Eating Disorders and Body Image Issues
I have advanced training and experience in providing psychoanalysis to clients who are struggling with disordered eating and negative image. I support individuals, couples, and families to foster the support needed to defeat disordered eating and embrace their healthy self.
What is an eating disorder?
Eating disorders are medical illnesses characterized by irregular eating habits and severe distress or concern about body weight or shape. Eating disturbances may include inadequate or excessive food intake, which can impact an individual’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Eating disorders affect all genders and can develop during any stage of life, but typically appear during adolescence or young adulthood. In the United States, up to 30 million people are diagnosed with some form of eating disorder, and they have the highest mortality rate among any mental illness. Eating disorders commonly coexist with other conditions, such as anxiety disorders, substance abuse, or depression.
General Eating Disorder Statistics
Eating disorders affect at least 9% of the population worldwide.
Less than 6% of people with eating disorders are medically diagnosed as “underweight”
- 10,200 deaths each year are a direct result of an eating disorder – that’s one death ever 52 minutes
At any given point in time, between 0.3-0.4% of your women and 0.1% of young men will suffer from anorexia nervosa
Eating disorders are among the deadliest mental illnesses, second only to opioid overdose
- About 26% of people with eating disorders attempt suicide
Types of Eating Disorders
Binge Eating Disorder
Binge eating disorder is characterized by recurrent binge eating episodes during which a person feels a loss of control and marked distress over his or her eating. Unlike bulimia nervosa, binge eating episodes are not followed by purging, excessive exercise or fasting. As a result, people with binge eating disorder are overweight or obese.
Bulimia Nervosa
Bulimia nervosa is characterized by binge eating (eating large amounts of food in a short time, along with the sense of a loss of control) followed by a type of behavior that compensates for the binge, such as purging (e.g., vomiting, excessive use of laxatives, or diuretics), fasting, and/or excessive exercise. Unlike anorexia nervosa, people with bulimia can fall within the normal range for their weight. But like people with anorexia, they often fear gaining weight, want desperately to lose weight, and are intensely unhappy with their body size and shape.
Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is characterized by a significant and persistent reduction in food intake leading to extremely low body weight in the context of age, sex, and physical health; a relentless pursuit of thinness; a distortion of body image and intense fear of gaining weight; and extremely disturbed eating behavior. Many people with anorexia see themselves as overweight, even when they are starved or severely malnourished.
Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)
Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is an eating disorder similar to anorexia. Both conditions involve intense restrictions on the amount of food and types of food you eat. But, unlike anorexia, people with ARFID aren’t worried about their body image, shape, or size.
Many children will have phases of picky eating. But ARFID, which has also been referred to as selective eating disorder, is different. Someone with ARFID doesn’t eat enough calories for their bodies to work properly. In kids, this can lead to delayed weight gain and growth. In adults, ARFID can not only cause dangerous weight loss, but it could also keep them from being able to maintain basic body functions.
Who is at risk for eating disorders?
Eating disorders can develop at any age. They affect all genders, races, ethnicities. It’s a myth that eating disorders only affect girls and women. Boys and men are equally at risk. Certain factors may make you more prone to developing an eating disorder, such as:
- Family history of eating disorders, addiction, or other mental health issues, such as depression.
- Personal history of anxiety, depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Diabetes (up to one-fourth of women with Type 1 diabetes develop an eating disorder)
- Major life changes, such as starting a new job, a divorce, or a move.
- A history of trauma (physical, emotional, or sexual)
- History of dieting
- Involvement in activities that focus on a slender appearance, such as modeling, gymnastics, swimming, wrestling, and running.
- Perfectionistic tendencies.
