Found at the root of many women’s eating disorders — their Moms!

This isn’t exactly a new concept.

Many young women that I see have very obvious connections between their relationships with their Moms and their relationships to their bodies. In the way that many women try to control their own bodies, they begin to do it with their daughters. So, rather than the eating disorder being internal (a hyper critical inner monologue) it begins externally. “You can’t eat sweets, you are getting too big, we need to hide the cookies from you…” etc. As they grow into women, that voice becomes a negative introject– meaning, women with eating disorders have taken the voice of a critical Mom and made it their own toward themselves. Of course eating disorders aren’t all about Mom. There are many different reasons as to why women and men develop EDs. However, it’s always a good idea to involve families in the treatment of eating disorders. Eating disorders don’t develop in a void, but they thrive and grow in seclusion. Bringing the family in helps to disassemble the isolation as it begins to make connections around the roots of the disorder. Mom’s shouldn’t be afraid to go into family therapy. Rarely is one person to blame for a person’s disorder. These things come down from generation through generation and can really be analyzed, sorted through, and understood for a divine healing for the whole family and all the generations to come.

EDNOS

EDNOS (or Eating Disorders Not otherwise Specified) make up 70% of eating disorder cases. Eating Disorders aren’t very pretty or easy to put in a box. Not everyone is anorexic or bulimic, yet they suffer from raging eating disorders. Some dangerous examples of EDNOS I’ve seen are: Rumination, someone vomits up a very small amount of food and chews on it for hours. This would be an example of EDNOS. An overweight woman goes on a 200-300 calorie per day diet and loses 50 pounds in a months time. She is still overweight and still has her period, so she cannot be diagnosed as anorexic. She would be an example of someone with EDNOS. Most cases of EDNOS should be treated in the same way as current treatment for anorexia and bulimia.

App-orexia- Calorie Counting iPhone Applications can fuel Eating Disorders

For some, these apps can be super helpful in helping them to learn about proper portion sizes as well as helping some people to understand more about nutrition. However, for some, these apps can fuel the obsession with calorie counting. It’s not unusual for people to obsess, and usually this is how simple portion control can turn into severe obsession and then an eating disorder. These tracking devices can really help contribute to the obsession.

Women in Sororities More likely to be affected by Eating Disorders

Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be a big surprise. A recent study by DePauw University determined young women who rush sororities nationwide are more likely to have an eating disorder than those who don’t.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Helpful in Treating Bulimia

Well, I certainly didn’t need to read this to know that this is true. I have seen a great deal of recovery from bulimia with my bulimic clients using CBT and other forms of talk therapy.

Exercise Bulimia on the Rise

perhaps not on the rise, but finally being recognized by the media.

Exercise bulimia begins as a healthy habit which then runs a mock. It is not terribly easy to diagnose. However, if you notice that you are going to the gym on days when you are sick or injured or not allowing  your body to heal, or if  you find yourself feeling self hatred for skipping your daily (or twice daily or more) exercise regimes, you might want to look closer at your exercise habits.

A client of mine, once astutely stated that she thought she had it all under control when she was running 5-10 miles each day, however, she found that when she didn’t run, she fell apart. She realized that running was a way of running away from her feelings. The days that she didn’t run (which were few and far between), her feelings arose and she had no choice than to sit with them. This option felt overwhelming to her. She had no tolerance for uncomfortable feelings. In recovery, she found that moderate exercise was liberating as was the ability to increase her tolerance for sadness, loneliness, fear, and other feelings that had previously been unacceptable.