Posts Tagged “Eating Disorders”

This blog was developed with insights from Amy Braverman, MS, LCMHC, Clinical Manager of The Emily Program’s Triangle Outpatient Center in Durham, NC; Kayla Warechowski, Registered Dietitian at our Douglas Residential Treatment Center in Durham, NC; and Sydney Brodeur-Johnson, PhD, LCP, CEDS, Senior Director of The Emily Program’s Clinical Services and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

Most of us have specific food preferences. We might shy away from certain flavors, stick to familiar dishes, or avoid ingredients due to allergies. For many parents, navigating a child’s picky eating feels like a developmental rite of passage.

But what happens when your food preferences become so rigid or limited that they affect your physical or mental health? It might signal the presence of Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, commonly known as ARFID.

**Content warning: This blog includes mention of suicide. Please use your discretion when reading and speak with your support system as needed. If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, help is available through The Trevor Project or by texting or calling 988.

At The Emily Program, we know that the journey to healing is deeply personal. We’re committed to creating a world where every individual feels seen, respected, and supported along their recovery path. For transgender and non-binary individuals, the road to recovery from an eating disorder can come with unique and often painful challenges—layered with identity-related stigma, trauma, and the complex relationship between body dysphoria and dysmorphia.

These experiences can make recovery feel out of reach, especially as access to inclusive care for transgender individuals is increasingly under threat.

The Emily Program’s Penny Gautreaux (she/they), MSW, LICSW, a CARE program therapist out of Ohio, and Val Ashby (she/her), MA, LPCC-S, an outpatient therapist in Cleveland, embody our commitment to affirming care. Penny, a transwoman in recovery, knows firsthand how the feeling of “being a stranger in one’s own body” can impact healing. Val, who describes herself as a fat, cis, queer, White woman, brings a grounded understanding of what it means to both experience and lack privilege. Together, their insights help us explore why transgender and non-binary individuals face elevated risks for eating disorders—and how supportive networks can make all the difference.

Seeking eating disorder care for your child can be an overwhelming decision. Their illness has already robbed them of so much, and you can’t help but wonder: Won’t treatment mean sacrificing even more? Maybe it can wait until a better time, you reason – when school is out, or social activities have settled down. For now, you just want your child to have some semblance of normalcy. 

It’s understandable to want to shield your child from interruptions to their life, especially when they’re already struggling. However, postponing eating disorder treatment often only leads to greater pain and disruption. In fact, every moment spent waiting for the “right time” is a moment an eating disorder can take deeper root.

Here are three reasons not to wait for the “perfect time” to get help for your child with an eating disorder.

As a parent, you want nothing but the best for your child. So when it comes to finding the right program to treat their eating disorder, it’s important to pick one fully equipped with the specialized knowledge and tools necessary to meet their unique needs.

Many eating disorder programs offered today began with treating adults and later added services for children and adolescents. However, The Emily Program’s centers in the Southeast were specifically built with children and adolescents in mind. Treatment at The Emily Program stands out in our ability to provide age-appropriate, best-practice care tailored to the unique medical, nutritional, and psychosocial needs of children and their families.

You’ve started dodging dinner plans because you’re worried your friends might notice that your eating habits have changed. 

You’ve become hyper-fixated on your body and started working out early every morning to “make up” for the previous day’s eating.

You’ve noticed that your ever-dwindling list of “safe” foods is making it hard to eat a nutritionally balanced diet.

If you see yourself in any of the above behaviors, it may indicate that you’re struggling with disordered eating or an eating disorder.

Eating disorders are characterized by a disturbance in an individual’s eating and food behaviors or self-perception. These complex, biologically based illnesses are influenced by environmental, social, and psychological factors. Unfortunately, they are not uncommon, with nearly 30 million Americans experiencing an eating disorder in their lifetime. Knowing the signs of an eating disorder can help you catch it early and get you the help you need. 

You don’t know what to do. You love college life, but juggling your double major, on-campus job, and social circles is a lot. The straight A’s you knew in high school are now harder to come by; self-care is even harder. The pressure is suffocating.  

If your relationship with food and your body is becoming increasingly disordered, it’s understandable to feel overwhelmed. You may try to minimize the situation – to write off the issue as temporary or even “normal.” You tell yourself that you can take care of this. You’re the one who “has it all together,” after all, and you can handle this on your own, too. Besides, you reason, help is for those who are sick – and you don’t feel sick, even though your friends and family may be worried.

Please know that if you are suffering at all, you deserve help. Your pain and your experience matter. There is no question that it is hard to face the reality of an eating disorder, but you don’t have to do it alone. We’re here to help as soon as warning signs emerge. 

Binge eating disorder (BED) is the most common eating disorder in the United States, with more people experiencing BED than anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa combined. Despite its widespread impact, BED is generally less well-known than anorexia and bulimia. 

This lack of recognition can be a significant barrier to getting help. Knowing what to look for when it comes to the signs of binge eating disorder can empower you to identify BED early in yourself, a loved one, or a patient. Early intervention for this serious illness is essential to mitigating harm to physical, emotional, and mental well-being and setting the stage for a long and successful recovery.

Read on for a comprehensive exploration of binge eating disorder, including its signs and symptoms, risk factors, treatment options, and more. We’ll give you the knowledge and resources you need to help you, your loved one, or your patient understand and heal from binge eating. 

Eating disorder clinicians are guided by ethics to ensure the best for every patient that comes into their care. In general, ethics help clinicians determine appropriate clinical decisions and behavior. They provide a compass for what is “right” and what is “wrong,” although determining that is not usually so simple. Treatment providers will encounter a variety of moral dilemmas in their careers, and ethics can provide a general framework for navigating these situations. 

In this blog, we will cover key ethical principles in the treatment of eating disorders, as well as several dilemmas that the field’s clinicians may face.