amanda from Dublin.

Speaking on Friday’s Late Late Show, narrator Angela touched on her experiences with eating disorders.

“I would love anyone sitting at home in the depths of it, in a lonely, horrible place, to know that it’s messy and it’s complicated. And it takes a long time but, actually, you can come out the other end," she said.

Anorexia, My Family and Me features insights from leading experts in the field. Dr. Kielty Oberlin and Harriet Parsons from Bodywhys: The Eating Disorders Association of Ireland, provide a wider perspective on the issue, unpacking for the audience both the complexity of this illness, and the struggles families face when trying to access care for their loved ones.

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