Eating Disorder Therapy
Are you struggling with an eating disorder?
Do you exhibit behaviours such as restricting how much you eat or the types of food you eat, binge eating (i.e., experiencing loss of control while eating and consuming large amounts of food), or compensating for what you have eaten with behaviours like vomiting, exercising, or laxative use? Do you feel preoccupied with thoughts about food and/or weight? Do your eating behaviours or feelings about your body cause you significant distress or impact your health in negative ways? If you answered yes, you may be struggling with an eating disorder.
You do not need to struggle alone. Help is available and recovery is possible.
Research has shown that the sooner you seek treatment the better, but it is never too late to seek help.
Eating disorders do not discriminate. People of all ages, body weights, genders, sexual orientations, classes, abilities, races and ethnic backgrounds can develop an eating disorder.
Types of Eating Disorders
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Common symptoms of binge eating disorder include:
Recurrent episodes of binge eating, which are characterized by eating a large amount of food in a discrete period of time and experiencing a loss of control over one’s eating (e.g., feeling one cannot stop or control the amount of food consumed)
Eating rapidly
Eating until uncomfortably full
Eating large amounts of food when not feeling hungry
Eating alone or in secret because of shame and embarrassment about how much one is eating
Feelings of shame, disgust, or guilt about binge-eating behaviour
Marked distress about binge eating
In contrast to individuals with bulimia, individuals with binge eating disorder do not engage in compensatory behaviours such as purging or excessive exercise
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Bulimia nervosa is characterized by the following symptoms:
Recurrent binge eating episodes, which are characterized by eating a large amount of food in a discrete period of time and experiencing a loss of control over one’s eating (e.g., feeling you cannot stop or control the amount of food consumed)
Recurrent compensatory behaviours to prevent weight gain (i.e., vomiting, laxative use, fasting or excessive exercise)
Sense of self-worth is significantly impacted by one’s body shape and weight
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Common symptoms of anorexia nervosa include:
Being significantly underweight for age and gender
Restricted eating patterns
Intense fear of gaining weight
Persistent effort to lose weight or to avoid gaining weight
Sense of self-worth is focused on weight and/or the ability to restrict
Failure to recognize the seriousness of one’s low body weight
Some individuals may also binge and/or purge
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Aytypical anorexia is a misnomer because it is actually more common than anorexia nervosa.
Individuals with atypical anorexia exhibit all the same symptoms of an individual with anorexia but they are NOT underweight.
*Atypical anorexia is one of the Other Specified Eating Disorders
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ARFID is characterized by a failure to meet energy and/or nutritional needs that is NOT driven by concern with one’s body weight or shape. Symptoms of ARFID typically show up in infancy or childhood.
Individuals with ARFID may:
Avoid foods because of sensory characteristics of food
Have a lack of interest in eating or food
Have concerns about possible aversive consequences of eating (e.g., fear of vomiting or choking)
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Individuals with other specified eating disorders or unspecified eating disorders exhibit symptoms of an eating disorder but do not meet the full diagnostic criteria for anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorder. Other specified and unspecified eating disorders still cause significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning.
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Orthorexia is not an official diagnosis but can provide a valuable framework for understanding individuals who exhibit obsessive and rigid beliefs and behaviours around healthy eating.
Common symptoms of orthorexia include:
Inflexible eating patterns (e.g., refusing to eat anything deemed “bad” or “unhealthy”)
Fixation over quality of food (e.g., may prefer organic, raw, vegan, “clean,” or farm fresh foods)
Experience significant distress, such as anxiety, shame or guilt, if self-imposed food rules are broken
Cutting out entire food groups (e.g.,dairy, gluten, processed foods, sugar, meat, or carbohydrates)
Experience ongoing worry about health and believe that eating foods believed to be “toxic” could cause illness or disease
Experience anxiety being around foods typicalvy avoided or viewed as “bad”
Weight loss
Rigidty around eating is driven by concerns about health rather than a desire to lose weight
Eating disorders do NOT have a look. You cannot know if someone has, or doesn’t have, an eating disorder by looking at them.
Counselling for Eating Disorders
Counselling is an important component of eating disorder treatment. In the beginning stages of therapy, your counsellor will work to understand what is contributing to, and perpetuating, your eating disorder. This understanding will inform the approach they take with you and help them to make a personalized plan to support you in your recovery.
The approach taken with each individual will vary, but counselling often involves:
Supporting you in making behavioural changes and managing the emotions that come up around making these changes
Teaching you the tools to be able to meet the underlying needs the eating disorder may be meeting for you (e.g., eating disorder behaviours or thoughts often help individuals cope with, or distract from, difficult emotions; provide a sense of safety or control; provide a sense of identity or achievement)
Helping you become more connected to your body so that you can gradually learn to make food choices that support your body’s needs
Increasing self-compassion and self-understanding
Processing adverse or traumatic experiences that have contributed to the development of your eating disorder