For me, anxiety comes with shame. In school, I wanted nothing more than for my struggle with anxiety to go unnoticed by my peers and teachers. You could not have paid me a million pounds to admit it to anyone; all I wanted was to seem just like everyone else. Even now, it makes my cheeks go pink when I am reminded that I, so used to identifying as smart, capable and “normal”, have a disability.

The theme of this year’s Eating Disorder Awareness Week is ‘Why Wait?’. On average, nearly three years pass before an individual seeks help for an eating disorder. There are multiple reasons why this could be the case, but I know for sure that stigma is often one of them.