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Eating disorders

Eating disorders

mental-health psychiatric
0 medicines 24 symptoms

Overview

Eating disorder (BSL) | Eating disorder (audio) | Eating disorders (Easy Read)

Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions. Someone with an eating disorder will have eating behaviours like eating too much or too little regularly. They’ll also spend a lot of time thinking about food and their weight or body shape.

Eating disorders can have a significant impact on health, wellbeing, and relationships. They can also have an impact on your day to day activities.

Types of eating disorders

There are different types of eating and feeding disorders, including:

  • anorexia nervosa (AN)
  • avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID)
  • binge eating disorder (BED)
  • bulimia nervosa (BN)
  • other specific feeding and eating disorders (OSFED)

Beat estimate that around 1.25 million people in the UK have an eating disorder.

Eating disorders can affect people of all ages, genders, cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds. With treatment, most people can experience an improved quality of life.

Eating disorders often first present in childhood or adolescence. They can impact on the young person as well as their family members or carers.

Read more about how to support someone with an eating disorder

Common Symptoms

spending a lot of time worrying about your weight, body shape and food avoiding socialising if it involves food eating very little or a large quantity of food that your eating is out of control making yourself sick or taking laxatives after you eat exercising too much very strict habits or routines around food changes in your mood like being withdrawn, anxious or depressed difficulty concentrating on day to day activities like work or study dizzy, tired or cold pains, tingling or numbness in your arms and legs, because of poor circulation your heart racing, fainting or feeling faint bloating, constipation or diarrhoea due to problems with your digestion weight being low or high for someone your age and height not getting your period or delayed signs of puberty weight loss or weight gain over a few months lack of awareness or belief that they are developing unusual eating behaviours eating a lot of food very fast or food going missing going to the bathroom a lot after eating talking critically about their body over-exercising avoiding mealtimes with others cutting food into small pieces or eating very slowly wearing loose or baggy clothes

⚠️ This symptom list is for educational purposes. Having these symptoms does not mean you have this condition. See a doctor for proper diagnosis.

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Medicines Commonly Used

⚠️ These medicines are commonly used for confirmed diagnoses of this condition. This is NOT a recommendation or prescription. Treatment must be determined by your doctor.

No medicines have been linked to this condition yet.

Causes

Eating disorders are often blamed simply on social pressure to look thin, but in reality the picture is usually much more complicated. There can be many different reasons why someone develops an eating disorder, and no two people's experiences are quite the same.

Generally, these causes fall into three overlapping areas: psychological, environmental, and biological.

Treatment

An eating disorder can affect a large part of someone's life, including relationships, work, studies, and physical health.

With every eating disorder, the first and most important step is recognising that there is a problem and being willing to seek help.

If you are worried that you may have an eating disorder, try to see a doctor as soon as you can.

Admitting that you have a problem and asking for help can be very hard. Many people feel frightened about reaching out, but getting help early makes a real difference. It can help to bring a friend or family member with you when you go for your appointment.

Getting help for someone else with an eating disorder

Your loved one may not realise they have an eating disorder. They may deny it or avoid talking about their eating or weight because it feels like such a painful and stressful subject.

Let them know that you are concerned about them and gently encourage them to see a doctor. You could even offer to go along with them.

There is a great deal of information and guidance available for parents and carers, including:

  • Beat: what to do if you are worried about a friend or family member
  • Beat: what to do if you are worried about a colleague
  • Supported: I care for someone with an eating disorder
  • FEAST: information for parents

Types of treatment for eating disorders

Treating an eating disorder usually means keeping a close watch on physical health while also supporting mental health.

The type of treatment used depends on:

  • the person involved
  • the type of eating disorder they have

For some people, self help or guided self help can work well. When guided self help is not suitable, or is unlikely to be enough on its own, a common approach is psychological therapy. This may be done individually, in a group, or with the whole family involved. Specialist dietitians may also be part of the treatment team, and physical health is often monitored closely to support recovery.

For some people, it can help to prescribe medication alongside psychological treatment. Medication on its own is not usually effective for eating disorders.

The SIGN clinical guidelines set out how eating disorders should be treated.

Further support

Look for information and services that can offer advice and support about eating disorders. When reaching out, avoid sharing personal information such as name, location, or details of any personal health conditions.