Eating disorders and eating disorder treatment
I highly encourage that you discuss with your GP if you have a complex relationship with food. If you have already been diagnosed with an eating disorder your GP can issue an Eating Disorder Plan which is very helpful to reduce the cost of ongoing therapy. This plan allows for 40 Medicare-rebated sessions per calendar year and provides the same financial rebate as a mental health care plan (which is only 10 sessions per calendar year).
A complex relationship with food is quite common which is perhaps not a great surprise to many. Young children can be tricky to feed from birth, toddlers may display defiant behaviour through food, and teenagers are typically bombarded with body-image related influence through social media to mention a few of the many situations that may be part of the complexity.
Eating disorders is an umbrella term which refers to mental health issues where food intake is affected. The main conditions include:
- ·Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)
- Anorexia nervosa
- ·Bulimia nervosa
- ·Binge eating disorder
There are also other food-related conditions (e.g. PICA and Rumination Disorder) included under the term which may be a stand-alone disorder or a feature of other conditions and disorders.
During my time with headspace services (youth mental health) I worked extensively with various eating disorders and have undertaken extensive training and professional development in this field including training by the InsideOut Institute which is Australia’s National Institute for Eating Disorders Research and Clinical Excellence.
In my opinion and experience, disordered eating usually develops over time and tends to get worse during times of stress and interpersonal conflict with others. In my practice with people we work collaboratively to understand how food became an issue in life (formulation) and work out a suitable therapeutic approach (treatment plan).
I can assure you I will never tell you how to live your life, how little or how much you need to eat, or how this is all in your head. I would also like to assure you I do not have scales in my office, and ‘weigh-ins’ are not part of my practice.
