A few weeks ago, a journalist from a national UK newspaper - the Daily Mail - emailed me to see if I'd be interested in being interviewed for an article on eating disorders in boys, to raise awareness that boys get eating disorders too. It was the first interview I'd done since succumbing to Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (c-PTSD) as a result of battling to get my son through anorexia and back to full health.
I said yes, because I felt that, finally, I'd be able to talk to the media again (I used to raise awareness that boys get eating disorders like anorexia quite a bit, but then I fell sick with c-PTSD and just couldn't face "going back there").
The journalist was incredible - very empathetic and understanding. Gradually I realised that this wasn't just going to be a tiny piece about eating disorders in males, but a huge double-page spread!
Yet even with a double-page spread, it was tricky to condense our massive story into around 2500 words.
But, as a joint effort of the amazing journalist, my revisions and the editor's editing, we got there.
I was on holiday last week, but caught an email at the 11th hour to tweak the headline.
I found the initial interview, a few weeks ago, incredibly triggering, though. I spent the following few days in a whirl of traumatic memories and wondered if it had thrown me back into the worst days of the c-PTSD.
Likewise, when they invited me to London to take photographs.
I found it really triggering.
But in a strange way, I felt kind of stronger after that - more able to "go back there" again and talk about my son's struggle with anorexia and his eventual full recovery.
The article draft went to and fro several times until we arrived at the final version which they'd agreed wouldn't go ahead without my 100% approval.
At the moment, the online version of the article is behind a paywall, but I've asked the journalist if the newspaper might be willing to remove that, so the article gets out to more people.
In the meantime, there's a full transcript of the article on my blog which you can read by clicking here.
Just as with this blog, my book - Please eat...: A mother's struggle to free her teenage son from anorexia - talks to parents of young people with eating disorders and media appearances to raise awareness that boys get eating disorders like anorexia too, I decided that if I help just one family find the help, support and information they need, then it's worth it. Not just for boys with eating disorders but for girls with anorexia, too.
I've already had parents get in touch with me via my website - you can find my email address at BevMattocks.co.uk - and the article was only published yesterday (21st March 2025).
I actually cried when I received the first email.
I cried because I was so upset that families are still being faced with the devastating news that their son or daughter has an eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia, and because - just like me back then - they are absolutely terrified.
I also cried because, amongst the really hideous and upsetting negative comments the online version of the article was attracting, I appeared to be getting through to the people that matter.
Parents just like I was in Autumn 2009.
PS: you can read our story in my book Please eat...: A mother's struggle to free her teenage son from anorexia and download free PDFs from my website of the hundreds of blog posts I've written since 2011 (often it can be easier to scroll through PDFs, then click through the actual blog!)
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