Eating Disorder Awareness Week highlights the often misunderstood and underestimated struggles millions of individuals worldwide face. This dedicated week, which takes place each year, provides a platform to foster understanding, empathy, and support for those grappling with eating disorders and their families. It's a time to dispel myths, challenge stereotypes, and encourage open conversations about these complex mental health conditions.
What is an Eating Disorder?
An eating disorder can be defined as a persistent disturbance of eating or eating-related behaviour that increases consumption or absorption of food and impairs physical health and psychosocial functioning (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2015).
Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder and related syndromes comprise the spectrum of eating disorders, considered highly distinctive psychiatric disorders. Other specified eating disorders include night eating syndrome, atypical anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and purging disorder.
Differentiating Anorexia, Bulimia and Binge Eating
Eating disorders can be depicted by a dysfunctional perception relating to food, body shape and weight (Kerr‐Gaffney, Harrison & Tchanturia, 2019).
Anorexia nervosa is concerned with weight loss due to inadequate eating, which is driven by restrained eating rather than a loss of appetite (Palmer, 2014). The individual generally fears weight gain and may participate in weight loss activities such as excessive exercise or purging (Zipfel, Giel, Bulik, Hay & Schmidt, 2015).
Bulimia nervosa can be characterised by frequent binge eating an unusual amount of food and is accompanied by a subjective loss of control (Palmer, 2014). Another key characteristic involves participating in inappropriate behaviour in order to prevent weight gain (Palmer, 2014).
Binge eating disorder involves eating an immense amount of food in less than 2 hours to eating smaller amounts, which results in psychological distress and/or medical discomfort (Mehler, 2017). This disorder accompanies no compensatory behaviours.
Treating Eating Disorders
Treatment of eating disorders generally involves a combination of psychological therapy, nutritional education and intervention, and medication. The basic steps of treating an eating disorder are to visit a primary care physician who would assist in diagnosis as well as setting the initial treatment goals (Mehler, 2017).
According to Mehler (2017), the main goal of treatment involves encouraging the individual to change their perception towards the significance of maintaining low weight, food restriction, and body shape. Currently, recommended treatments for involving psychotherapy include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) and self-help methods (Mehler, 2017).
Further diagnosis is essential once an eating disorder has been diagnosed since eating disorders co-occur with other psychiatric disorders such as mood disorders, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, alcohol and/or other substance abuse, and personality disorders (Mehler, 2017). Another reason for further diagnosis is that the presence of a co-morbid psychiatric disorder affects the treatment plan for the eating disorder.
Below is a list of key warning signs for an eating disorder:
Restricting Food – this can include avoiding meals, excessively counting calories, taking diet pills and a restrictive food ritual
Bingeing – hoarding high-calorie food, secrecy and isolation
Purging – disappearances after a meal, use of laxatives or diuretics and periods of fasting or intense exercise
Distorted body image – preoccupation with body weight, significant weight or rapid weight gain and wearing baggy clothing
Should you require assistance for eating disorders, please contact the following organisations:
Twin Rivers Rehab Addiction Disorder Centre: 078 286 3359
We Do Recover: 081 444 7000
Imani Specialized Care for Eating Disorders: 086 669 5659
References:
American Psychiatric Association. (2015). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders ( 5th ed.). Washington, DC: USA.
Kerr‐Gaffney, J., Harrison, A., & Tchanturia, K. (2019). Eye‐tracking research in eating disorders: A systematic review. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 52(1), 3-27.
Mehler, P. S. (2017). Eating disorders: A guide to medical care and complications. JHU Press.
Palmer, B. (2014). Helping people with eating disorders: A clinical guide to assessment and treatment. John Wiley & Sons.
Zipfel, S., Giel, K. E., Bulik, C. M., Hay, P., & Schmidt, U. (2015). Anorexia nervosa: aetiology, assessment, and treatment. The lancet psychiatry, 2(12), 1099-1111.