Eating disorders
What are eating disorders?
Eating disorders are psychiatric conditions that impair a person’s physical and mental health and diminish overall quality of life, affecting relationships, professional, and personal development. This typically means that the body does not receive enough calories to function properly or involves regular excessive eating.
Approximately 8% of women and 2% of men will experience an eating disorder in their lifetime. The most well-known eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. However, binge eating disorder, where a person feels the urge to regularly overeat, is also widely recognized as a distinct disorder.
The mortality rate among people with eating disorders is higher than among those with other mental illnesses. One in five diagnosed individuals dies due to physical complications or eating disorder-related suicide.
Signs of eating disorders:
- Obsessive thoughts about food, weight, or body shape
- Viewing food or body as something to control
- Distorted body image
- Constant weighing due to fear of weight gain
- Obsession with mirrors
- Discomfort eating in public
- Hiding food
- Lying about eating habits
- Enjoying cooking for others but not eating
- Social withdrawal
- Self-punishment for not losing weight
- Continuous self-criticism
- Denying the problem even after diagnosis
- Self-harm habits
Physical signs of eating disorders:
- Sudden weight changes
- Depression and low self-esteem
- Mood swings and irritability
- Fatigue and poor concentration
- Lack of libido
- Sleep disorders
- Dizziness
- Stomach pain
- Weakness or loss of strength
- Amenorrhea (irregular or ceased menstruation)
- Swelling (hands, feet, and/or face)s
What is Anorexia Nervosa?
Anorexia nervosa is when someone maintains a low body weight as a result of obsessive thinking. They drastically restrict their food intake and diet. Here are the beliefs and behaviors characteristic of anorexia:
- Eating only low-calorie foods or drinks, obsessively counting calories
- Fear of high-calorie foods
- Using diet pills, appetite suppressants, and/or laxatives
- Pretending to eat
- Believing to be overweight despite being underweight
- Skipping meals
- Cutting food into small pieces and pushing it around the plate instead of eating it
- Obsessive behavior
- Punishing oneself for not losing weight
- Feeling cold, having a low body temperature
- Hair loss
What is Bulimia Nervosa?
Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by repeated episodes of binge eating, excessive concern about body weight, and attempts to control it through extreme measures. Here are the beliefs and behaviors characteristic of bulimia:
- Consuming large amounts of food
- Extreme measures after eating (e.g., vomiting, excessive exercise, using laxatives)
- Keeping eating habits secret
- Fluctuating weight
- Organizing life around buying food, eating, and purging
- Feelings of guilt, shame, or loss of control
- Constant anxiety and tension
- Lethargy
- Stomach problems (e.g., constipation, bloating)
- Issues arising from vomiting
What is binge eating disorder?
How do eating disorders develop?
No eating disorder has a single cause. It is often not understood why everyday voluntary activities such as eating become a disorder for some people but not for others.
A disturbed relationship with food and emotional fragility are characteristics of all eating disorders. Eating disorders usually begin subtly, with a person eating slightly more or less food than usual. The desire to eat more or less becomes increasingly compelling until it can become the focal point of the person’s existence.
Part of it is due to biology, as the regulation of appetite and food intake is a very complex process. Many hormones in the brain and body signal hunger and satiety.
Evidence also suggests that eating disorders have genetic and familial roots. Culture also plays a significant role, as people, especially women, are pressured to meet beauty ideals largely defined by weight.
Other influencing factors may be caused by stress, social difficulties, loneliness, depression, trauma, or dieting.
Are eating disorders treatable?
People with eating disorders may take a long time—sometimes years or decades—before deciding to seek help. When they do, there are various options available to help them recover.
People with eating disorders often receive outpatient treatment, but in severe cases, hospitalization may be necessary. Treatment involves the assistance of a doctor, psychologist, and nutritionist who address different aspects of the disorder. Treatment methods for any type of eating disorder include a version of cognitive-behavioral therapy tailored for eating disorders, collaboration with the family, and family therapy.
Depending on the cause of the eating disorder, various body-based or somatic practices can be supportive and helpful.
