When a person has an eating disorder, they almost always have at least one other diagnosis. (I personally have never heard of an Ed patient that doesn't have a dual diagnosis, but there's always things that I don't know, so I threw in "almost" as a just in case.) After learning the facts about eating disorders, it actually makes perfect sense.
Contributing factors for Eds include depression, anxiety, childhood trauma, a sense of need for control, addictive personality, environmental factors (pressure to lose weight from parents, ballet, etc), and perfectionism.
First of all, many people don't realize that Ed is an addiction. Once the habit is established, the addiction is formed. It works a lot like alcoholism. After a while of certain "feel good" chemicals being released every time the person drinks alcohol/engages in Ed behaviors, the brain literally feels a need for the destructive behaviour. Especially when the person is mad, sad, or otherwise emotional, the desire for those "feel good" chemicals is overwhelming. So before you tell someone to "just eat something," think of it as telling a heroine addict to put down the needle and never pick one up again. Most addicts, those who have physical and chemical addictions, typically have more than one addiction. Eating disorder, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, shopping...it doesn't really matter what the addiction is.
Because of the previous information, those with Ed can have a multitude of problems:
Other addictions
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Mood disorder (such as Bipolar)
Clinical Depression
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
...and more
Those with eating disorders may sometimes not be tested for other disorders. If you or someone you know is being tested or treated for an eating disorder, be sure that all other necessary psychological testing is done. A person in treatment who has undiagnosed depression typically won't get very far in recovery.
Contact me if you would like to inquire about an educational seminar or need assistance finding treatment information.
EDIT: It was brought to my attention that I may have been unclear about the definition of dual diagnosis. In this blog, I use
the term "dual diagnosis" as a blanket term for having more than one diagnosis. This is NOT the actual meaning of a dual diagnosis. As far as psychiatry and mental health treatment, dual diagnosis specifically refers to having a mental illness (mood disorder, personality disorder, etc.) accompanied with a substance abuse problem with drugs or alcohol. Please be aware of the difference, and my mistake. Thanks for your patience.
So,, when you say that most addicts typically have more than one addiction but because it doesnt matter what the addiction is, for example, I have PTSD and bulimia does this count as a dual diagnosis?
ReplyDeleteJosh, I'm a little confused about your question. You mention multiple
ReplyDeleteaddictions, yet you refer to bulimia and PTSD. PTSD is not an addiction; it is simply another possible diagnosis that a person with an eating disorder may have.
More important, I should clarify myself (and will make an edit on the post to clarify to others). In this post, my mention of "dual diagnosis" is a general reference to having two diagnoses, no matter what the diagnoses are. However, in the mental health world, the actual definition of someone with a dual diagnosis is a person that suffers from a mental illness (any illness: bipolar, schizophrenia, OCD, etc.) while also having a substance abuse problem with drugs or alcohol. I apologize for the confusion, Josh. :)