What Eating Disorders are really about and it is not food (from an eating disorder psychologist)
Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions that go far beyond simply eating habits. Whilst on the surface they may appear to involve problems with food, at the core may lie deep psychological and emotional issues. Understanding eating disorders requires a holistic approach that considers not just food and eating. This is why practitioners such as eating disorder psychologists are crucial in helping individuals on their recovery journey. Their role is to support the individual not just in managing their eating behaviours but also in unravelling psychological and emotional issues which may be driving those behaviours.
Working as an eating disorder psychologist in Sydney, when clients come to me what they normally start with is that they want to:
Lose weight
Stop eating when they are stressed
Stop eating when they are bored
Stop binge eating
Overcome their bulimia
Overcome their anorexia
Build a healthier relationship with food
Whilst all of these things are good to understand, these behaviours are called SURFACE ISSUES. Whilst this is a good place to start, what I am most focused on is 'what' is driving these behaviours. For example, what is causing you to restrict your food, eat when you are stressed, binge or purge?
What happens when you focus only on the surface issues?
Surface issues are essentially the behaviours that you can see. For example; eating too much, eating when stressed, restricting certain foods, binging, over-exercising or purging. Our behaviours are usually what people often try and fix first in order to regain control and get back on track. For example, you may stand on the scales and hate the number that you see. You burst into panic mode and immediately think of all the foods you need to restrict and avoid to 'get back on track'. However, fast forward 1 week and you may have found yourself 'falling off the wagon', giving into temptation and not being able to sustain these new behaviours. This pattern is all too common when you focus only on the surface issues (behaviours).
Why you must also focus on the core issues
Who you are and what you belief to be true as a result of your issues with food is what you also need to work on. An entire day spent in low self-esteem, not feeling good enough, not worthy leaves you burnt out and exhausted, in need of a release. Asking someone to overcome their eating disorder without addressing the core issues is simply putting a band-aid over the problem. It will still be there, just hiding for a while.
How do you discover what you core issues are?
Have a think about all the binging, overeating, food-restriction, purging etc. you are experiencing. What I want you to do is ask yourself this question:
“ If there was something you believed about yourself that is at the root of your issue, what would it be? If you can begin with I or I am?”
Or
“Who am I now as a result of my issue?”
As a fully recovered eating disorder psychologist, it took me a long time to recover from my eating disorder. I tried every trick, method, strategy in the book to change my bulimic behaviours. Structured eating, journaling, distraction, even moving and going travelling! Yes, these helped to a certain extent, 70% of the way, but I still couldn’t fully kick it into touch! It was until I discovered what was driving my eating disorder behaviours that I finally managed to beat that final 30%.
For me It came back to my core issue of “I am not good enough”. Can you see that my answer started with 'I am', which means that this belief was so strong inside me that I had linked it to who I was, my identity! This is why I stress the importance of getting right to the root of what is driving your issues and things you want to change BEFORE you even address the problem itself. Resolving these core issues will often start a chain reaction on resolving all of the surface issues, including the food issue you are trying to resolve.
If you are interested in taking that next step and are ready to speak with an eating disorder psychologist in Sydney please get in contact with Hannah Myall, who has also fully recovered from an eating disorder and has since spent the last decade helping individuals and families work towards eating disorder recovery.