Disordered eating encompasses a range of abnormal eating patterns that can potentially harm individuals who engage in them. In extreme cases, disordered eating may develop into a full-blown eating disorder and put them at a greater risk. Disordered eating and eating disorders can affect a range of people and have various negative symptoms, both physical and psychological. These disorders can be treated by seeking professional help and working to amend many of the negative thought patterns that lead to the harmful behaviours.
What is disordered eating?
Disordered eating refers to eating patterns that are considered to be unhealthy or distorted, including eating compulsively, fasting excessively, abiding by an extremely restrictive diet, or being bound by incredibly inflexible or rigid patterns of eating. While disordered eating itself is not a diagnosable eating disorder, it is a risk factor for developing an eating disorder down the line.
What’s the difference between disordered eating and an eating disorder?
Disordered eating refers to a broad spectrum of atypical eating behaviours, whereas eating disorders are extreme forms of disordered eating that are clinically diagnosed. Essentially, intuitive eating is on one end of the spectrum, eating disorders are on the other end of the spectrum, and disordered eating occupies the space in between.
What causes disordered eating and eating disorders?
There are many different factors that are able to contribute to the formation or development of disordered eating patterns and eating disorders. They involve a mix of biological, psychological, and sociological factors that all interact differently for specific individuals.
Biological and genetic risk factors
Typically, individuals with a family history of eating disorders will be more likely to also develop them within their lifetime. Additionally, a high body weight during childhood is generally linked to a higher chance of developing disordered eating patterns or eating disorders in adolescence or adulthood. It’s also worth noting that a history of conditions affecting the digestive systems may potentially push individuals towards certain disordered eating patterns.
Psychological and behavioural risk factors
Certain psychological and behavioural factors may put someone at a higher risk of developing disordered eating and eating disorders. Low self-esteem is commonly linked to disordered eating, particularly when it’s tied to body image issues, and is a common key factor in many eating disorders. Additionally, neurodiverse individuals with certain sensory issues may avoid many foods and form a restrictive diet. It’s also worth noting that previous trauma or abuse in someone’s personal history can be a big risk factor, as disordered eating patterns frequently develop as coping mechanisms for these experiences. Similarly, if someone has past experiences that have restricted their eating in some way, it may carry over and cause them to maintain these patterns.
Social and cultural risk factors
Problems in personal relationships, either with friends or family, have the potential to lead to disordered eating or eating disorders as a coping mechanism. Similarly, stress from other sources such as high academic expectations or traumatic living circumstances may have a similar effect. And bullying, particularly related to an individual’s appearance, is highly correlated to these issues as well.
Who is typically affected by disordered eating and eating disorders in Australia?
Approximately one million Australians or 4% of the population are living with an eating disorder at any one time. Meanwhile, disordered eating is more common with approximately 31.6% of Australian adolescents experiencing some form of disordered eating behaviour within any year. The groups primarily affected can vary based on the disorder or eating pattern in question. Among people with eating disorders, 47% suffer from binge eating, 12% from bulimia nervosa, 3% from anorexia nervosa, and 38% from other disorders.
Between 0.5% and 3% of women are likely to experience either Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia Nervosa at some point during their lifetime. Most commonly, this occurs between the ages of 12 and 25. Only about 10% of cases for these disorders are detected in men.
While there is no one personality associated with eating disorders, there are certain characteristics that have been linked with certain conditions. Anorexia Nervosa has been shown to be linked with traits like perfectionism, an eagerness to please others, sensitivity to criticism, and strong feelings of self-doubt. Additionally, individuals affected by these conditions are strongly bound by routine and not good at adapting to change.
Over time, disordered eating and eating disorders seem to be on the rise. Since the late 1990s, both binge eating and restricted eating (in the form of dieting) have seen significant increases. This is likely due to both a rise in body image issues and higher rates of diagnosis.
What are the symptoms of disordered eating?
