Different types of eating disorders

Whatever the type of eating disorder, people can get an idea if they have a problem by asking themselves a single question – ‘How much do I think about food during the day?’ ‘All day long, I can’t think of anything else’, is the answer of both people who eat too little and those who eat too much, as well people as whose food choices are dictated by their concerns about their health.

From a phenomenological point of view, eating disorders can be expressed on scales ranging from hunger to extreme satiety, from starvation to obesity, or from hyperactivity to immobilism, but all eating disorders have the same obsession in common. The relationship with food takes the form of recurring thoughts that torment and leave no room for anything else.

Eating in the relationship with the other

Food is our species’ vital fuel. It also represents the very first essential bond of trust that every human being makes with their family and with the society they belong to. For this reason, eating disorders seem to indicate the disruption of trust that every human being has with their loved ones. Eating disorders express the difficulty in regulating a balance between social integration and autonomy. Trust, created by the need for social integration, conflicts with a need for self-individuation that expresses itself through symptoms, rather than by developing an autonomous identity. By rejecting or controlling food, the person challenges the social bond and tries to look for their own identity. A symptom acts for a while as a surrogate of personal identity.

My experience

I have worked with both young people and adults suffering from eating disorders since 2008. In Italy I worked in inpatient and outpatient settings, and for the Ministry of Health on a national research project on the factors that lead to the development of eating disorders in young people. Following my move to London in 2013, I have continued to conduct clinical and research work within inpatient settings commissioned by NHS England, and in collaboration with universities.

The treatment I offer is bespoke and co-constructed with the person, based on their needs and view of their life project.

I have written several books and academic papers on the assessment and treatment of eating disorders. I would like to invite you to read the brief articles attached for an overview of the characteristics and meaning of eating, and eating disorders.