Research has shown CBT to be very effective in the treatment of a
broad spectrum of eating disorder symptoms. In this section I will address the following
questions:
What are the
different types of eating disorder diagnoses?
What are some
common symptoms of eating disorders?
How is CBT used
to treat eating
disorders?
How long does
CBT treatment usually last?
Are there any
additional resources that you recommend?
Due to the overlap between eating disorder
diagnoses, and the large number of people who do not meet diagnostic
criteria, many CBT clinicians are finding it most helpful to focus
less on a person’s specific diagnosis and more on the physical and
emotional symptoms that each individual experiences.
Eating disorder symptoms might include:
- Extreme focus on shape and weight
- Mental preoccupation with food, eating, or
calories
- Restrictive dieting “Rules” for eating,
including having lists of “forbidden foods”
- Binge eating (eating an unusually large
amount of food over a short period of time, and feeling a sense
of loss of control)
- Purging (including self-induced vomiting,
laxative use, and diuretic use)
- Excessive exercise
- Frequent weighing
- Frequent “checking” of body (i.e. pinching
fat, feeling hipbone, encircling wrists with one’s fingers)
- Eating in secret
- Avoiding one’s body (i.e. not looking at
mirrors, not looking at or touching one’s body, not weighing
oneself)
- Experiencing intense shame, guilt, and
sadness
- “Feeling fat”
- Related psychological problems, such as
depression, anxiety, problems with impulse control, and/or poor
self-esteem
Psychologists don’t know exactly what
causes eating disorders to develop. There are a number
of possible causes, including genetics, stressful life
circumstances, and societal pressures to look thin. We
do know that once problematic eating patterns become
established, they tend to be self-perpetuating. For more
information on this, please see a recent piece I wrote
on the binge cycle in eating disorders.
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