The Causes, Prevalence and Impact of Eating Disorders
Q&A with a Registered Social Worker
What’s your relationship with food? Do you keep things casual or is it love? Or maybe it’s an obsession? A toxic lover you just can’t quit?
This week, we interviewed our Peachey Counselling and Family Support team member, Registered Social Worker, Kate Brockbank, about the causes, prevalence and impact of eating disorders.
Q: What causes eating disorders?
A: Based on research, it’s difficult to say. A lot of research is mixed. Some argue that eating disorders are the result of a specific biological definition – that you are predisposed to having/developing an eating disorder because of your genetic makeup and heredity. Some researcher’s postulate that eating disorders usually come into existence with the onset of puberty. Other’s indicate that there is a large cultural aspect to eating disorders. There is no doubt that current societies hyper fixation with a certain “ideal” body type, as well as popular diet culture has a large impact on young individuals and adults.
I also see that there is a large gap between the causes of eating disorders and the relevance of traumatic experiences. This is often a concept that is ignored by eating disorder researchers. Trauma is left out too often from the equation. There is a great deal of shame that can be felt about our bodies as a result of traumatic experience, that can late develop into an eating disorder. This creates dissatisfaction with our body that a person cannot place until they process their trauma. In practice, this is easier said than done.
Q: Are eating disorders specific to women?
A: Eating disorders, or even just disordered eating and negative outlooks on food can happen to anyone at any stage in their life. We do see a rise in eating disorders in girls because of the cultural aspects of body image and the continuous strive for an ideal body. The emergence of these destructive patterns is primarily seen arising in the early teen years – even as young as ten years old. Additionally, eating disorders are prevalent in the Trans community as one’s relationship with their body (it’s features, size and shape) may be tumultuous or negative.
Social media and what young people are viewing online everyday can largely impact their views on what their body is supposed to or should look like. They may create preconceived notions that their own bodies are unsatisfactory because they don’t look like the bodies of popular influencers and content creators.
For women who may have recovered from disordered eating when they were teenagers or in their early twenties, may feel pregnancy is a huge trigger. This may even develop into a fear of getting pregnant, or symptoms of an eating disorder may impact their experience of post-partum depression.
All in all, eating disorder thoughts (negative inner dialogues regarding nutrition, body weight, shape and size) is more prevalent than you may have initially thought. Life always seems to be bombarding us with the knowledge that someone is “too skinny” or “too fat.” It is hard to escape this terminology.
Q: What are their specific issues/challenges?
A: The most obvious issue with an eating disorder is that—for anyone—your overall health is impacted negatively. For women, there is a likelihood that disorder eating can impact the reproductive system, causing loss of menstruation. When your body is placed into starvation mode, it is going to shut down systems in your body it doesn’t need to survive in order to keep blood flowing to your heart and lungs that you don’t really need to survive.
Individuals who have been starving themselves may feel dizzy or faint which could be an indication of malnourishment. They will likely have extreme blood pressure levels. The psychological impact is crushing, these symptoms coupled with shame can impact our ability to function and participate in our lives. Many models for treating or assisting in eating disorders focus on getting eating disorders under control physiologically and ensuring that the patient returns to a healthy weight. Although this is vital in rehabilitation, the psychological impacts of an eating disorder must be treated as well, or the likelihood of falling back into old patterns is high.
One thing that I would also like to note about this subject is that a person does not have to be diagnosed with an eating disorder to have disordered eating. A person also does not need to visibly look like they have an eating disorders (excessively underweight or overweight) to have one. You may know someone who looks relatively average in terms of body weight, but they may be suffering from disordered eating such as binge eating, purging, excessive counting of calories and label reading, over exercising and fasting.
Q: What are the implications of these issues?
A: Disordered eating is often considered to be a very shameful topic, one that an individual wish to hide from others. This impacts their self-esteem making them feel incapable or unsatisfactory compared to others who eat in a blasé manner. “My body is not enough” and “I need to look a certain way to be accepted” are common sentiments that they may be feelings. The American Psychological Association has classified this behaviour as “self-objectification” where individual objectify their bodies and feel anger, sadness and disgust towards themselves.
When unchecked, eating disorders can affect how a person navigates life and their careers. They may have trouble getting into and staying in relationships (both platonic and romantic). They may be held back from certain job opportunities because they believe they will not be accepted because of the way they look (i.e. “I’m not skinny enough for that job” or “I don’t look like all the other people there”). Your perception of the world is distorted because you are wrapped up by the way your body looks and is perceived by others. This thought process is insurmountably damaging in the course of someone’s life.
Q: Are there warning signs to look for? What should loved ones or parents be aware of?
A: Parents and loved ones need to be aware of how a person feels about their bodies. If they’re lingering at the mirror, pinching their bodies, bringing their lunches home consistently uneaten, throwing their food out without finishing it. This can be a common indication or the beginnings of an eating disorders. If your child’s appetite is not what you expect based on their eating habits from the past. Sometimes, if a teenager makes a huge dietary change and labels certain foods as “off-limits,” it may be worth it to take note of why this change is happening, and to offer some balanced perspectives on food. Over-exercising and weighing yourself constantly can also be indicators of disordered eating habits.
Q: What are some things that a social worker, counsellor, or therapist can do to help?
A: Eating disorders are complex mental illnesses that manifest themselves physically. However, you can’t tell by looking at someone that they have an eating disorder. The experience and circumstances surrounding an eating disorder are different for each individual.
Unfortunately, there is a huge deficit in eating disorder support and care within our current health care system. Disordered eating has gone beyond the common diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia but for many hospital programs, BMI (Body Mass Index) is the gatekeeper, leaving those with ‘unseen’ unhealthy behaviours without service or treatment. In this respect, there is still much work to do, in terms of professional care.
Therapy helps to tackle the root cause of why a person is struggling with disordered eating and negative food ideologies. Some people feel shame stemming from their symptoms or the way they eat, and so they are secretive about food and eating. Others experience other mental illnesses, such as anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or post-traumatic stress disorder together with their eating disorder. In this regard, eating disorders really do have a mind-body connection. Given the secretive nature that usually comes along with having an eating disorder, its imperative for individuals to have someone to speak to about these issues without fear of rejection. A mental health professional can be the person that you release your feelings to without fear of judgement, shame, and displeasure.
Q: When is it time to see a professional?
A: If the way you eat and think about food interferes with your life and keeps you from enjoying life and moving forward, you may be experiencing disordered eating. It’s time to take it seriously and talk to someone who can help. You don’t need to wait for a diagnosis by a doctor.
If you are the parent and you believe that your child’s health is going to be compromised, you have to seek medical attention. There is often a great deal of co-morbid thoughts behaviors that go along with eating disorders. If you’re seeing extremely stark changes in your child and how they talk about themselves, it may be time to break open the conversation with them and third party (therapist/counsellor).
Depending on the situation, it can be just as important for parents to receive counselling if their child is struggling with an eating disorder. Many parents feel that they have let their child down, or that they should have known what was happening. Some eating disorders are born out of (often inadvertent) bullying in the family unit, and parents may feel depressed or anxious that they have contributed to their child’s life in a negative way. It is important to seek help in this process for the whole family, as loved ones may need to be coached through this process and how to properly cope with it.
If your outlook on food is negatively affecting your quality of life, OR you are the parent of a child and have been noticing that they are struggling with eating and body-image, please know you are not alone.
Whatever it is, we’re here for you.
Life is uncertain. Jobs are stressful. Parenting is hard. Relationships take work. Families can be dysfunctional. And, sometimes love hurts. When you’re confronted by feelings, events, or issues that are making your life challenging, it’s okay to ask for some help.
