We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

if you dont have an eating disorder, dont try and diagnose people with eating disorders

2»

Replies

  • bingo_007
    bingo_007 Posts: 101 Member
    I think better to mention to see a doc than not saying something but I would do that to people with a worrying eating habit as well as other medical issues or self diagnosed medical problems. I am not a medical professional hence best to recommend to be checked up and be'certain. If there is a problem good a medical professional can look into this. If it is still within normal parameter good because now this is clarified too. Better save than sorry especially for medical issues.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,055 Member
    edited September 2017
    Here's my most recent post on the subject:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/40423816#Comment_40423816
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Your thinking around food certainly sounds disordered, but only a professional can diagnose you properly. Do seek help.

    All but one post on the thread also encouraged the OP to seek help. I think we handle this issue responsibly on MFP.
  • Good_Morning_Glory
    Good_Morning_Glory Posts: 226 Member
    <3
    fitoverfortymom wrote: »
    So here's the deal. I sat next to my daughter for 5 months while she ate every meal. Every bite. Every meal. Every day. I did this while she recovered from an eating disorder. I slept next to her every night so when she woke up in the middle of the night to compulsively exercise, I could stop her. My spidey senses have become quite fine tuned in detecting disordered eating behaviors. If I see it, I have no problem calling it out. Not having an ED does not make one unqualified to call BS on disordered eating.

    My kid is alive and reasonably well adjusted today (and we are super, super close) because of the time and effort I put in re-feeding her and getting to her the best therapist I could find. Seeing the person you love the most in the world loathe themselves to the point of self harm and starvation is the most devastating thing I have seen in my life.

    Having an ED (real or imagined) is not a badge of honor. Recovering from one is.

  • richardgavel
    richardgavel Posts: 1,001 Member
    I wonder if part of the issue is that, at least in my mind, the words "eating disorder" tend to translate to mental health issue. But in fact, I believe that some EDs might be best solved by a mental health specialist, some might be more lack of proper information and belong to a nutritionist. But that distinction is rarely made or inferred.
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,111 Member
    GORESPELLS wrote: »
    SCoil123 wrote: »
    The only advice someone who hasn't struggled with it should ever give is suggesting someone find a professional to talk to if they are genuinely concerned in my opinion.

    i agree, but mostly therapists are biased and dont know about eds and think of them lowly and give the same basic advice

    - why dont u just eat more? its not hard
    - have u tried xx medication?
    - just meditate

    and it gets repeated over and over which is why a lot of people with eds dont recover, since we dont have very good recovery tools. basically all inpatient does is force feed you and send you home when youre at bmi 20-21, which makes your ed worse. i think there needs to be a lot of reform and better recovery options.

    I luckily had very different experiences than that. I'm in recovery for bulimia and did out patient twice. The therapists I worked with specialized in ED and PTSD (a lot of ED sufferers are also trauma survivors). The facility I went to was group therapy based with some individual sessions and introduced me to EDA. The EDA workbook really helped me quite a bit.

    This is why I try to encourage people to seek professional help if I am concerned or they come to me with questions. I also always offer to send them a copy of the EDA workbook pdf if they want it for whatever reason.
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,111 Member
    rsclause wrote: »
    I don't have an eating disorder but I can look at someone with a severe one and tell that they have one.

    You can't always tell by looking at someone though. I got very good at hiding it but my accounts were overdrawn from spending money to binge and purge and I had developed a very dangerous bone infection in my jaw from purging. I was normal-slightly overweight when at my sickest and on the outside looked fine. No one knew I had relapsed into my behaviors until I had to seek help again after waking up from an episode where I purged to the point of passing out. I was home alone with my son who was small at the time and that was my bottom that motivated me into getting well, the realization that he could have woken up first to find me that way.
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
    richardgavel wrote: »
    I wonder if part of the issue is that, at least in my mind, the words "eating disorder" tend to translate to mental health issue. But in fact, I believe that some EDs might be best solved by a mental health specialist, some might be more lack of proper information and belong to a nutritionist. But that distinction is rarely made or inferred.

    The lack of proper information ones aren't eating disorders, they're simply lack of knowledge. The vast majority of people we see here on 1000 cal diets plain don't realise that their calorie intake is damaging and they need to eat more. Most often, once they get to grips with that, they will increase. Even if they don't, still not an eating disorder, just a very, very silly thing to do health-wise. And I have occasionally seen posters cry 'eating disorder!' in those cases, though less often than I used to, I think. Which is not to say that initial undereating such as that can't then lead to an actual, full blown eating disorder, it absolutely can, but I'd say generally there needs to be other underlying factors at play to flip that switch. The difference is, those people get to goal and switch to maintenance, which is probably considerably lower than it would have been if they'd eaten properly due to excessive loss of LBM and adaptive thermogenesis.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    If this is about MFP (and I can't tell from the OP), I wonder if OP is interpreting people suggesting that someone see a doctor or nutritionist as "you have an ED," however.

    I don't think I've ever (on MFP or off) told someone they have an ED. I have at times suggested that people who ask about eating under 1000 calories that if they really CANNOT manage to eat more -- not just they aren't really feeling like they need to, or are full on a particular day or two, but for a lengthy period of time cannot imagine eating more without feeling sick (which is sometimes the claim), that they should see a doctor. Part of that is because it could be something medical, it could be the start of an ED, or -- more likely, IMO -- they could see that as a good thing, and it's important to point out that no, not being able to eat more than 1000 without feeling sick is NOT a good thing or normal (again, for a lengthy period of time, not a day or two), and even if you are overweight it's something that should be a concern, or not encouraged as a good way to feel.

    Probably this has nothing to do with this post, but since posters here were later accused of assuming everyone has an ED, I want to make the distinction.

    (I really haven't seen the claim much either, as opposed to "this sounds concerning," except after the poster acknowledges having one or, I suppose, as in the thread that kshama linked where the poster expressed concern and the posters commenting that way seemed to have history with ED themselves.)
This discussion has been closed.

Categories