Fund a UK public information campaign to raise awareness of eating disorders

The public tend to underestimate the seriousness of eating disorders (Crisp et al., 2000; Easter, 2012; Mond et al., 2006) and may not view them as a ‘real’ mental illness (Easter, 2012). Despite genetic factors playing an important role in their causes (Jacobi et al., 2004), the general public tend to blame solely social/environmental factors (Bulik, 2004) as causes for eating disorders. The public also tend to believe the person has brought the illness on themselves (Stewart et al., 2006).