Guidelines To Know How To Identify An Eating Disorder
In recent years there has been a greater sensitivity towards eating disorders. The idea we have of what anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder are is becoming more and more human, understanding that it can happen to anyone and that they are disorders that require those affected to receive a lot of support.
Given the growing awareness of these problems, more and more people are worrying about whether they might suffer from an eating disorder or if a loved one has one, becoming interested in treatment and wanting to know what signs indicate whether they suffer from bulimia or anorexia.
The objective of this article is to answer the question of how to know if a person suffers from an eating disorderin addition to making known the generic profile of a person with ED and, also, highlighting the importance of going to psychotherapy to receive the appropriate diagnosis and treatment.
Eating Disorders (ED) in adulthood rarely appear suddenly. The most common thing is that they have been latent, having their antecedents in puberty. It sometimes happens that, when a person reaches adulthood, certain changes or frustrations occur that can trigger problems with food, both in the form of overeating and purging behaviors and restricting what is eaten.
Among the best-known EDs we have anorexia nervosa and bulimia, very common conditions in women. They are not the only ones. There are other less well-known but equally serious eating disorders such as binge eating disorder, pica, rumination disorder, and food avoidance/restriction disorder, in addition to unspecified conditions where ED symptoms are manifested but at subclinical levels.
The most common in adulthood are binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa.anorexia being more common in adolescence although not exclusive.
Some TCA experts indicate that they have detected a sequence that is often repeated. A person suffers from anorexia during adolescence, then bulimia, and finally binge eating disorder in adulthood. The underlying anxiety persists in the three eating behavior problems, and the person channels everything through foodbut unlike in his adolescence, he has abandoned laxatives and inducing vomiting, or he no longer has enough willpower or time to spend hours exercising compulsively.
The most common profile in patients with ED is chronic, arising in adolescence. Their disorder develops during early or late adolescence and persists into adulthood. In these cases, it is common for the person to have already undergone several treatments and has even been hospitalized on more than one occasion. However, we should not ignore the existence of another, less frequent profile of people who develop their ED as adultseven between 30 and 40 years of age.
With all this we want to indicate that although it is common for people with eating disorders to be diagnosed when they were adolescents, it does not mean that this disorder cannot be diagnosed in adulthood. The possibility of manifesting symptoms as an adult is real. For this reason, added to the fact that there is increasing awareness about eating disorders, there are many people who wonder if they suffer from them or if a loved one has one of these problems. In the next paragraphs we will discover what are the signs that can tell us if we are suffering from an eating disorder.
As we said, there are several eating disorders, the main ones being anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder. Each of these psychopathological conditions has its peculiarities and its diagnostic criteria.although we can highlight the following features in the profiles of people with eating disorders in adulthood:
Emotional problems cause people prone to eating disorders to develop an unhealthy relationship with food, whether using it as a form of escape or coping or motivated by the obsession of achieving a certain appearance or weight. The dysfunctional relationship with food will not be solved by reaching a stable and healthy weight because, as their name indicates, they are eating disorders, and therefore the treatment must be oriented toward the patient’s eating behavior and the thoughts that motivate it. .
Warning signs
The following warning signs are not diagnostic criteria, and therefore, we cannot take them as confirmation that we suffer from a food-related problem.
It is essential to understand that To know if we suffer from an eating disorder, we must go to a clinical psychologist, a person trained to carry out the diagnosis of what may happen to us. However, we can be aware of certain signs that can inform us of having an eating disorder, both in ourselves and in others. The most relevant are the following:
1. Food related
2. Related to weight
3. Other physical signs
Cold hands and feet.
Skin dryness.
Constipation.
Pallor.
Dizziness
Hair loss.
4. Related to body image
Perception of having a fatter body.
Attempts to hide the body (e.g. with clothes, not bathing at the beach…).
Since EDs are very complex, their treatment must be directed by interdisciplinary teams specialized in them. Thus, people with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia or binge eating disorder will not only receive help from clinical psychologists but also from psychiatrists, general practitioners, nutritionists, social educators, trainers…
The treatment is long and complex and, as we have mentioned, there is usually chronicity in these disorders. However, recovery is possible and although these disorders usually leave some sequelae, it is also true that 70% of patients who receive treatment end up overcoming their ED, with greater success the earlier the intervention.
