Guidelines for Identifying an Eating Disorder

In recent years there has been an increased sensitivity to eating disorders. The idea of ​​what is anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder is becoming more and more understanding that it can happen to anyone and that they are disorders that require those affected to receive a lot of support.

With increasing awareness of these problems, more and more people are worrying about whether they might have an eating disorder or had a loved one, being interested in the treatment and wanting to know what are the signs that indicate if they have bulimia or anorexy.

The aim of this article is to answer the question of how to know if a person has an eating disorder, in addition to making known what the generic profile of a person with eating disorders is and, also, highlighting the importance of going to psychotherapy to receive the proper diagnosis and treatment.

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The keys to recognizing an Eating Disorder

Eating Disorders (Eating Disorders) in adulthood rarely appear suddenly.

The most common is that they have been latent, having their antecedents in puberty. It sometimes happens that, when the person reaches adulthood, there are certain changes or frustrations that can trigger their problems with eating, both in the form of overeating and purging and restricting behaviors eat.

Among the most well-known eating disorders we have anorexia nervosa and bulimia, very common conditions in women. They are not the only ones. There are other lesser 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 levels subclinical.

The most common in adulthood are binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa, being the most common anorexia in adolescence although not exclusive.

Some ACT experts say they have detected a sequence that often repeats itself. A person suffers from anorexia during their adolescence, then bulimia, and finally binge-eating disorder in adulthood. Background anxiety persists in the three problems of eating behavior, and the person channels everything with food, but unlike in his adolescence he has given up laxatives and induction of vomiting, or already you don't have enough willpower or time to spend hours exercising compulsively.

The most frequent profile in patients with ED is chronic, arising in adolescence. His disorder develops during adolescence, early or late, and continues into adulthood. In these cases it is usual that the person has already undergone several treatments and has even been admitted on more than one occasion. However, we must not ignore the existence of another, less frequent profile of people who develop their eating disorder as an adulteven between 30 and 40 years of age.

With all this we want to indicate that although it is common for people with ED to be diagnosed when they were adolescents, it does not mean that this disorder cannot be diagnosed in adulthood. The possibility of showing symptoms as an adult is real. For this reason, added to the fact that there is increasing awareness about eating disorders, not a few people wonder if they suffer from them or if a loved one has one of these problems. In the next few paragraphs we will discover what are the signs that can tell us if we have an ED.

• You may be interested in: "Anorexia nervosa: symptoms, causes and treatment"

Profile of the adult with eating disorders

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 traits in the profiles of people with ED in adulthood:

• Low self-esteem.
• Unsafety.
• Trend to perfectionism (p. eg, eagerness to be the best student)
• High self-demand.
• Obsessive traits.
• Bad concept of his personal image.
• Victim of abuse and rejection (p. g., at school).
• Emotionally unstable and does not handle frustration well.

Emotional problems lead people prone to eating disorders to develop an unhealthy relationship with food, either using it as a form of escape or coping or motivated by the obsession to achieve a certain appearance or weight. The dysfunctional relationship with food will not be solved by reaching a stable and healthy weight because, as its name suggests, they are disorders eating behavior, and therefore treatment should be oriented towards the eating behavior and thoughts of the patient that motivate.

Warning signs

The following warning signs are not diagnostic criteria, and therefore we cannot take them as confirmation that we have 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

• Unjustified use of restrictive diets.
• Constant worry For the food.
• Exaggerated interest in cooking recipes.
• Feeling of guilt for having eaten.
• Strange eating behavior (p. e.g., eat very fast, eat standing up ...)
• Get up from the table and lock yourself in the bathroom after eating.
• Increased frequency and amount of time in the bathroom.
• Avoid meals with family or friends.
• Eat secretly.
• Large amounts of food scraps, packaging ...
• Going on a restrictive diet and binge-eating in short periods of time.

2. Weight related

• Sudden and unjustified weight changes.
• Fear and exaggerated rejection of being overweight.
• Compulsive physical exercise with the sole objective of losing weight.
• Zero practice of physical exercise and being overweight.
• Self-induced vomiting.
• Consumption of laxatives and diuretics.
• Amenorrhea: disappearance of the menstrual cycle for at least 3 consecutive months.
• Malnutrition.

3. Other physical signs

• Cold in the hands and feet.
• Dryness of the skin
• Constipation.
• Pallor.
• Dizziness
• Hair loss.

4. Related to body image

• Perception of having a fatter body.
• Attempts to hide the body (p. eg, with clothes, not bathing on the beach ...).

5. Behavior related

• Changes in academic or work performance.
• Progressive isolation.
• Increased irritability and aggressiveness.
• Increased depressive symptoms and / or anxiety.
• Manipulative behavior.
• Lying constantly.

The importance of going to therapy

Since eating disorders 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, coaches ...

The treatment is long and complex And, as we have commented, 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 receiving treatment end up overcoming their ED, with greater success the earlier the intervention.