Subtitles section Play video
-
Globally, about 10% of people will experience an eating disorder during their lifetime.
-
And yet, eating disorders are profoundly misunderstood.
-
Misconceptions about everything from symptoms to treatment make it difficult to navigate an eating disorder or support someone you love as they do so.
-
So let's walk through what is and isn't true about eating disorders.
-
First, what is an eating disorder?
-
Eating disorders are a range of psychiatric conditions characterized by these main patterns of behavior:
-
Restricting food intake, bingeing or rapidly consuming large amounts of food, and purging or eliminating calories through vomiting, laxatives, excessive exercise, and other harmful means.
-
An eating disorder can involve any one or any combination of these behaviors.
-
For example, people living with anorexia usually restrict the amount of food they eat, while bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by recurrent binges and purges.
-
Importantly, these behaviors determine whether someone has an eating disorder.
-
You can't tell whether someone has an eating disorder from their weight alone.
-
People who weigh what medical professionals might consider a "healthy range" can have eating disorders,
-
including severe ones that damage their long-term health in invisible ways, including osteoporosis, anemia, heart damage, and kidney damage.
-
Just as we can't tell whether someone has an eating disorder based on their weight alone, we can't get rid of these disorders simply by eating differently.
-
That's because eating disorders are, at their core, psychiatric illnesses.
-
From what we understand, they involve a disruption to someone's self-perception.
-
Most people who experience them are severely critical of themselves and report many self-perceived flaws.
-
They may use eating to try to regain some control over an internal sense of chaos.
-
We still don't know exactly what causes eating disorders.
-
There likely isn't a single cause, but a combination of genetic and environmental risk factors that contribute.
-
Sometimes, other mental illnesses, like depression or anxiety, can cause symptoms of eating disorders.
-
In addition, certain psychological factors, such as perfectionism and body image dissatisfaction, are risk factors for eating disorders.
-
Several social factors contribute, too, including internalized weight stigma, exposure to bullying, racial and ethnic assimilation, and limited social networks.
-
Although there is a common misconception that only women experience eating disorders, people of all genders can be affected.
-
As these disorders intimately affect the development of one's identity and self-esteem, people are particularly vulnerable to developing them during adolescence.
-
Although these are among the most challenging psychiatric disorders to treat, effective therapies and interventions exist, and many people who receive treatment make a full recovery.
-
Treatment has a higher chance of success the earlier it starts after someone develops disordered eating behaviors.
-
But unfortunately, less than half of people with an eating disorder will seek and receive treatment.
-
Because of the complex effects of eating disorders on both the body and the mind, treatment usually includes a combination of nutritional counseling and monitoring, psychotherapy, and in some cases, medications.
-
Evidence-based psychotherapies exist as treatments for most eating disorders, including cognitive-behavioral therapy and family-based therapy.
-
These are talk therapies that help people gain the skills to deal with underlying psychological problems that drive eating disorder symptoms.
-
Because not all patients will respond to these treatments, researchers are also investigating treatments outside of psychotherapy, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation.
-
Proper treatment can reduce the chances of dying from a severe eating disorder.
-
Eating disorders can provoke a powerful sense of powerlessness.
-
But education for individuals, families, and communities helps erode the stigma and improve access to treatment.