How to Get Help for a Loved One With an Eating Disorder
Eating disorders and disordered eating are more common in the U.S. than many people may think. In fact, many people may know someone with some type of eating disorder or form of disordered eating and not even know it. However, when there are signs and symptoms of an eating disorder or disordered eating, it is important to get help as soon as possible. The good news is there are many effective ways to help a loved one recover.
Better Understanding Eating Disorders and Disordered Eating
So, what exactly is an eating disorder? According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), “Eating disorders are serious and sometimes fatal illnesses that cause severe disturbances to a person’s eating behaviors. Obsessions with food, body weight, and shape may also signal an eating disorder. Common eating disorders include binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, and, less common but very serious, anorexia nervosa.”
It is also important to remember that an eating disorder and disordered eating are much more than one’s relationship to food. Eating disorders are significantly more psychological and are most often associated with many underlying issues. One of the issues most commonly associated with eating disorders is trauma (including post-traumatic stress disorder).
Like eating disorders, trauma is much more common than many people think. According to the peer-reviewed journal Psychological Medicine, “General population studies have shown that a large proportion of people in developed countries have been exposed to at least one TE [traumatic event] in their lifetime (estimates from 28 to 90%), with the most common events being the unexpected death of a loved one, motor vehicle accidents and being mugged.” If these traumas go untreated, they can often lead to behavioral issues like mental illness, addiction, or an eating disorder.
Better Understanding the Types of Eating Disorders
Eating disorders and disordered eating are often seen as one monolithic category. This is simply untrue.
There are many types of eating disorders, all of which have some very specific signs and symptoms. These types include the three most commonly occurring: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder.
Understanding Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia nervosa has some rather scary statistics. According to the British Medical Journal (BMJ), “Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality of any psychiatric disorder. It has a prevalence of about 0.3% in young women.” Also, “Anorexia is the most common cause of weight loss in young women and of admission to child and adolescent hospital services.” Of course, anorexia affects all populations of people.
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), “Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder where people lose more weight than is considered healthy for their age and height. Persons with anorexia typically avoid or severely restrict food.” Also, “People with this disorder may have an intense fear of weight gain, even when they are underweight.” People with anorexia nervosa also often engage in what is known as “over-exercise.”
Understanding Binge Eating Disorder
Many people forget to categorize binge eating disorder as an eating disorder because it can cause weight gain rather than weight loss. According to the peer-reviewed journal Nature Reviews. Disease Primers, “Binge eating disorder (BED) is characterized by regular binge-eating episodes during which individuals ingest comparably large amounts of food and experience loss of control over their eating behavior. The worldwide prevalence of BED for the years 2018 – 2020 is estimated to be 0.6 – 1.8% in adult women and 0.3 – 0.7% in adult men. BED is commonly associated with obesity and with somatic and mental health comorbidities.”
The most defining characteristic of binge eating disorder is “loss of control,” which is what makes it very similar to an addiction to alcohol or other illicit substances. It is less about the food but rather about how the food makes one feel. The food is not the problem; it is a “symptom” of the problem.
Understanding Bulimia Nervosa
Bulimia nervosa also involves binge eating, but this binge eating is followed by extreme weight loss countermeasures. According to the peer-reviewed thesis, Bulimia Nervosa, by Doctors Jain and Yilanli, “Bulimia nervosa is a condition that occurs most commonly in adolescent females, characterized by indulgence in binge-eating, and inappropriate compensatory behaviors to prevent weight gain… The estimated prevalence of bulimia nervosa in the United States is 0.9% among adolescents, 1.5% among the general population of women, and 0.5% among the general population of men.”
Bulimia nervosa also represents significant feelings of loss of control, and that feeling is then overcompensated by trying to control one’s weight in negative ways. This includes self-induced vomiting, abusing laxatives, and not eating for long periods of time (“abstaining from food”).
