Less than 10% of anorexia sufferers receive treatment

The eating disorder anorexia nervosa has the highest death rate of any psychiatric illness, and is estimated to affect one in 100 women.

The service hopes to reduce hospital admissions and death rates for young people under the age of 18 in the west of Scotland.

At least 400 young people across Scotland are estimated to suffer from an eating disorder, one of the highest rates in Britain.

Group therapy

The majority of anorexia sufferers are adolescent girls, though about 10% are boys.

At present they receive no specialist care.

The Eating Disorders Association says less than 10% of sufferers are receiving treatment.

The Parry-Jones service at Gartnavel hospital in Glasgow will offer individual, family and group therapy to patients in the west of Scotland.

They do manage to starve themselves Dr Jane Morris

It aims to minimise the need for hospital admission by treating youngsters with anorexia while they remain in familiar home and school environments.

The clinic's Dr Jane Morris believes the pressures on teenagers can be immense.

"They do manage to starve themselves," she said.

"This is both because of fear of becoming unacceptably fat in a world where fast food is freely available, and also possibly because of all the media coverage of how desirable it is and how it's the solution to everything to be thin."

Intense fear

It will also include sessions in self-esteem, one of the major underlying causes of anorexia.

The service is named after Professor William Parry-Jones whose work within the area of eating disorders highlighted the need for specialist adolescent services.

Anorexia is often characterised by severe weight loss and an intense fear of gaining weight.