This year I plan to address some hot topics each day from the 1-7 Feb 22 for National Eating Disorder Awareness week. As someone who struggled with anorexia for years, and who is currently happily in recovery (shout out to my therapist), the discussion around eating disorders and our compassion for those fighting them is something that is near and dear to my heart.
Juicy Topic # 2: Are Anxiety Disorders related to Eating Disorders? (Shout out to @break.binge.eating on Instagram for the dope content they create. References for these fast facts are included in their account.)
Answer: Absofuckinglutely.
Anxiety is a major risk factor: the direction of the relationship is biased one way – anxiety disorders often precede eating disorders, and they’re a major trigger for the onset of an eating disorder.
Anxiety disorders are one of the most common co-morbidities with eating disorders (its a “BOGO” type of treat). Studies show that as many as 60% of people with an eating disorder suffer with an anxiety disorder as well. Types of anxiety disorders vary, but the most common co-morbidities are Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).
Can confirm ** raises hand awkwardly in the back of the room.
Safety behaviours are key to both anxiety and eating disorders: safety behaviours are behaviours that are used to reduce anxiety in the moment. Anxiety disorders and eating disorders both engage in safety behaviours, which can help explain their co-occurrence. A personal example of this for me, is prior to treatment I would engage in safety behaviours constantly to reassure myself I “wasn’t getting too fat” because if I gained weight my panic went thru the roof. I would body check in every mirror, window, puddle, didn’t matter. I needed to confirm my thighs and hips were the same as earlier. In the depths of my predation by @strongerU and @eattoperform, I was asked to weigh myself up to twice a day, record those weights, and submit them with pictures of my body for them to critique weekly. Tell me that’s not all kinds of fucked up right?! If you are a grown ass person and some stranger on the internet is dictating your relationship with food, your body, gravity – kick them to the curb. Life is too short for 75g of carbs a day.
Anyhow, if you identify with using your relationship with food to find a sense of control over your body and inherently over how people perceive you (always a real kicker) – please seek help. Finding your way out of the deep dark woods of anorexia or anxiety is so so much easier when you have a professional guiding you.
Sincerely,
the girl who lived in those woods.