Disordered Eating

Eating behaviors and habits exist on a spectrum. At one end, a person engages in no unhelpful eating behaviors, and at the other end, a person may have an eating disorder that involves a severe and persistent disturbance in eating that is associated with significant impairment to daily life.

Eating disorders affect physical, psychological, and social functioning and can be life-threatening.

What is Disordered Eating?

Disordered eating is eating behavior that may include some symptoms of an eating disorder but at a lesser frequency and level of severity.

Disordered eating can include rigid and inflexible eating patterns, irregular eating, restrictive eating, or compulsive eating. It can also include dieting and fasting regimes, using substances to change one’s appetite and sense of hunger, or engaging in exercise to compensate for eating.

One reason why disordered eating and dieting can be problematic is because they can put individuals at risk for developing a more serious eating disorder.

When Dieting Becomes Dangerous

Dieting can contribute to mental health concerns such as depression and anxiety. Disordered eating can make you feel depressed or anxious because you are not consistently eating an adequate amount of calories. This can decrease energy levels and concentration and lead to irritability or apathy.

Restricting food – particularly consistent restriction – can also lead to metabolic changes in the body that increase the risk of over-eating or binge eating. When you set strict rules around eating and break these (often because it is unrealistic to maintain these levels of rigidity), feelings of guilt and shame can, in turn, lead to engaging in more disordered eating behavior, thus creating a vicious cycle.

Coping with stress via disordered eating behaviors decreases your ability to manage stress in other ways, and ultimately increases levels of anxiety. Disordered eating can also lead to social isolation. For example, you may not want to engage in social situations that involve eating which can cause you to become socially withdrawn and less self-confident. All of these factors can have an impact on, and worsen, mood.

Breaking the Cycles of Disordered Eating

In general, dieting and disordered eating follow a consistent cycle. This cycle involves feeling dissatisfied with your body size or shape, engaging in dieting/restriction/unhelpful eating behavior, feeling physical or psychological deprivation, breaking eating rules which may lead to over-eating/binging. The resulting feelings of guilt or shame, then offset the trigger to start the cycle again.

Risks Associated with Disordered Eating

• Feeling depressed, anxious, irritable, or apathetic

• Experiencing physical symptoms such as headaches, gastrointestinal distress, or muscle cramps

• Low energy, fatigue, or poor sleep

• Feelings of guilt, shame, or low self-esteem

• Experiencing metabolic or nutritional problems

• Decreased bone density

• Developing a more serious eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating disorder

This article from New York-Presbyterian provides an overview of disordered eating.

Treating Disordered Eating

It is possible to change unhelpful eating thoughts and behaviors and develop more adaptive and helpful eating patterns even if you have been engaging in unhealthy habits for a long time. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most effective treatments for disordered eating and helps you cultivate more balanced thoughts around eating, setting the stage for more helpful behaviors. CBT skills can enable you to break the disordered eating cycle described above.

Dr. Nicole Cross of CBT Denver is an eating disorder and body image expert and will be leading an in-person, 12-week, Eating Disorder Skills Group starting on September 20, 2024. The group will take place on Fridays from 12-1:15pm MST and is open to individuals with disordered eating and body image concerns.

To learn more about the group and register, please contact Dr. Cross at nicole.cross@cbtdenver.com For more information about therapy for disordered eating in general, please contact us at CBT Denver.