Eating Disorders, Connection, and Community

Eating disorders can be profoundly isolating experiences. They can distance people from their sense of self, from relationships, and from the communities that once felt safe and familiar.

This Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2026, the theme ‘Eating Disorders: Exploring Community and Connection’ invites us to reflect on the vital role connection plays in recovery.

Whether someone is living with an eating disorder, supporting a loved one, or working professionally in this area, connection can support understanding, reduce isolation, and help create pathways toward support and change.

How Eating Disorders Can Disconnect People

Eating disorders affect far more than eating behaviour. They can gradually reshape how a person sees themselves and relates to others.

Each experience of an eating disorder is unique but people may experience feelings of shame and an urge to keep their behaviours secret. This can lead a person to withdraw from people who are important to them and can gradually chip away at a person’s sense of self. People may see themselves as different and can feel a sense of ‘secret pride’; this experience can ultimately make it harder to seek and accept support.

Over time, an eating disorder can become central to identity and coping. This can create distance not only from others, but also from the person’s own values, needs, and sense of self.

The Role of Connection in Recovery

Connection can take many forms: supportive relationships, therapeutic alliances, peer communities, or compassionate social environments. Connection helps people feel safe within their support networks. Connection allows people to notice and challenge shame in order to rebuild their identity and become disentangled from their eating disorder.

Recovery often involves reconnecting with one’s body, needs, values, and relationships. Community provides the relational safety in which this reconnection becomes possible.

Community in recovery is not only about numbers of people. It is about quality of connection. Community also matters for families and supporters. Caring for someone with an eating disorder can be emotionally demanding and at times isolating. Shared understanding and support for carers is an essential part of a recovery-supportive environment.

Supporting Someone Who May Be Struggling

Raising concerns about someone’s eating or wellbeing can feel daunting, but approaching with care, curiosity, and respect can help to open the conversation in a supportive way.  

Helpful Approaches

• Choose a calm, private moment to talk.
• Lead with care and curiosity about feelings.
• Use “I” statements rather than “you” statements.
• Listen more than you speak.
• Be patient.
• Encourage professional support where appropriate.

What to Avoid

• Commenting on body size or physical appearance.
• Monitoring or questioning food intake.
• Making assumptions or assigning labels.
• Pressuring change.

Starting a conversation does not mean everything has to change immediately. It means you have shown care and opened the door to further support.

Keeping the focus on care rather than control helps create a space where the person feels seen and able to talk if they choose. Your role is not to fix things, but to offer a consistent, compassionate presence and help bridge towards appropriate support when they are ready.

Supporting Yourself When You Are Supporting Someone Else

Families, partners, and friends may experience worry, frustration, grief, and exhaustion. These feelings are common and valid. Supporters also need care and connection. As a loved one of a person struggling with an eating disorder it is vital to mind yourself.

• Access reliable and trustworthy information.
• Allow your own emotions to have space.
• Set compassionate boundaries.
• Share responsibilities.
• Talk to people who care about you.
• Talk to a professional if you need to.

Supporting someone with an eating disorder is not something anyone should have to do alone. Looking after yourself does not reduce your support for the other person, it helps you remain steady and present over time.

Creating Communities That Support Recovery

Communities help create environments where people affected by eating disorders feel seen and supported. Connection is not only interpersonal, but also cultural. When communities communicate acceptance and understanding, people are more likely to reach out.

Recovery involves rebuilding those connections over time, in safe and supportive relationships.

No one chooses an eating disorder, and no one should have to recover alone.

If you or someone you care about may be affected by an eating disorder, support is available. Reaching out can be a first step toward connection, understanding, and change.

Bodywhys is the national voluntary organisation supporting people affected by eating disorders and their families. Their services are free, confidential, and open to anyone. Access full contact details for Bodywhys here.

This article was developed by the Psychological Society of Ireland and clinically reviewed by Dr Jillian Doyle, Principal Clinical Psychologist and PSI Member.