SINGAPORE – Ms Lee Yue Er’s most vivid childhood memory is of her parents shouting and fighting while she sat on the floor crying.

As an only child, she had no one to turn to for help. She was in elementary school then. A sense of abandonment and confusion plagued her childhood, Ms Lee, now a 21-year-old nursing student, said in an interview with The Straits Times.

At the age of 11, his emotional turmoil transformed into an even more destructive force. A self-described “shy kid,” she faced friendship problems at school.

She began to starve because food was the only thing she thought she could control.

“Hunger was a source of comfort. When my weight dropped, I felt satisfaction,” said Ms Lee, who was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa when she was 14.

The mental health condition is characterized by abnormally low body weight and an intense fear of gaining weight. Another common eating disorder is bulimia nervosa, which involves binge eating and then purging.

Stressors such as family conflict, school stress, bullying and low self-esteem can contribute to the development of an eating disorder, said Dr. Courtney Davis of the Department of Adolescent Medicine. KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH).

Other factors that put a person at risk for developing an eating disorder include being female, having other psychiatric problems like mood disorders, and being a perfectionist, a- she added.

Although eating disorders can affect people at any age, they usually develop during adolescence.

In Singapore, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa begin on average at age 14.

One of the main contributing factors is puberty, said Dr Ng Kah Wee, director of the eating disorders program at Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

“There is a greater awareness of a person’s body as it changes, such as size, shape and body image – which are the main areas that patients have difficulty with with disorders of diet,” Dr Ng said.

In line with global trends in recent years, Singapore is also seeing an increasing number of young people being diagnosed with eating disorders.