An eating disorder is a psychological illness that occurs when behavior around food and eating become so important to someone that it interferes with their daily life. Eating disorders are described by abnormal eating habits that may include severe restriction of food, binge eating, and/or purging (vomiting, over-exercise or using laxatives).
When a person has an eating disorder, eating becomes the most important part of that person’s life because they will do anything to make sure food stays in their control. This can include eating in isolation, wearing certain clothing to hide their body from others, and planning their day around eating.
Eating disorders can stem from a multitude of reasons, including childhood trauma (a terrible event) such as the death of a parent or abuse. Eating disorders are can br triggered when someone’s relationship with food changes—when they start eating more or less than they used to, stop eating certain types of food they used to enjoy, become fearful of foods, or when eating becomes associated with emotional problems.
Sometimes people who have eating disorders may also struggle with abuse of alcohol and/or drugs and they tend to feel depressed and anxious (nervous and upset). Sometimes eating disorders occur together with other mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder (manic depression), obsessive-compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia.
Eating disorders are very dangerous. They can cause serious health problems, and do not go away on their own. There are many signs that someone may have an eating disorder, which can be hard to detect at times as they can be viewed as “healthy habits.”
Some eating disorder symptoms are:
- Seeing one’s self as bigger than in reality
- Eating in secret or hiding food
- Excessive exercise (such as exercising when you’re sick or in pain)
- Eating until uncomfortably full then forcing oneself to vomit
- Eating only one or two certain foods such as raw fruits and vegetables, white bread, pasta with no sauce, or cheese
- A change in eating patterns, ie: newly “disliking” or fearing something that used to be enjoyed
- Eating less than three times a day
- Eating everything in small amounts
- Eating food that is not normal for the situation
These symptoms can vary from person to person. If you would like to see a full list of signs and symptoms review the National Eating Disorder website.
It is important to get eating disorder treatment before eating disorder symptoms become worse, and lead to more serious health problems such as digestive problems, heart disease, and kidney failure.
If you or someone you know has eating disorder signs, it is important to talk about this with a parent, teacher, friend, doctor or therapist. This can be a great start for starting the process of getting eating disorder treatment, which can be challenging.
If you are seeking treatment for an eating disorder please reach out to us here for eating disorder treatment today.
