An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that negatively affect your physical or mental health.
There are many types of eating disorders and problems:
Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia is when you have a low weight due to limiting how much you eat and drink. It is probably the most well-known eating disorder and it can affect anyone.
Possible signs of Anorexia
- Developing rules around what you can and can’t eat, and where you'll eat.
- Exercising excessively
- Distorted image of oneself
Binge Eating Disorder
Binge eating is when you may eat extremely large quantities of food without feeling like you are in control of what you are doing. Unlike people with bulimia, you don’t usually follow this by getting rid of the food through
Possible signs of Binge Eating Disorder
- eating much faster than normal
- eating until feeling uncomfortably full,
- eating large amounts of food when not physically hungry,
- eating alone because you are embarrassed
Bulimia
Bulimics are often caught in a cycle of eating large quantities of food (called bingeing), and then trying to compensate for that overeating by vomiting, taking laxatives or diuretics, fasting, or exercising excessively (called purging).
Signs to look out for:
- You may be frequently checking body shape or weight or avoiding looking at their body or checking their weight.
- You compare your body with those of others
- You eat huge amounts of food (bingeing)
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD)
is characterized by the obsessive idea that some aspect of one's own body part or appearance is severely flawed and therefore warrants exceptional measures to hide or fix it.
Founder of Cotswolds Counselling. Cotswolds Counselling is based in Malmesbury near Tetbury, Gloucestershire. Helping children and teenagers from Cirencester, Tetbury, Stroud, Cheltenham, and surrounding areas.
Did you enjoy this article? You might be interested in this article:
Do you have an unhealthy relationship with food? I've worked with a number of different clients with different types of eating disorders if you would like to talk to someone about Counselling get in touch.