When you're trying to understand the cause of an eating disorder, you should look beyond food for an explanation. Food is a natural source of sustenance, nutrition, energy, and pleasure.
For all the good it is used for, it is oftentimes abused in order to control one's insecurities. Like with many things that are abused, bad things follow. For food, it is an eating disorder.
So, let's understand this clearly: Food is not the "cause" of an eating disorder. It does not possess evil powers. It is the "abuse of food" that includes, binging, purging, and avoidance that cause an eating disorder. The underlying causes of an eating disorder; however, are still unknown. The most that scientific studies can support is that it can be rooted from a combination of factors, which usually includes a mental illness.
Many of the patients I treat with an eating disorder almost always bear a mental illness. After several sessions, it becomes evident that the mental illness, such as, depression, is the overarching illness - not the other way around. In suppressing the symptoms of the mental illness, food, or the lack of, becomes the caveat. It serves as a form of medication to either gain control or avoid the loss of it.
So, who is in control? Well, it is certainly not the person with the eating disorder! Food may not possess evil powers, but, the abuse of it can have addictive powers. After abusing food for a period of time, an obsession toward the food may follow along with the compulsion to continue the abusive behaviors. These behaviors turn into an addiction which, unfortunately, exasperates the insecurities that were once falsely controlled. And, without proper intervention, the ramifications can be quite serious.
The positive side to this is an eating disorder is a treatable illness. Through specialized therapy/treatment and nutritional counseling, one can overcome the symptoms of a mental illness and re-embrace a healthy relationship with food. Also, one can confront societal and cultural pressures, occupational stress, family expectations, perfectionism, and other influences that lead many people to an eating disorder. More importantly, reframing the perception of food from it being evil to good could work therapeutic wonders!
By Dr. Marlo R. Tait, PhD, LMHC, Clinical Child, Marriage, & Family Therapist. Dr. Tait specializes in treating eating disorders. She is the Founder and Director of Arising Above Learning & Counseling Services. She can be contacted via email at Drtait07@bellsouth.net. Visit website at www.ArisingAbove.com
