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Comment and Health

Anorexia films and documentaries must avoid being voyeuristic

At last, Louis Theroux's Talking to Anorexia documentary offered a rare, nuanced take on one of the deadliest mental illnesses, says Lara Williams

By Lara Williams

3 November 2017

Louis Theroux and women with aneroxia

The documentary offered nuance

Karen Robinson/BBC

Despite the existence of on how to dramatise or report on anorexia, it has often been mishandled in the past. But surely, in today’s climate of openness and responsibility on mental health, this has changed.

A trawl through a recent crop of dramas and documentaries on the subject shows progress is slow, yet there is a glimmer of hope.

More than are thought to be affected by an eating disorder. Although anorexia makes up just – much less than bulimia…

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