Signs and Symptoms: Recognizing an Eating Disorder in a Loved One
While there are some very distinct signs and symptoms for each eating disorder and type of disordered eating, there are also many universal ones. The following are just a few of the more common signs and symptoms of eating disorders and disordered eating:
- Not wanting to eat at mealtimes
- Eating in private
- Rituals with food, such as chewing a certain amount of times every time
- Taking stimulants such as diet supplements
- Acting anxious and/or depressed
- Expressing disinterest in food and eating
- Going to the bathroom an excessive amount of times while eating or right after eating
- Extreme weight loss or weight gain
- Exercising an excessive amount
- Losing interest in activities once enjoyed
- Expressing feelings of hurting oneself
- Having poor self-image and low self-esteem
It should be noted that many of these symptoms can simply be flipped when it comes to binge eating disorder. For example, not wanting to eat at mealtimes would shift into adding an excessive amount of mealtimes.
As one can see, these are pretty significant side effects, which is why getting a loved one help for an eating disorder as soon as possible is so crucial. Getting help sooner rather than later can mean the difference between short-term side effects and long-term consequences.
How to Get Help for a Loved One With an Eating Disorder
Approaching a loved one about an eating disorder can feel daunting. Many anxieties can pop up, like “What if I am wrong?” or “What if they resent me?” The key is to remember that an intervention is happening to save their life. When those stakes are put front and center, it becomes much clearer why getting them help is so vital.
Once an individual has been approached about their potential eating disorder or disordered eating, it is time to connect them to a professional. There is a chance that they won’t want to accept help. If this is the case, it may be important to set boundaries and create consequences if they refuse to get help. While this may seem harsh, it is all about saving their life.
Connecting with the right professional is also crucial. The key is to connect with professionals who deal directly with eating disorders (including a loved one’s specific eating disorder). It is also important to ensure that these professionals focus on healing eating disorders at the cellular level.
Healing From an Eating Disorder at the Cellular Level
When it comes to any type of mental illness, substance addiction, or behavioral addiction (which many eating disorders are categorized as), it is important to focus on healing all aspects of the individual rather than their individual “parts.” This includes healing psychologically, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
It is especially crucial with eating disorders because focusing too much on one aspect of the issue leaves other aspects susceptible to relapse. For example, if too much focus is brought on the physical aspect of an eating disorder, there is a chance that underlying emotional issues will not be addressed. One exceptional way of addressing these emotional issues is via psychotherapy.
Healing From an Eating Disorder: Psychotherapies
Psychotherapy is one of the most common therapies for treating issues of addiction and/or mental illness today. The reason for this is that it has been around and studied long enough to show its efficacy.
It is also a great foundation for any recovery plan because it works well with other modalities, such as experiential or psychedelic therapies and holistic healing methods. There are many different types of psychotherapy that treat eating disorders, but perhaps the most common is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).
The Benefits of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
CBT is one of the best ways to get to the underlying issues of negative actions and behaviors. According to the peer-reviewed journal BioPsychoSocial Medicine, “CBT is a type of psychotherapeutic treatment that helps people to identify and change destructive or disturbing thought patterns that have a negative influence on their behavior and emotions. Under stressful conditions, some individuals tend to feel pessimistic and unable to solve problems. CBT promotes more balanced thinking to improve the ability to cope with stress.”
This therapy can be particularly helpful for individuals with eating disorders because it gets to the underlying issues of those behaviors, such as low self-esteem and poor self-image. Also, as previously mentioned, the underlying issues of trauma. However, there is also another therapy that focuses specifically on trauma – trauma-informed therapy.
The Benefits of Trauma-Informed Therapy
Trauma is often missed when diagnosing individuals with mental health and/or addiction issues. According to SAMHSA, “Many individuals who seek treatment in behavioral health settings have histories of trauma, but they often don’t recognize the significant effects of trauma in their lives; either they don’t draw connections between their trauma histories and their presenting problems, or they avoid the topic altogether. Likewise, treatment providers may not ask questions that elicit a client’s history of trauma, may feel unprepared to address trauma-related issues proactively, or may struggle to address traumatic stress effectively within the constraints of their treatment program, the program’s clinical orientation, or their agency’s directives.”
