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Eating Disorders & Anxiety

by Sarah Gould

Every once in a while I get mental (and emotional) health questions and answers emailed to me. This was one that I’m copying & pasting because it’s something that you may go “duhhh!” at, there is probably at least one person out there who hasn’t connected the two activities!

“Q: My daughter suffered with bulimia in high school and college. During that time she abused alcohol. When she found out she was pregnant she stopped doing both. She has continued to need antidepressants and in the last six months she has been prescribed anti-anxiety meds. Are these all linked? Do people who have had bulimia often have anxiety?

A: You are definitely on to something, N. Anxiety disorders (especially obsessive compulsive disorder - OCD) are much more common in people with all kinds of eating disorders, including bulimia. It is more often the case that anxiety disorders begin in childhood before the onset of an eating disorder, supporting the idea that anxiety may create vulnerability for the eating disorder to develop.

Given your daughter’s history, the most likely connection between her bulimia, alcohol abuse, anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications is that all of these are attempts to cope with intense negative thoughts and emotions that are extremely painful. The binging and purging behaviors as well as the abuse of alcohol all create significant physical sensations that temporarily distract from emotional pain. Her more recent attempts to cope by taking prescription medications are a much more useful approach; rather than injuring the body like the previous approaches did, the medications provide chemicals that are temporarily helpful to the body.

Ultimately, though, it will be most helpful for your daughter to learn additional ways to cope with painful emotions and thoughts, a skill that is unfortunately not taught in school. Two avenues to consider include a skills-training group called Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and a class in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). DBT was initially developed for people with borderline personality disorders, but has been used more recently to help people effectively cope with intense emotional pain of any kind. MBSR trains people to develop a nonjudgmental awareness of thoughts, feelings, and body sensations in the present moment, which is much more difficult than it sounds.”

Just something more for you to think about.


5 Responses to “Eating Disorders & Anxiety”

  1. mad Says:

    That’s pretty damn sad. For the girl and especially for the baby.

  2. Sarah Says:

    Yeah, it is sad … hopefully by now her meds are working well enough that she’s not living with such a strong bulimic influence anymore though.

  3. healthybpm Says:

    It’s terrible what eating disorders can do with your system. Strong family support and a boost in self-esteem have to go side by side with medication. Hope she recovers.

  4. Mental & Emotional Health » Blog Archive » Need Medical Information? Says:

    [...] from experts? Where do you go when you’re looking to meet someone who deals with the same generalized anxiety disorder or the premenstrual induced migraines that you live [...]

  5. Join the Revolution « Nobody Likes A Dead Cat Says:

    [...] from experts? Where do you go when you’re looking to meet someone who deals with the same generalized anxiety disorder or the premenstrual induced migraines that you live [...]

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About Mental & Emotional Health

Explore mental and emotional health issues including mood disorders, depression, anxiety and anger problems. We’ll also keep up with the latest scientific research on developments related to mental health. Stress, physical illnesses and pain can trigger negative feelings and despair but we’ll focus on how to cope through those difficult times.

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