Anxiety and Eating Disorders

Anxiety is a feeling we are all familiar with and that can be beneficial. I like seeing stress and anxiety as helpful feelings that can help us when facing a threat. Our body is fully mobilised and produces hormones, like adrenalin, that help us to react. However, for some people, anxiety can become excessive and unmanageable, affecting their life, their relationship with others and limit their ability to act in some circumstances. This excess of stress is called anxiety disorder; it causes distress and can take over someone’s life.

Studies have shown that people with eating disorders very often experience anxiety as well. These disorders are so interwoven that it is hard to know which occurs first:

• Anxiety triggering EDs: We all have full control over what we eat. In EDs, people develops rituals and rules around food to lower their stress level as it gives them the feeling of being in control.
• EDs triggering anxiety: Suffering from an ED comes very often alongside poor self-esteem, a distorted view of our body, stress around food, weight and how we appear to others.

Before my recovery, I used to have a long list of these food rituals. Meal times or any kind of situations putting me outside my comfort zone (even the simple anticipation of them), were considered as threats. My body would immediately react, leading to panic attacks and very uncomfortable feelings (shaking, struggle to breathe…).

The association of anxiety disorders and ED are very common. Understanding co-occurring anxiety and Eating Disorders is important, as they will need to be addressed at the same time for the patient to recover.

• How to deal with anxiety in the moment:

I used several techniques to help decreasing stress level and little by little, taking back control of my life without ED thoughts. When panic start to rise and you have the feeling of increasing stress, I would advise to use the “7 columns strategy” (from Jane J):

This helps to calm down and use this time to analyse our deep feelings and the origin of the stress. It allow me to realise that what triggered my anxiety was actually not that bad, especially when reflecting on the evidence against the unhelpful thoughts.

Have a designated “worry time” helps as well. When you are stressed or worried during the day, write it down and allow yourself to think about it during your worry time only!

I found out that using my hands by doing manual activities was beneficial to decrease my stress level (drawing, painting…) and ignore EDs voices.

• How to start your recovery:

Recovery takes time and you will probably experience periods of higher and lower anxiety. Don’t worry, this is a normal part of the recovery process. You need to fight against the EDs negative thoughts and rituals that could be harmful to your health. The best way to start is by identifying some realistic goals with a professional (meal plans, reducing the amount of exercise, socialising more…). When you have defined them, you need to implement them in your daily life and I know that this is not easy! It is going to take a lot of energy and motivation; it will be anxiety provoking and again this is normal, as you will try to set you free from your EDs “chains”. As every fear, you need to face them and repeat gradually experiences that have been uncomfortable for you: the more you face them, the more you are going to get used to them. Eventually you will realise that things that use to be very stressful, don’t have such bad consequences.