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Eating disorders and body image
If someone you know seems unusually preoccupied with food and their weight, has strange eating rituals or sneaks off to the bathroom straight after meals, they might be dealing with an eating disorder.
There are many different types of eating disorders from mild through to severe cases that can have dramatic health consequences and even result in death. Treatment is available to help people with disordered eating to develop a healthy attitude towards food and in turn lead healthier lives.
While many people have heard of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, there are several other eating disorders that often come under the name 'other specified feeding and eating disorders' (OSFED). These generally refer to people who might have many of the symptoms of one or more types of eating disorder, but who don't meet all the criteria for a diagnosis of any single disorder.
Head to Health, an online gateway funded by the Australian Government that can help you find free and low-cost, trusted phone and online mental health resources, including information about eating disorders. Or find out more below.
Eating disorders
An unhealthy relationship with food and eating may indicate an eating disorder, a potentially serious mental health condition.
Anorexia nervosa
People with anorexia nervosa have an irrational fear of gaining weight and put themselves on restrictive diets and harsh, punishing exercise routines.
Binge-eating disorder
Binge-eating disorder (BED) often involves someone eating large amounts of food even after they feel full. Discover more about BED here.
Body dysmorphic disorder
Body dysmorphic disorder causes someone to feel shame or disgust with part of their body or appearance. Any body part can become its focus.
Body image
Having an unhealthy body image is bad for general wellbeing and is also incredibly time consuming. Here are a few tips for improving your body image.
Bulimia nervosa
It's not unusual to be concerned about body image or diet, but using extreme weight loss methods can lead to eating disorders, like bulimia nervosa.
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Top results
Eating disorders
Eating disorders are a mental illness. The most common types are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and other binge eating disorders. They can affect women and men of all age groups, from a range of backgrounds and cultures. Many people might be living with these disorders without being diagnosed.
Read more on WA Health website
Eating Disorders
An eating disorder is a serious mental illness, characterised by eating, exercise and body weight or shape becoming an unhealthy preoccupation of someone's life. Its estimated that one million Australians have an eating disorder, and this number is increasing. Eating disorders are not a lifestyle choice, a diet gone wrong or a cry for attention. Eating disorders can take many different forms and interfere with a persons day to day life. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) recognises four eating disorders:
Read more on Eating Disorders Victoria website
What is binge eating disorder? Eating disorders explained
Binge Eating Disorder is a serious mental illness characterised by regular episodes of binge eating.
Read more on NEDC - National Eating Disorders Collaboration website
Binge Eating Disorder
Binge Eating Disorder is a psychological illness characterised by frequently eating excessive amounts of food, often when not hungry. Binges represent a distraction that allows a person to avoid thinking about the real root of their problems. Feelings of guilt, disgust and depression often follow a bingeing episode. Binge Eating Disorder is not the same as overeating, as it is recurrent and more serious.
Read more on Eating Disorders Victoria website
Treatments for eating disorders | Eating disorders | ReachOut Australia
There are a number of different types of eating disorder treatments, as well as different health professionals you can talk to about them.
Read more on ReachOut.com website
What is binge eating disorder? | Eating disorders | ReachOut Australia
There are signs that indicate someone might have binge eating disorder, as well as a number of ways to get help.
Read more on ReachOut.com website
Eating disorders
Many teenagers feel uncomfortable with their bodies, which can seem to be rebelling against them by growing bulges and sprouting hair in weird places. Coupled with these physical changes, low self-esteem and negative thoughts and emotions about body image and self-worth can contribute to eating disorders in young people.
Read more on beyondblue website
Psychological Effects | Eating Disorders Victoria
Binge Eating Disorder (BED) has many psychological effects.
Read more on Eating Disorders Victoria website
Eating disorders, anxiety and depression
Having an eating disorder is neither a lifestyle choice, a ‘diet gone wrong’, nor an attempt to get attention. A person with an eating disorder has a mental health condition.
Read more on beyondblue website
Other eating disorders
The most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) has made several changes to the categorisation of eating disorders. The category that was known as Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS), has been removed, and there are two new categories; Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED) and Unspecified Feeding or Eating Disorder (UFED). These new categories are intended to more appropriately recognise and categorise conditions that do not more accurately fit into Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, BED, or the other eating and feeding disorders.
