An eating disorder is an expression of whatunderlies it

By Eric Van Amerongen

I see it regularly: prejudices about eating
disorders. It is often about the fact that you
cannot see from someone’s appearance that
they have an eating disorder. And that is true.
From the outside you cannot see what is going
on inside.

More problematic are the prejudices, or should I
say the assumptions, that we as an eating
disorder community spread around the world. I
will mention two.

The first is that when we try to get into the
media, it is really only about anorexia. And that
makes no sense at all! If I were to make a Top 5
of most common eating disorders, anorexia
would certainly not end up at number 1.

Binge eating disorder and Bulimia are at the top.
They make up about 80% of the population,
while anorexia accounts for about 15%.
So why is it so popular? Probably because we
think that it is the most deadly. I suspect that
BED and Bulimia are no less. That is also not so
good for your body.

Another prejudice/assumption/
misunderstanding is that we hardly ever talk
about the causes of an eating disorder. The
eating disorder is the result of the cause and
therefore a coping mechanism. Working on the
causes early ensures that the proverb
“prevention is better than cure” is actually put
into practice.

If we tell loved ones that this is how it works,
there will automatically be more understanding.
Now loved ones are being fobbed off. In other
words: here is the puzzle of 1000 pieces and we
have conveniently left out 50. Good luck!
The above is separate from the fact that the
eating disorder itself is very addictive and can
drive people who suffer from it to despair. In
short: providing information is half the battle!
Shall we get started?

And then the loved ones, family, friends or
whatever you want to call them. I have described
one of the ways in which you can ‘support’ loved
ones above. But there is more (in the
Netherlands and Belgium)!

Family Based Therapy is often used in regular
healthcare. It (appears) to be successful. In the
Netherlands, the variant at the GGz instelling
Ursula in Leiden is called MeerGezins DagBehandeling treatment
(Multi Family Therapy, MFT). But that treatment
only comes when the person with an eating
disorder is in a treatment program. More
information about the Dutch MGDB, you
find here.

In the Netherlands, there are drop-in centers
(inloophuizen). These are low-threshold
volunteer facilities where people with an eating
disorder and their loved ones are seen and
heard. Examples of these are
the Leontienhuis en Stichting JIJ, which work
together in the ZIEN network (Stichting KIEM). In
Belgium, they are called deelwerkingen, such as
those of ANBN and the Open Huis ESpoir in
Kortrijk..

The positive thing for loved ones is that they are
involved in the eating disorder of their loved one
at an early stage and therefore have an earlier
chance to make a positive contribution. This
could be before a regular treatment program is
started, or aftercare when the program is
finished.

Finally, in the Netherlands, more information
about eating disorder care can be found on the
websites Eetstoornisvrij and Eetstoornisnetwerk.
Eetstoornisvrij also offers information from
Belgium and Germany.

Caveat from World Eating Disorders Action:
For more information on evidence based
treatments of anorexia and other EDs please see
a summary of the DSM-V sharing the types of
eating disorders and the evidence for treatment
approaches:

https://www.medcentral.com/behavioral-mental/
eating/eating-disorders-dsm-criteria-types-andtreatment