Disordered eating encompasses a very broad spectrum of potential symptoms and behavioural patterns. Understanding how they interact is important to getting a firm grasp of disordered eating.
Body image issues
Body image issues are common in disordered eating, with people often having a distorted view of their appearance and using their body shape or weight as a primary measure of their own self-worth. This is also tied to other conditions such as depression and anxiety.
Binge eating
Binge eating behaviours are also quite common, characterised by a lack of control when eating and eating for comfort rather than hunger. This may manifest as eating large amounts of food late at night.
Restriction
People experiencing disordered eating often live according to strict rules in relation to eating and exercise. They may severely restrict or outright avoid certain food groups while regularly engaging in exercise to the point of exhaustion.
Compensatory
A common symptom of disordered eating is using compensatory behaviours to make up for binge eating. This includes skipping meals, using diet pills, vomiting after meals, excessive exercise, skipping meals, and abusing laxatives and diuretics.
Social
Disordered eating behaviours may have negative effects on someone’s ability to have a normal social life. This will often be due to food-related conflicts or prioritising exercise routines over social events.
Fluctuating appearance
Part of disordered eating involves frequent changes in appearance as a result of body image issues. This most commonly involves weight fluctuations due to severe dieting and exercise and/or binge eating. In more extreme cases, individuals may resort to steroids in order to alter their appearance and performance.
Emotional
Disordered eating often comes with a range of negative emotional effects related to guilt and shame. This is magnified when someone has trouble maintaining food and exercise habits and often impair their quality of life.
What are the different types of eating disorders?
According to the DSM-5, there are five conditions considered eating disorders. These are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder, Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), and Other Specific Feeding and Eating Disorder (OSFED).
It’s important to note that eating disorders cause changes in the brain, meaning they are mental illnesses and not simply bad choices. However, by utilising some of the proven treatment methods, individuals can return to a healthy weight, adopt healthy eating habits, and reverse the issues that they may have developed due to their eating disorder.
Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia Nervosa is characterised by eating patterns that involve extreme restriction in both calorie intake and the types of foods eaten. Individuals with Anorexia Nervosa strongly fear weight gain and worry about being overweight even when they are thin. Driven by these body image problems, the disorder typically results in severe weight loss. This is generally accompanied by malnutrition, which has the potential to cause changes in the brain.
If Anorexia Nervosa is left untreated for a prolonged period, the individual runs the risk of experiencing physical harm or potentially death. Anorexia has the second-highest death rate of any mental illness. Typically, deaths are due to either heart conditions or suicide.
Bulimia Nervosa
Bulimia Nervosa is an eating disorder in which someone binge eats to excess and then purges as a way to compensate for binge eating and prevent weight gain. When binge eating, someone generally consumes more food that would be typically consumed within that time frame, often lacking control over their eating and trying to hide it out of shame. Purging behaviours are most commonly things like inducing vomiting, extreme fasting, excessive exercise, or using substances such as diuretics, laxatives, or other medications to force weight loss. To be classified as an eating disorder, this behaviour needs to continue at least once a week for a period of at least three months.
Binge Eating Disorder
Binge eating disorder involves engaging in a similar pattern of excessive, uncontrolled eating to Bulimia Nervosa. However, the key difference is that it doesn’t involve any of the purging behaviours. Individuals with Binge Eating Disorder will typically eat at a faster pace than normal, eat until they feel physically uncomfortable, eat regardless of actually feeling hungry, hide their eating due to shame, and have feelings of guilt after binge eating. This may then force them into restrictive eating behaviours, with the restriction fueling their hunger and forcing them into more binging, creating a damaging cycle of unhealthy eating behaviours. Getting treatment for Binge Eating Disorder focuses on helping individuals to get better control over their eating and have a more balanced diet.
Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)
Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is an eating disorder wherein an individual restricts either the amount of the types of food they eat. This may be due to lack of interest in eating, fear of consequences related to eating certain foods based on previous negative experiences, or sensory issues related to certain foods. While it’s common for children to go through phases of picky eating, someone with ARFID has a diet limited enough to cause serious issues in a person’s life.
