THERE were times, admits Jayne Nisbet, during the process of writing her new book, when she broke down in tears, such were the memories she was reliving.

Free-ed, which is released today, is the story of Nisbet, a former Scottish track and field internationalist, and her struggle with an eating disorder as well as her subsequent recovery.

“Writing the book was very emotional,” she reveals. “There were times when I was really crying as I was writing but it was actually very therapeutic to get it all out. The way I’ve written the book is about using my experiences to implement strategies for other people - it’s more of a self-help book rather than just about me.”

As a junior high-jumper, Nisbet was an outstanding prospect but as a senior athlete, her quest to qualify for the 2010 Commonwealth Games was halted by bulimia. Eventually though, Nisbet reached a point when she realised she needed help. “There were times when I wanted everything to end and it was at that point I said to myself either end it now or fight back,” the 29 year-old said. “But I hadn’t achieved what I wanted to and I knew I was wasting my life. And one evening, just after New Year in 2010, my mum and I had a massive argument which until then, I don’t think I had any realisation of what I was doing to others.”

Ultimately, Nisbet got herself onto the road to recovery and in 2014, broke the Scottish high-jump record before being selected for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Individuals who reach the top in sport are often extremely driven and have perfectionist tendencies, something that Nisbet can identify with and believes contributed to her developing an eating disorder. “To get to that level in sport, you have to be so rigid and disciplined and if I look back throughout my career, I was very much like that and that’s something I’ll probably never get rid of,” she told Herald Sport. “I’ve always had perfectionist tendencies and there’s a positive side to that, if you can use it in the right way. But when I was training, I was very OCD – I knew what I’d be doing every minute of the day. If something wouldn’t fit into my diary, it just wouldn’t happen – and if anything went wrong, I would lose the plot.”

Nisbet’s story highlights a wider issue. Eating disorders are significantly more prevalent in elite athletes than they are in the general population – it is estimated that around 10 percent of the general population suffers from eating disorders while in elite athletes, statistics suggest the number is double that. However, despite this, many athletes feel that adequate support is not there, something Nisbet agrees with, and would like to help rectify. “I really don’t think there’s enough support,” she said. “ I didn’t want to speak about my issues for a long time because I thought people would think I was weak and I think a lot of athletes are scared to admit that they’re going through something like this. It’s not about being weak though – I feel like a lot of people think that elite athletes are robots, but of course they’re not. There’s a perception that elite athletes should always get things right, but you just can’t.”

While there is rarely one single trigger for an eating disorder, coaches can play a huge part both positively and negatively and Nisbet is keen to encourage more education for coaches, which might prevent issues arising quite as regularly as they currently do. “I think the main people we should be targeting are the coaches and teaching them how to deal with athletes, especially females,” she said. “A lot of my issues came from coaches - they’re not doing it intentionally but they way they do things can carry with it a massive risk. I think we need to put coaches through an education system to teach them how to deal with females and how to approach the topic if they do suspect that one of their athletes has an issue.”

Nisbet, now based in London, is well on the road to recovery and has set herself the target of qualifying for the elite field at the New York marathon next year, for which she will need to break three hours. It has been a long road to recovery but it is a journey that she is keen to show others is possible. “You hope you can click your fingers and everything will be fine but it’s not like that, it’s a long process,” she said. “I’ve had so many people get in touch with me about the book and I want to promote the fact that you can overcome everything - but you need to surround yourself with the right people or else you’ll never recover.”