Two New Eating Disorders

If youre interested in the psychology of eating, youve probably heard about a couple of newly identified disorders being discussed by health professionals. You can read about this here. The first is called adult selective eating. Those who suffer from it limit their diet to a very narrow range of foods, mostly light colored foods popular among children, like chicken fingers and fries, though they dont seem to be overly concerned with body image. Professionals speculate that it may be a manifestation of obsessive compulsive disorder.The second new disorder is called orthorexia, where individuals form their eating habits around being overly concerned with healthy eating. Sufferers may limit their diets to the point that they are actually malnourished. Some professionals suspect that orthorexia may be a stepping stone to anorexia or bulimia.So what to make of these new disorders? Are they actually disorders at all? If so, are they akin to anorexia, bulimia, and obesity? And for that matter, are anorexia, bulimia actually disorders, per se?I feel that anorexia, bulimia, and obesity are not quite disorders, because its about the emotional and psychological state of the sufferer, not the food. Those who experience eating disorders have developed their habits as a response to sometimes complex emotional struggles. The eating patterns, therefore, are not causing the problem, but are a result of it. The disorder is a manifestation of unresolved emotional and psychological issues. We all have baggage its just more intense with some people, and each individual expresses his or her baggage in a unique way.An eating disorder, then, is just an expression of baggage. Furthermore, the term disorder implies that theres something wrong with the sufferer, which simply isnt true. His or her relationship with food may cause a great deal of pain and unhappiness, but it doesnt mean theres something wrong or disordered about that person. What it means is that the suff! erer isn t yet relating to himself or herself with true authenticity, and doesnt yet have a genuine sense of self-worth. The path of personal growth is never easy, and when someone has an eating disorder, it just means that theyre experiencing a particularly difficult stage of the path. The old saying is true life is a journey. Were all journeying through life, and thats what an eating disorder is part of the journey. To be sure, eating disorders are uniquely recognizable journeys because they are dramatic and because they are closely related to such issues as control, body image, and self-worth. But just the fact that theyre unique and recognizable doesnt necessarily make them disorders.So what about adult selective eating and orthorexia? Like bulimia, anorexia, and obesity, I dont think theyre necessarily disorders. Furthermore, to lump them in with previously recognized disorders isnt accurate because, although they surely stem from very real emotional struggles, theyre not related to body image and self-worth in the same way.We humans like to categorize and label things because it makes it easier for us to understand and talk about them and, ultimately, to make sense of the universe. While that may be convenient and even necessary in everyday communication, we need to recognize that many of our labels and categories are arbitrary. When we fall into the trap of thinking that our labels have a real existence independent of our use of them, then we reduce and minimize the depth and complexity of reality. Eating disorders are no exception. Of course, many sufferers of eating disorders experience similar types of emotional trauma, and resort to eating disorders as methods of coping with similar types of struggles. And it is important for doctors and mental health professionals to recognize that, in order to better understand and help their patients. But by lumping all people with particular eating habits into a group and saying they have a disorder, we tend to ignore the complex emotional and psychological fabri! c that l ed to those habits, and the uniqueness of each persons experience of them. And by labeling individuals as disordered, we only serve to lower their self-confidence and make it even more difficult for them to establish a sense of self-worth.Related:
New Eating Disorder Takes Healthy Food Too Far
Why We Fear Food and How to Stop
Stress Responses and Eating: What They Have in Common

Sarah Cooke is a writer living in California. She is interested inorganic food and green living. Sarah holds an M.F.A. in CreativeWriting from Naropa University, an M.A. in Humanities from NYU, and aB.A. in Political Science from Loyola Marymount University. She haswritten for a number of publications, and she studied Pastry Arts atthe Institute for Culinary Education. Her interests include running,yoga, baking, and poetry. Read more on her blog.