ARFID has the potential to result in various issues including nutrient deficiencies, excessive weight loss, stalled growth, and imparted psychosocial functioning. ARFID is fairly unique compared to other eating disorders, as it isn’t rooted in body image, but rather a relationship with the food itself, whether that be strong aversions or general indifference.
ARFID most commonly develops in the early stages of childhood or during infancy, but may occasionally develop during adulthood too. It often persists throughout a person’s life, with studies estimating that between 0.5% and 5% of the population suffer from this disorder.
Other Specified Feeding And Eating Disorder (OSFED)
Other Specified Feeding And Eating Disorder (OSFED) encompasses eating disorders that do not properly fit into the categories of the other eating disorders. While they may sometimes appear similar to other disorders, they will typically not meet all of the required criteria for the diagnosis. However, this does not mean that OSFED is less dangerous or severe than other conditions. People with OSFED still commonly have disturbing issues with their eating habits and body image, and there are a few different subcategories used for providing more specific diagnoses.
Atypical Anorexia Nervosa
This meets most of the criteria for Anorexia Nervosa but the individual has weight within or exceeding the normal range. However, they still experience many of the same negative health problems as people with Anorexia Nervosa.
Bulimia nervosa of low frequency and/or limited duration
Like Bulimia Nervosa, but with the key behaviours occurring less than weekly and lasting for under three months.
Binge eating disorder of low frequency and/or limited duration
Just like Binge Eating Disorder but with the key behaviours occurring less than weekly and lasting for under three months.
Purging disorder
Purging disorder involves engaging in purging behaviour as a result of body image problems. However, it doesn’t include binge eating.
Night eating syndrome
Night eating syndrome involves engaging in repeated episodes of binge eating when waking from sleep or after evening meals.
What impact can disordered eating have?
Disordered eating has the potential to cause a variety of different consequences for both physical and mental health. If not addressed, it has the potential to develop into a clinical eating disorder over time.
Mental
While disordered eating is often partially caused due to low self-esteem, engaging in disordered eating behaviours regularly reduces self-esteem even further. Often, this may result from the feelings of shame or guilt associated with breaking diet patterns. This, in turn, reduces an individual’s ability to cope with stressful situations and potentially drives them into social withdrawal and isolation.
Physical
Disordered eating can lead to a variety of negative impacts on the body, which vary based on the specific patterns at play. Both weight loss and weight gain are potential consequences, depending on whether someone is restricting eating or eating excessively. Additionally, the nutritional issues resulting from disordered eating may cause poor sleep, fatigue, muscle cramps, headaches, or even osteoporosis.
What are the treatment options for disordered eating?
When dealing with disordered eating, it’s important to find a qualified professional to help you figure out a treatment plan. Typically, you will want to start by setting up an appointment with your GP. They can direct you to the appropriate services to help you with your particular issues. Early intervention is important to prevent the worsening of symptoms and risk of developing an eating disorder.
The treatment for disordered eating often focuses on changing harmful thought patterns that result in abnormal eating behaviours. Diagnosis is used to describe the symptoms someone is experiencing and find the right way to treat them. However, sometimes people have issues which are not covered by these categories and may need a more tailored approach.
You can also reach out to Butterfly’s National Helpline for information, resources, and help with referral (1800 33 4673), or you can check out the National Eating Disorders Collaboration website to learn more about disordered eating (https://nedc.com.au/). You can also have a look at the National Eating Disorders Collaboration’s Service Locator, which will guide you to services that support people with disordered eating in your local area (https://nedc.com.au/support-and-services/service-locator).
How Bowyer can help you with disordered eating?
Bowyer Psychology can help you to find the right strategy to cope with your disordered eating patterns or eating disorders. Our psychologists are able to provide an assessment for either children or adults, helping to create a strategy that helps them to overcome these issues. Contact us today to book an appointment and start your journey.
