These Heartbreaking Photos Show What Life Is Like With An Eating Disorder
Photographer Marie Hald documents what goes on inside an eating disorder treatment centre in Poland.
Marie Hald is a 28-year-old professional photographer from Denmark.
Last year Hald travelled to an eating disorder treatment centre in Malawa, a small village in the south of Poland. The treatment centre is a little yellow house called Drzewo Zycia, which means "Tree of Life". The centre was set up in response to a lack of mental health care in Poland by a woman called Ella, whose own daughter had an eating disorder.
Marie Hald/Moment/INSTITUTE
During her stay Hald befriended some of the female patients there and participated in the programme's activities. "Most of the girls only spoke Polish, so the girls who were fluent in English explained and translated what I was saying," she told BuzzFeed News. The treatment involves a rigid routine, which she felt gave the patients comfort: "Whilst they were often bored with everything being the same everyday it also gave them comfort and peace and allowed them to focus on the therapy sessions."