Ask the Expert: Eating Disorders

What is an eating disorder?
Eating disorders involve someone that has a disordered relationship with food. The signs of an eating disorder such as anorexia usually involve a change of behavior that someone has around eating and around mealtimes.

At what stage do people start this unhealthy relationship with food?
Usually this is a disorder that starts to present itself in adolescence.

What are some signs of an eating disorder such as anorexia?
What parents might see is that around mealtime, when the family would normally sit together, that the individual might start to become secretive about eating. Someone might say that they’ve already eaten or that they’re just not hungry, that they might eat later. And often the family will notice eventually that the person isn’t eating much at all. In addition, someone with anorexia might also abuse laxatives or overexercise and when asked will often say that they feel overweight or that they’re gaining too much weight.

How does bulimia differ from anorexia?
In bulimia, the behavior is often much different, there is often not as much secretive behavior around mealtime, but what someone will often see is after a meal, someone might always have to go to the bathroom shortly afterward and that might be an indication of a purging cycle. In bulimia, someone might also be observed in some meal settings eating an enormous amount of food, maybe more so than people are accustomed to and in other settings maybe eat very little or not as much as they might ordinarily.

How do you recognize an eating disorder?
A lot of us don’t realize how much we eat or drink unconsciously, which is to say that you automatically eat and drink without thinking about it. For people with an eating disorder, the problem is essentially, it is a conscious problem with the relationship with food. For someone that has anorexia, they are very hyper-conscious and hyper-aware of how much they eat every day.

Is there a revealing technique to uncover someone's eating habits?
Very often I’ll recommend someone keep a food journal and the simple act of doing that, which is to write down every single thing they eat or drink over the next week, can be very illuminating. I often will also ask patients to have their food journal verified by a family member since they may not be writing down every single detail.

What should I do if I suspect a loved one might have an eating disorder?
The first step someone should take if they suspect they might have an eating disorder or someone in their family or someone they know has an eating disorder is to look at what they’re eating.

How can I go about getting help if I'm battling an eating disorder?
I also recommend that someone seek help from their family doctor. Usually, for a parent of a child that they suspect might have an eating disorder will need to bring that person into the doctor and sit down initially with their child in the doctor’s office and explain their concern and then will often need to step out so that that child or adolescent will have the opportunity to privately speak with the family doctor about what their relationship with food is.

For More Information
To learn more about Sharp's mental health services or to find a Sharp-affiliated doctor, search for a San Diego psychiatrist or call 1-800-82-SHARP (1-800-827-4277), Monday through Friday, 8 am to 6 pm. To find general information about mental health, visit Mental Health Disorders in Adult Health or read the Mental Health News archive.