Eating Disorders
Most of this online information is a regurgitation of symptoms from the classification ‘bible’ DSM-5, which lists the features of different diagnoses like the ingredients of a cookbook! Despite these ‘descriptions’ being easily available, all the publicity about more common disorders has meant that education about ‘eating disorders’ has has been somewhat neglected so the stereotypes and misunderstandings abound.
Another reason for dissatisfaction about the quality of information available about ‘eating disorders’ is that the DSM-5 classification system does not provide any ‘explanations’ or ‘causes’ and hence there is a lack of education about causes to the general public.
Even we psychiatrists have not categorised causes in a way that is easily understood by the public, beyond using the term ‘biopsychosocial’ amongst ourselves, which refers to the biological, psychological and social factors contributing to any individual case of disorder.
Because we have failed to adequately educate the public about these causes, I have ‘given a go’ to fill this gap in my eLearning education program!
In fact, there are 3 different ‘types’ of ‘eating disorders’ that we psychiatrists diagnose to help treat our patients. And an individual with ‘eating disorders’ might have a mixture of more than one cause. Hence, those with ‘eating disorders’ often get the best outcomes from combinations of approaches – a management package – sometimes by more than one type of Help-Provider.
Despite this, the treatment approach many people receive is too often dictated by the setting where the person goes for help or the type of Help-Provider a person seeks help from: some Help-Providers only offer medication, others only psychotherapy, some only life coaching, some only positive lifestyle factors. Whilst in many cases that may be adequate, what if it doesn’t adequately facilitate recovery?
Because each type of ‘eating disorder’ tends to have a dominant cause, I’ve gone ‘Beyond DSM-5’ to divide all the common 6 Categories of Disorder
- Mood
- Anxiety
- Personality
- Psychotic
- Substance Use and;
- Eating Disorders
into 3 Explanatory SubTypes that reflects how most psychiatrists conceptualise mental health problems.
1. The Mind subtype due to an underdeveloped or immature capacity for decision-making and coping skills and unhelpful scripts. This tends to explain 1 ‘eating disorders’ diagnosis: (1) Eating Disorder-Mind Subtype (over-attachment to controlling weight, food intake & body shape without physical distress or malnutrition)
2. The Body subtype is due to ‘runaway feedback loops’ causing physical distress due to anxiety, pain, fatigue or nausea. This covers 1 diagnosis: (2) Eating Disorder-Body Subtype (eating concerns and problems associated with physical distress)
3. The Brain subtype is due to malfunctions, injuries & glitches. This explains 1 diagnosis: (3) Eating Disorder-Brain Subtype (restricted eating & starvation causes malnutrition and multi-organ failure)
Ok, but what is the common mechanism that leads to Eating Disorders? Well, when there is fixation, obsessing and distress around eating and behaviours that lead to underweight or overweight or physiological disturbances of body function, you have a problem. I have depicted all of this information pictorially, conversationally and pragmatically in eLearning..