Personal Statement

In order to describe how we treat eating disorders we must first understand what an eating disorder is. After many years in this field, I have arrived at the conclusion that an eating disorder is very complex and simultaneously very simple. One thing is certain – eating disorders are always very serious.

When an individual is in the grips of an eating disorder life and all of life’s complexities are reduced to 2 things – controlling the body and a denial of need. People with eating disorders share the belief that if they can control what they eat and what they weigh then everything will be okay. Unfortunately, the only way to accomplish this is to deny our needs and hungers. This belief system and all of the efforts that are required to maintain it result in what we refer to as symptoms that when observed together require a diagnosis (see below for a detailed list of symptoms and associated diagnoses).

This philosophy creates a sense of safety since now all pain, fear, and hurt no longer exist if the symptoms are successful. The reality, however, is that a self-imposed prison is erected around the individual as the symptoms gain in momentum and become more addictive, more dangerous. The disorder eventually takes over, so that one’s entire sense of self is derived from one’s weight. A life gets smaller, reduced to a number on a scale, the number of calories consumed, or the amount of time spent exercising.