Eating Disorders
What is an Eating Disorder?
An eating disorder is a mental health diagnosis that is characterized by harmful beliefs and behaviors relating to body shape, weight, and the intake of food. An eating disorder is very serious as it impacts the physical and the emotional self in a harmful way.
Eating disorders impact people regardless of race, age, ethnicity, gender, shape, or size.
What Causes an Eating Disorder?
An eating disorder can arise from a combination of factors including genetics, environment, psychological characteristics, and sociocultural dynamics. While the exact causes of eating disorders are not fully understood, some common factors that contribute to the development of an eating disorder include: family history, life experiences, psychological characteristics, and sociocultural dynamics.
What is Anorexia Nervosa?
Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by an intense fear of gaining weight and an unhealthy disturbance in body image.
- Significant weight loss
- Rigid dietary restrictions
- Constantly dieting
- Avoiding certain food types due to fear of weight gain
- Calorie counting
- Excessive exercise
- Extreme preoccupation with body size and weight
- Distorted body image
What is Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder?
Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is often misunderstood as someone who is an “extremely picky eater”. ARFID is characterized by the avoidance or restriction of certain foods or entire food groups within one’s diet.
- Lack of interest in food
- Refusal to try new foods
- Small list of acceptable foods
- Elimination of entire food groups
- Fear of eating due to the potential for allergic reactions, choking, nausea, or vomiting
What is Binge Eating Disorder?
Binge Eating Disorder is an eating disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of eating large amounts of food in a short period of time which is accompanied by feeling out of control.
- Consuming an unusually large amount of food in a short period of time
- Feeling out of control during these episodes
- Eating quickly without physical hunger
- Intense feelings of guilt, disgust, shame, and distress after an episode
- Secretive eating behaviors
What is Bulimia Nervosa?
Bulimia Nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating which is followed by compensatory behaviors such as self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, or excessive exercise.
- Feeling out of control and shame regarding how much food is consumed
- Secretive behaviors related to food
- Engaging in compensatory behaviors
- Self-esteem and self-worth heavily connected to body size and weight
- Distorted self-image
What is Orthorexia Nervosa?
Orthorexia Nervosa is characterized by an unsafe preoccupation with eating “healthy”, “unrefined”, “pure”, or “clean” foods to the point in which it interferes with the ability to function.
- Self-imposed rigid dietary restrictions
- Constantly checking ingredient lists, nutrition labels, or counting calories
- Perfectionism
- Inflexibility
- Social withdrawal
Treatment for Eating Disorders at CalmOCD
At CalmOCD we treat eating disorders with a combination of therapeutic approaches to fit individual’s specific and unique needs, including CBT, ERP, ACT, Mindfulness-Based Therapy, and DBT.
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
Sessions are one-on-one with an ED specialist, 3 hours a day for 3 weeks.
Contact CalmOCD · 480.687.3435