This focus on the underlying issues of trauma can help individuals process their trauma and create coping mechanisms to manage their negative behaviors in the future (specifically, disordered eating behaviors). Other ways to treat an eating disorder and disordered eating are more “experiential.”
Healing From an Eating Disorder: Experiential Therapies
Experiential therapies focus more on creative and/or active experiences rather than verbalization with a therapist (though that is often part of it). These therapies also help to create positive attitudes toward activities that can be continued throughout one’s long-term recovery.
There are also many different types of experiential therapies. These may be creative therapies like art or dance therapy, or they may be more active therapies like surf therapy or nature immersion therapy.
The Benefits of Nature Immersion Therapy
Nature immersion therapy can have many positive effects on individuals struggling with an eating disorder. These effects include helping individuals see themselves in the greater scheme of the universe and improving their self-image.
There are also many other benefits. According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, “Besides improvements to physical and psychological well-being, exposure to natural environments has been shown to bring about positive impacts on cognitive functioning… While cognitive restoration and physiological well-being are the prominent and renowned benefits of nature exposure, there is one important construct that is often overlooked in environmental psychology research studies – that is, the human-nature relationship; also known as connectedness to nature (CN).” This “connectedness to nature” can also happen on the ocean.
The Benefits of Surf Therapy
Individuals struggling to recover from an eating disorder can also greatly benefit from healthy, monitored physical activities. Surf therapy is an ideal example of this.
Like nature immersion therapy, surf therapy (and other water activities) also offers many benefits that can help individuals with an eating disorder recover. According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, “According to research, spending time in nature, especially by water, reduces the production of stress hormones, cortisol and epinephrine, reducing stress and anxiety. The calm sound of water and waves crashing against the shore also has a calming effect as well as the negative ions with which the ocean water is filled. This suggests that water sports [like surfing] may be particularly suitable for improving mental well-being.”
Healing From an Eating Disorder: Holistic Healing Methods
Holistic healing methods like yoga and meditation are excellent ways to combat issues like eating disorders and disordered eating. This is because, as previously mentioned, they focus on all parts of the “Self.”
There are many different types of holistic modalities. These modalities include sound bathing, reiki, massage, acupuncture, meditation, and yoga.
The Benefits of Yoga and Meditation
Yoga and meditation are great ways to find a sense of equilibrium in recovery. This balance is crucial for eating disorder recovery because it can bring balance to those feelings of too much control and lack of control.
Yoga offers many benefits for recovery. According to the International Journal of Yoga (IJOY), “Regular practice of yoga promotes strength, endurance, flexibility and facilitates characteristics of friendliness, compassion, and greater self-control, while cultivating a sense of calmness and well-being. Sustained practice also leads to important outcomes such as changes in life perspective, self-awareness and an improved sense of energy to live life fully and with genuine enjoyment. The practice of yoga produces a physiological state opposite to that of the flight-or-fight stress response and with that interruption in the stress response, a sense of balance and union between the mind and body can be achieved.”
When this multi-angled approach to recovery (psychotherapy, experiential therapy, and holistic healing) is utilized, the chances for a healthy, well-rounded recovery go up exponentially. This includes reducing the chances of a potential relapse.
Healing From an Eating Disorder at the Cellular Level With Exclusive Hawaii Rehab
Here at Exclusive Hawaii Rehab, we know that getting a loved one help for an eating disorder or disordered eating is one of the most important things a family may ever do. This is why we honor that commitment by ensuring that each and every client has a recovery plan that is tailored just for them.
The journey of recovery can feel long and bumpy at times. But, with the right help, it will also be the best journey one ever takes. It will be the journey of a lifetime.
It can be vital to know what eating disorders and disordered eating look like because recognizing the signs and symptoms of an eating disorder indicates it’s time to seek professional help. If you feel like you or a loved one are struggling with an eating disorder, disordered eating, or any other issue of mental health or addiction, we can help get you on the right road to recovery. You don’t have to do this alone. For more information on what seeking help for an eating disorder may involve (such as intervention, the intake process, etc.), as well as which treatment options are best for someone struggling with these issues, please reach out to Exclusive Hawaii Rehab today at (808) 775-0200.