Shandon Therapy Centre

Individuals and Families living with Eating Distress in Cork

	Mission Statement
	What is Eating Distress?
	Recovery
	Family and eating distress

What is an Eating Disorder/Eating Distress?

Categories of Eating Disorders

There are several kinds of Eating Disorder, the best known being Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity. However other categories of Eating Disorder include:

Binge Eating or Compulsive Overeating
Emotional Eating
Chaotic Syndrome
Dieting Syndrome
Night Eating and Drinking Syndrome
Orthorexia (Pathological obsession with biologically pure food)
EDNOS (Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified)

What is an Eating Disorder/Eating Distress?

We at Shandon Therapy Centre believe that so called Eating Disorders should not be termed as such. Our experience teaches us that ‘Eating Disorders’ are the symptoms of an acute distress that someone is feeling inside. Therefore we use the terminology Eating Distress rather than Disorder.

Furthermore it is our contention that if this term ‘Eating Distress’ replaced the term ‘Eating Disorder’ it would impact on the public mindset and perception of the condition and the people affected by it.

It would lead us to think about reaching out compassionately to the distress, rather than dealing with a disorder to be ‘got rid of’. Distress focuses on the subject, the sufferer. Disorder focuses on the object, the symptom.

Our experience shows that all forms of eating disorders point to the fact that the person is feeling deep internal psychological/emotional distress.

People with eating distress are not disordered. In reality they are extremely distressed.

Their unhealthy relationship with food is simply a way of trying to control their emotional pain. Food simply becomes the focus because the person is unable to deal with the inner chaos and pain. Controlling the body is a way of controlling life.

This condition, which manifests itself through an unhealthy and abusive relationship with food, is called Eating Distress.

Some of the psychological problems experienced by people with eating distress include: anxiety, fear, panic, irrational thinking, low self esteem, emotional emptiness, emotional isolation, an inability to function, and an acute negative mindset.

This negative mindset becomes more powerful over time than a positive one. This negativity then influences the people’s beliefs about themselves, their thoughts, and feelings. People with eating distress feel they have no worth or value, and may end up without any vestige of self-esteem.

This condition is extremely abusive as there is a lot of inner degrading of self, negative comparison of self with others, and inner self derision.

People with eating distress feel they are alone with this problem, and that help is beyond them. This is a very lonely position to be in.

Common Characteristics of people with eating distress

It is widely agreed that there are some personality traits which are common among people with eating distress. These include acute sensitivity, high intelligence, a creative mentality, and a kind disposition. However because of their negative mindset, people with eating distress do not recognize, or own these positive and valuable traits in themselves.

Causes and Perpetuating factors of this Condition

As yet there is no proven single cause for the onset of this condition. To understand the causal and sustaining factors of eating distress, it is necessary to take the biological, psychological, social, environmental and spiritual aspects of the sufferer’s life into account.

Experience shows us that the heightened sensitivity of people with eating distress makes them particularly vulnerable and susceptible to all influences in their environment. When such influences become stressful the negative mindset directs the problem internally. They blame themselves. In turn, low self-esteem means people with eating distress are unable to withstand this damaging process. In truth they have not developed the internal life skills to handle such problems. This is when food is used to distract, anesthetize, and numb the inner pain and problems.

At first this gives people with eating distress a ‘way out’ of their distress. Eating distress becomes the most important relationship, a ‘best friend’. Before long, however, this relationship becomes one of control and abuse. Eating Distress then becomes a cruel dictator inside the mind of the person.

Over time everything in the person’s life is excluded, except fearful and confusing thoughts about food and the body. This utter preoccupation with food and body screens out all other painful life issues.

Often eating distress is therefore misunderstood as an eating or weight problem/disorder and it is widely believed that eating distress has to be treated by regaining ‘ normal ‘ weight and eating patterns. However the more the treatment focuses on eating and weight, the more negative and abusive thinking will be reinforced. This process is counterproductive and leads the person to even further pain and confusion.

In contrast, the therapeutic treatment is a healing process that helps the person to change their thinking and feeling and leads them to develop their full mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual potential.

Since this treatment focuses on life, and not on food and weight, the physical and psychological health of the person has always absolute priority. This is underwritten by the collaboration of a multidisciplinary team.

The complexity of this severe condition often makes a clear diagnosis very difficult. Quite a large number of ‘psychological disorders’ listed in psychological handbooks can show co-morbidity with the condition eating distress.

Never forget everyone can recover from Eating Distress

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