What is an eating disorder?
An eating disorder is defined as a serious mental health illness that involves obsessive thoughts and behaviours focused on eating, physical appearance and exercise.
Anyone can develop an eating disorder – it does not discriminate with gender, age or your cultural background. In Australia between 4% to 16% of the population are affected by an eating disorder.
Any of the following signs may be present if you have an eating disorder:
- Concerned about your appearance, food or weight gain
- Excessive level of dissatisfaction with your body – thinking you need to lose weight when everyone around you thinks you are underweight
- Secrecy around your eating habits and patterns, as you know they are unhealthy
- Pretending you have eaten to others, when in fact you haven’t
- Fearful about the possibility of gaining weight
- Feeling anxious, guilty or distressed about eating
- Body checking – through weighing yourself constantly and pinching your body to feel for any fat or weight changes
- Vomiting or using laxatives to avoid gaining weight
- Feelings of being out of control around food
Eating disorders
There are a number of different eating disorders, including:
Binge eating disorder
Binge eating disorder (BED) is approximately half of all eating disorders in Australia and is characterised by an excessive consumption of food, even when one is not feeling hungry. This behaviour is known as binging. People who binge tend to feel strong feelings of shame and guilt over their behaviour. Once a binge has occurred, the pattern of behaviour ones tends to participate in is to go on a diet or fast from food. People with BED don’t vomit or purge their food.
A diagnosis of binge eating disorder or BED as outlined in the DSM-5, means a person must experience recurrent episodes of binge eating. A BED is identifiable by the following symptoms:
- Eating in a discrete period of time, an amount of food that is larger than what other people would eat in the same time frame under similar circumstances
- A feeling of being out of control over the eating during the binging episode
- Binge eating occurs on average, at least once a week for 3 months
- Binge eating causes marked feelings of distress
To be diagnosed with binge eating disorder, the binge eating episodes are associated with 3 or more of the following:
- Eating significantly faster than is normal
- Eating large amounts of food when one is not physically hungry
- Eating to the point of feeling uncomfortably full
- Eating in secrecy or alone because of embarrassment about the volume of food one is consuming
- Feelings of disgust, depressed or guilt after binging
In Australia approximately 12% of people with eating disorders have bulimia nervosa. Bulimia nervosa is characterised by frequent binging behaviour that are often conducted in secret. Following the binging, episodes of vomiting or taking laxatives or diet pills occur. This pattern of behaviour is commonly known as purging.Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterised by recurrent episodes of binge eating at least once a week, for three months or more. Bulimia nervosa is identifiable by the following symptoms as outlined in the DSM-5,:
- Eating in a discrete period of time, an amount of food that is larger than what other people would eat in the same time frame under similar circumstances
- A feeling of being out of control over the eating during the binging episode
- Recurrent and inappropriate compensatory behaviours in order to prevent weight gain, including behaviours such as self-induced vomiting; overuse of laxatives, diuretics or other medications, fasting or excessive amounts of exercise
- A person views their body and shape in an unduly manner
Anorexia nervosa makes up approximately 3% of the people that have an eating disorder in Australia. Anorexia nervosa is characterised by a fear of putting on weight, a preoccupation with food and can be severely underweight. People with anorexia nervosa often view themselves as being fat, holding a distorted body image. Due to this strong belief of being fat, those with anorexia nervosa are not able to recognise they are unwell or understand how dangerous the condition is to their health.Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder as outlined in the DSM-5,:
- Restriction of energy intake relative to the requirements for your body, leading to a low body weight for your age, gender, developmental milestone and physical health
- Incredibly intense and distressing fear of gaining weight or of becoming fat, or participating in behaviours that interferes with weight gain
- Disturbances in the way in which one’s body weight or shape is experienced, an undue influence of body weight or shape on one’s self-evaluation, or persistent lack of recognition of the seriousness of the current low body weight
Treatments available for eating disorders
Treatment for eating disorders need to be tailored for the individual as each person’s set of circumstances differs. Therefore, there is no one size fits all treatment option available. Often treatment involves a multidisciplinary approach, including a psychologist, dietician, social worker, doctor and occupational therapist. During a counselling session, you can expect to engage in open and supportive discussions about your concerns, emotions, and experiences. Therapists attending Brisbane Counselling Centre understand, care and will listen, provide guidance, offer coping techniques, assisting you to develop strategies to manage the eating disorder.
Common approaches used for treating eating disorders include Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT); EMDR, Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), Family-based treatment (FBT) and Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT).
The choice of approach will depend on individual needs as assessed and discussed by the psychologist or counsellor with you. Recovery from an eating disorder is not a linear process. With a caring team of health professionals, as well as social and emotional support, you can recover from an eating disorder. Your counsellor or psychologist at Brisbane Counselling Centre will develop a treatment plan tailored to suit your needs.
Help is available
If you can relate to any of these symptoms or life is challenging right now, we can help and support you at Brisbane Counselling Centre. Talking to a caring professional trained in eating disorders will really help to improve the quality of your life. Take the courageous step and reach out for help today.
If you think you might have an eating disorder, or are simply wondering what is happening for you, it is crucial to seek assistance from a mental health professional to address what is happening for you. Please call to speak with one of our friendly team members to discuss your needs further. Our psychologists and counsellors are available to help.
