If you battle with an eating disorder, you struggle with a preoccupation around food, weight, or compensation. Typically, you endure emotions of guilt and shame around the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that disordered eating has caused you.  While the symptoms may have begun as a way to feel in control, you likely feel out of control regarding these symptoms, with food playing the most significant role in your life at that moment. You may use restriction, binging, or compensatory behaviors to cope with uncomfortable feelings and emotions that are too painful to face. 

Eating disorders do not discriminate based on race, gender, or socioeconomic status. The most common eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge Eating Disorder. The following is the criteria for a diagnosis of each of these eating disorders: 

Anorexia Nervosa:

·     Restriction of energy intake relative to requirements leading to a significantly low body weight in the context of age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health.

·     Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight.

·     Disturbance in the way in which one's body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight.

Even if all the DSM-5 criteria for anorexia are not met, a serious eating disorder can still be present. Atypical anorexia includes those individuals who meet the criteria for anorexia but who are not underweight despite significant weight loss. Research studies have not found a difference in the medical and psychological impacts of anorexia and atypical anorexia.

Bulimia Nervosa:

·     Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the following: 

• Eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g. within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat during a similar period of time and under similar circumstances.

• A sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (e.g. a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating).

·       Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behavior in order to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or other medications, fasting, or excessive exercise.

·       The binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors both occur, on average, at least once a week for three months.

·       Self-evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight.

·       The disturbance does not occur exclusively during episodes of anorexia nervosa.

Binge Eating Disorder:

·       Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the following: 

• Eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g., within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than what most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances.

• A sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (e.g., a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating).

·       The binge eating episodes are associated with three (or more) of the following: 

• Eating much more rapidly than normal.

• Eating until feeling uncomfortably full.

• Eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry.

• Eating alone because of feeling embarrassed by how much one is eating.

• Feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty afterward.

·       Marked distress regarding binge eating is present.

·       The binge eating occurs, on average, at least once a week for 3 months.

·       The binge eating is not associated with the recurrent use of inappropriate compensatory behaviors (e.g., purging) as in bulimia nervosa and does not occur exclusively during the course of bulimia nervosa or anorexia nervosa.

Without treatment, eating disorders are typically degenerative. The behaviors can be a constant cycle of guilt and pain and compulsion that keeps repeating itself. If you're ready, we would love to be able to help you free yourself from the cycle and develop new healthy thinking and behavior patterns. 

Through our approach to eating disorder recovery, we can help you change how you think about food, target what feelings led to the behaviors, and manage those feelings with new coping skills.  Using a combination of evidence-based cognitive-behavioral therapy, intuitive eating, mindfulness skills, distress tolerance skills, and compassion-focused therapy, we can help you regain your power and work towards long-term recovery.

We welcome you to call us at 833-HEAL-ATL or contact us, and we’ll get started.  We look forward to helping you!