The Hidden World of Eating Disorders

The evolution of becoming a specialist in this disorder did not come easily for clinician Beth Wright. While within her first year at Loma Linda University, second year of licensure within LMFT, and a world of experience with trauma in various departments not limited to women of addiction, this was earth moving. Beth came to run a program that is nation widely known for their IOP, intensive outpatient program for eating disorder diagnosis that we will call moving forth EDO. Beth researched, trained with psychologist, nutritionists, clinicians, and mostly adapted from the en-vivo experience of the being with the individuals who suffer from this disease. It was within those intimate groups with sharing the depths of the demon coming the disguise of comfort of this disease did she truly become most knowledgeable about how it penetrates the life and family system. Below we have a snippet of some of Beths knowledge as she is currently continuing to treat women in recovery in a private practice here within Guiding Hope Counseling.

" Eating disorders are complex and can be easily hidden. In contrast to this, they can be incredibly common and I believe a lot of treating physicians, psychologists and clinicians can miss them. There are identifying cues that allow us EDO (eating disorder specialist) clinicians to identify if someone is high risk. Emotional stressors are closely linked/triggers for EDO; EDO is often a comorbid.

As a clinician, I always like to check in with people, how do you eat, like what's a normal day look like for you? Not eating/disorder eating, is going to lead to significant changes in mood/emotions. 

Most common ones noticed - Anorexia - this is all about restriction and poor body image. If an individual is restricting meals, say they never eat breakfast, petite lunch and a small dinner I would note there is some restriction of daily "exchanges" (serving of food) going on and I will note to keep an eye on it. Anorexia will be all about weight loss and poor body image, whether the person is underweight or not, you can have atypical anorexia where you are restricting daily exchanges due to desire to lose weight, even if you are not at this point underweight. So you can be in a larger body and still be anorexic, It is all about the restriction of food, and the desire to lose weight.

Bulimia will show up in having the binge purge cycle, This is where they like to make it tricky for us because guess what? There is also a subtype of anorexia which is "anorexia w/binge/purge. Eating disorder are very complex and with the lack of training and experience it can become easy to be evasive and miss. There are other specific types within the umbrella of EDOs such as EDNOS, ARFID and psychoeducation along with a healthy support team is crucial in healing. "

Beth Wright is currently practicing and servicing the community in early remission and recovery at this time. She has dedicated her career to the individuals who are seeking refuge from a disease that is taking a life every hour according to Nationaleatingdisorders.org . Please contact our offices if you would like to schedule a consult to begin your healing.