In honor of Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2025, Forward Counseling believes it’s an important time to learn more about eating disorders and how/when to get help. Let’s break them down!

Eating disorders are complex psychological and medical illnesses that include a persistent disturbance in eating behaviors and impact many different parts of a person’s life. Symptoms often range in severity and may include things like restrictive or intentional undereating, chronic dieting, poor body image, overeating, emotional eating, purging by vomiting, excessive or punishing exercising, and many more. There are several different types of eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), and other specified feeding and eating disorder (OSFED).

Here are some interesting facts about eating disorders:

· 22% of kids and teens have disordered eating behaviors

· Eating disorders represent the second-highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness

· Folks in larger bodies are 2.5x more likely to engage in eating disorder behaviors

· Less than 6% of people with eating disorders are medically underweight

· Rates of eating disorders are the same or higher in all other racial and ethnic groups as compared to white people

· LGBTQ+ folks experience higher rates of eating disorders compared to their straight/cis peers and have more severe symptoms when starting treatment

As evidenced by the statistics above, there is no way to tell if someone is struggling with an eating disorder just by looking at them. Eating disorders effect people of all different body sizes and shapes, races, genders, ages, and sexual identities. In fact, the most common eating disorders are other specified feeding and eating disorder (OSFED) and atypical anorexia, two forms of disordered eating.

Some examples of disordered eating include an unhealthy obsession with “clean” eating, infrequent binge eating and purging, or overexercising to relieve food guilt. Atypical anorexia has the same symptoms as anorexia nervosa without the low body weight/BMI requirement. This means that people in average or larger bodies also struggle significantly with restrictive eating habits that impact their mental and physical health.

Many people who live with disordered eating or eating disorders do not get the help they need. Left untreated, eating disorders and can worsen over time and lead to incredibly complex medical issues and even death. Treatment for eating disorders typically involves an integrative, team-based approach. The team often includes a mental health therapist, a dietitian or nutrition counselor, and a medical provider.

I know it can feel scary and overwhelming to figure out where to start in getting help for an eating disorder. You might be telling yourself, “I am not sick enough; things aren’t bad enough yet; I have it under control.” These thoughts are common but unhelpful. Instead, I encourage you to reach out for support and find a good fit therapist who specializes in eating disorders. The right therapist will make you feel heard and understood, normalize your concerns, and help you replace unhelpful eating behaviors with healthier coping strategies that support your overall physical and mental wellbeing.