Trauma and Eating Disorders

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Person sitting alone dealing with PTSD and eating disorder

Contributor: Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC President at Eating Disorder Hope

Trauma is one of the significant environmental factors that can play a role in the development of an eating disorder. Trauma is certainly not the sole determiner, as we all know, many have experienced traumatic events and only a few develop an eating disorder.

Some trauma survivors may develop other dysfunctional coping mechanisms such as addiction, obsessive compulsiveness, etc. A few may weather the storm of the trauma without any significant manifestation of this experience in their lives.

But, for those with a genetic predisposition toward eating disorders, the introduction of either Big T or Little T Trauma can be part of the perfect storm that leads one to develop anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorder.

What Is Trauma?

What exactly is trauma, you may ask? An interesting perspective to consider is that Big T Trauma is a large scale, significant traumatic event that happens such as: abuse, rape, divorce or war. Little T Trauma summarizes events that are traumatic for the individual, but less likely to receive the level of immediate concern and empathy that larger scale event would cause.

These Little T Traumas can include bullying, neglect, exposure to addiction or mental health issues in a family member, etc.

Divorce

november-216832_640I have worked with a fair share of adolescents struggling with anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder who felt traumatized by their parents divorce. These kids felt angry, confused and as if life as they knew it had ended abruptly.

The parents did their best and certainly didn’t cause the eating disorder. But, the resulting feelings of abandonment in these kids is correlated with the time the eating disorder behavior began.

Bullying

Also, bullying by school mates and siblings has been a contributing factor to the development of an eating disorder in some of my former clients. In one case, an adult male recounted years of being ridiculed by his classmates about his weight. He would arrive home from school and find comfort in over eating junk food.

This behavior contributed to more weight gain, more harassment at school, and yet he felt he had to continue to overeat as it was one of the few things that made him feel good.

Grief

Unresolved grief can also be an ongoing trauma for some. In one case, the loss of a best friend to cancer was the straw that broke the camel’s back in a young woman struggling with anorexia.

She felt such deep loss and sadness, further complicated by a murky feeling of abandonment by her friend. She found comfort in “controlling” her body through diet and exercise amidst a world that felt very out of control to her.

A History of Eating Disorders

alone-279080_640These eating disorder sufferers were already genetically predisposed to eating disorders due to a history of eating disorders in their families.

They also all demonstrated personality traits that left them vulnerable to developing disordered eating.

For these individuals, the overeating or under eating and related weight loss or weight gain issues seemed to serve a purpose acting as a buffer between the trauma survivor and their painful experience.

Crucial Steps Towards Healing

I have observed that talk therapy, honoring and expressing feelings of grief and loss and acceptance of circumstances beyond one’s control are often crucial healing steps for the trauma survivor.

If you have experienced trauma in your past, reach out to trusted loved ones, friends or a therapist to work through your painful experience(s). This may be a fundamental piece of the puzzle for finding eating disorder recovery.

Community Discussion – Share your thoughts here!

Have you experienced trauma in your life, what steps have you taken to find recovery?

 
References:

  1. (nod.). Retrieved March 20, 2015, from http://www.timberlineknolls.com/trauma/signs-effects
  2. (nod.). Retrieved March 20, 2015, http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/get-facts-eating-disorders
  3. Schmidt, U., Tiller, J., Blanchard, M., Andrews, B., & Treasure, J. (1997). Is there a specific trauma precipitating anorexia nervosa? Psychological Medicine, 27(3), 523-530. Retrieved March 21, 2015, from http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=25293&fileId=S0033291796004369

Last Updated & Reviewed By: Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC on March 31st, 2015
Published on EatingDisorderHope.com