Read more on Eating Disorders Victoria website
Top results
Self-help and guided self-help for eating disorders | Cochrane
The eating disorders (anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), binge eating disorder (BED) and eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS)) are disabling conditions and specialist treatment is not always easily accessible. Self-help may bridge the gap. This review aimed to evaluate pure self-help (PSH) and guided self-help (GSH) interventions for eating disorders for all ages and genders, compared to psychological, pharmacological or control treatments and waiting list. Fifteen trials were identified, all focused on BN, BED or EDNOS, using manual-based self-help. There is some evidence that PSH/GSH reduce eating disorder and other symptoms in comparison to waiting list or control treatment and may produce comparable outcomes to formal therapist-delivered psychological therapies. PSH/GSH may have some utility as a first step in treatment. In the future there need to be large well-conducted effectiveness studies of self-help treatments with or without guidance incorporating cost evaluations and investigation of different types of self-help in different populations and settings.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Understanding eating disorders for health professionals
Read more on headspace website
Preventing eating disorders in children and adolescents | Cochrane
Eating disorders represent an extremely difficult, time-consuming and costly condition to treat. Being young, female, and dieting are some of the few identified risk factors that have been reliably linked to the development of eating disorders. Several eating disorder prevention programs have been developed and trialled with children and adolescents. There is currently limited evidence in the published literature to suggest that any particular type of program is effective in preventing eating disorders and there has been concern that some interventions have the potential to cause harm. The aim of this systematic review is to determine whether these interventions are effective in the prevention of eating disorders in children and adolescents. Only one statistically significant result was found in the present meta-analysis - a slight effect of media literacy and advocacy programs in reducing acceptance of societal body image ideals. There is not sufficient evidence to suggest that harm was caused by any of the 12 randomised controlled trials included in the review at short-term follow-up. The meta-analysis is in the process of being revised to account for the impact of cluster randomised trials.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Nip it in the bud
Intervening early for young people with eating disorders
Read more on Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health website
Antidepressants for anorexia nervosa | Cochrane
The aim of the present review was to evaluate the evidence from randomised controlled trials for the efficacy and acceptability of antidepressant treatment in acute AN. Seven small studies were identified; four placebo-controlled trials did not find evidence of efficacy of antidepressants in improving weight gain, eating disorder or associated symptoms, as well as differences in completion rates. Meta-analysis of data was not possible for most outcomes. However, major methodological limitations of these studies (e.g. insufficient power to detect differences) prevent from drawing definite conclusions or recommendations for antidepressant use in acute AN. Further studies testing safer antidepressants in larger and well designed trials are needed to guide clinical practice.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
For Professionals and Teachers The Butterfly Foundation
Read more on Butterfly Foundation website
Pharmacological treatment for Kleine-Levin syndrome | Cochrane
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Psychological treatments for people with bulimia nervosa and binging | Cochrane
Bulimia nervosa (BN) is an eating disorder in which people binge on food and then try to make up for this by extreme measures such as making themselves sick, taking laxatives or starving themselves. We reviewed studies of psychotherapies, including a specific form of psychotherapy called cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT-BN). We compared psychotherapy to control groups who got no treatment (e.g. people on waiting lists) and the specific CBT-BN with other types of psychotherapy. We found that CBT was better than other therapies, and better than no treatment, at reducing binge eating. Other psychotherapies were also better than no treatment in reducing binge eating. Some studies found that self-help using the CBT manual can be helpful, but more research and larger trials are needed.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Milnacipran versus other antidepressive agents for depression | Cochrane
Major depression, also known as major depressive disorder or unipolar depression, is a common mental disorder characterised by a combination of symptoms that interfere with a person's ability to work, sleep, study, eat, and enjoy pleasurable activities. An episode of major depression may occur only once in a person's lifetime, but more often, it recurs throughout a person's life.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Interventions for the treatment of Frey's syndrome | Cochrane
Frey's syndrome is a rare disorder, the symptoms of which include sweating and ushing of the facial skin when eating, smelling, thinking or even dreaming about food. It usually happens in patients who have undergone surgery to the parotid (salivary) gland. This problem may have an impact on quality of life (for example, restricting normal activity such as eating in public). Many methods are currently used to treat Frey's syndrome, including topical application of anticholinergics and antiperspirants, and intradermal (into the skin) injections of botulinum toxin. This systematic review aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of these different methods for the treatment of Frey's syndrome.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
