Eating Disorders & Obesity
Eating Disorders and Obesity are both multifactorial and complex issues. Because we must eat to survive, we all come into contact and make many decisions relating to food each day, which continuously interact with our thoughts, feelings and behaviours. It is the nature of these interactions that can lead to unhappy, or even harmful relationships with food.
These relationships are not easily categorised, nor do they define us. There is no single cause to an eating disorder, just as there is no simple model to explain the various ways in which obesity might develop.
While the treatment for various types of eating disorders and obesity differs, what is constant, is a need for the appreciation of the individual involved, and helping to promote and sustain healthful change. Please read the Treatment Paradigm section below to learn more.
Treatment Paradigm
Due to the complexity of eating disorders and the various forms it can take, diagnosis is not necessarily a simple (or even useful) process. Subsequently, an appropriate treatment plan for any given individual, will naturally differ depending on the symptoms and behaviours displayed.
Obesity is far easier to diagnose, and for the the vast majority of cases can be reasonably assessed by using an age-adjusted Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator. Although some obese people do suffer from Eating Disorders, the treatment plan for Obesity differs from those with Eating Disorders. That said, there are overlaps. These commonalities include:
An initial assessment stage where many ideas such as the symptoms, behaviours, lifestyle, motivations and the history of your relationship with food can be explored. It is a crucial process where in addition to discovering any potential Eating Disorders you might have, other potential physical or psychological risk factors can be identified.
Engagement. Not the type to do with marriage, but refers to the process where the individual in treatment achieves full ownership of their journey towards recovery.
The Therapeutic process. As mentioned above, the focus of this process will differ between individuals, diagnoses and situations. It will however involve a variety of discussions, experiments, challenges, exercises and skills that leverage one’s habits and resources to work towards an individuals’ goals.
The points above are by no means an exhaustive list of the similarities or stages in which one might engage during Eating Disorder or Obesity therapy, but are there to give you a flavour of what you can expect if you take those first steps towards change.