From Cara Murez
HealthDay reporter
FRIDAY, March 19, 2021 (HealthDay News) – At the Eating Recovery Center, which offers treatments and services for people with eating disorders, intensive outpatient and sometimes hospital stays were switched to virtual at the beginning of the pandemic.
But that didn’t go well with people working on their recovery.
“Our patients said, ‘You can’t do this. This is not enough support for us,'” said Ellen Astrachan-Fletcher, certified eating disorders specialist and regional clinical director at the Eating Recovery Center in Chicago. “And within a week we got part of the hospital stay back on site because we found that the risk of them not being treated on site is worse than the risk of them appearing in public.”
Among those facing fear, isolation, and loss during the pandemic are people suffering from eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. This is the result of recent research by Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England.
“It is well documented that people with eating disorders negatively control their eating because they feel they are in control of that behavior, and there are other areas of their life where they are out of control,” said study author Mike Trott, PhD student at Anglia Ruskin University.
continuation
University researchers have reconnected with participants in a 2019 study of body dysmorphism, exercise addiction, and eating disorders to find out how COVID-19 restrictions could have affected their eating disorders in 2020. The 319 participants were health club members with a mean age of 37 years.
Participants answered questions in response to statements such as “I’m afraid of being overweight,” “I have an impulse to vomit after eating,” and “I feel extremely guilty after eating,” which are part of what is known as an eating behavior test EAT-26.
The EAT-26 values increased significantly in 2020 after the lockdown compared to 2019. According to the study’s authors, this indicated higher eating behaviors such as anorexia and bulimia.
The results were published in the April issue of Psychiatry Research.
Social isolation can make eating disorders worse
In the UK, bans meant that you could only travel certain distances from your home. “And that is a very new stress, a very new mental stress for the body,” said Trott. “What has been shown in the past is that, whatever its form, stress is associated with coping mechanisms that involve food.”
continuation
While some actions worsened, others improved. The study found a reduction in exercise addiction symptoms after lockdown, although the level of individual exercise increased from 6.5 hours per week in 2019 to 7.5 hours per week after lockdown in 2020. The increase could be due to people willing to return to exercise routines after the lockdown, Trott suggested.
According to Trott, researchers couldn’t be certain that the pandemic was responsible for the increase in eating disorder behavior.
“I think we are far from normal life,” said Trott. “I think it can get back to normal for some people. I think for others, maybe not. We all deal with things differently and for some of us it stays with us.”
Astrakhan-Fletcher suggested that eating disorders can thrive in an environment where one is socially isolated for an extended period of time. Warning signs are more difficult to see virtually.
She noted that body dysmorphic disorder was a problem that hadn’t changed in the study during the pandemic.
continuation
This could be because people don’t have as many opportunities for social comparison of their bodies. Social comparison is a major contributor to body dysmorphism, she explained.
Returning to situations where social anxiety and comparison are increasing could lead to increased struggles, Astrakhan-Fletcher said.
“Being isolated for a year, and I’ve seen it happen in a lot of people, can actually lead to this greater fear of leaving the house when it’s ‘safer’ out there because of the vaccines,” said Astrakhan-Fletcher. “I firmly believe that at the beginning of the opening we will see people struggling with it, with increasing anxiety and depression.”
Returning to “normal” life could be difficult
The causes of eating disorders are unknown. There is a biological predisposition, a psychological and a sociological component, Astrakhan-Fletcher said.
“We know that puberty certainly contributes to the biological predisposition that sometimes sets in at the time of puberty,” said Astrakhan-Fletcher. “Do we know exactly what causes eating disorders? It is diverse. That is exactly what we know.”
continuation
As much as people miss their support systems, they have also grown used to being more isolated and not seen physically, said Ilene Fishman, a private practice social worker in New York City who specializes in eating disorders. Fishman is also the founder of the National Eating Disorders Association.
“It’s no surprise that we know that eating disorders have gotten worse for people during the COVID,” Fishman said. “Not just eating disorders, but mental health problems in general. People have more problems during COVID.”
People’s reliable schedules and support systems were disrupted during the pandemic, Fishman said. There are fewer personal connections, including psychotherapeutic treatments. Food insecurity at the start of the pandemic could also have sparked among people with eating disorders, Fishman added.
When people have eating disorders, their lives often get smaller, Fishman said. You are not that social. You don’t eat with people. You can make excuses to avoid socialization. These can be warning signs, as well as signs of depression and anxiety, she said.
continuation
One positive finding is that everyone is talking more about mental health now, Fishman said, which could reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues.
“I think that’s a positive thing because when it’s more normal it becomes less stigmatized,” Fishman said. “These fights are real and legitimate, and people hurt. Hopefully there is less stigma.”
More information
Call the National Eating Disorders Association helpline at 1-800-931-2237. Text NEDA to 741741 in a crisis situation. The US National Institute of Mental Health is more concerned with eating disorders.
SOURCES: Mike Trott, PhD Student and Research Associate, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, England; Ellen Astrakhan-Fletcher, PhD, Regional Clinical Director, Midwest, Eating Recovery Center, Chicago; Ilene Fishman, LCSW, National Eating Disorders Association Co-Founder / Board Member and Psychotherapist, New York City; Psychiatry Research, April 2021
Comments are closed.