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I am doing my senior thesis on the co morbidity between Eating Disorders and Anxiety Disorders. After doing a tremendous amount of research I’m left with the impression that since symptoms are so similar there is often a misdiagnosis (I.E- One may not be able to eat for an extended period of time, & the doctor may say it’s from stress as opposed to further assessing whether an eating disorder is brewing.)
Does anyone have any experience or know any interesting stories in which this was the case? Any input would be greatly appreciated!
No stories, but just gonna be picky for a second. It’s “comorbidity” – one word. Morbidity means something related to death, but comorbidity means existing at the same time, so totally different meanings.
Hatzlacha with your thesis.
You’re saying that eating disorders don’t have to be stress related, but the three women I know who suffered from Anorexia, all had to (eventually) deal with the stress that their doctors/therapists believed to be the culprit.
One of em didn’t initially connect the disorder to stress, and although with the help of an excellent nutritionist she was able to eat better for a while, she relapsed soon after that. Once she was in therapy for her anxiety she was successful in beating the Anorexia.
It’s also interesting to note that two of these women had OCD as well, which I believe is also caused by anxiety.
I feel kind of stupid for asking this but I’ll go ahead anyway.
As a survivor/sufferer (being that a person never really gets over an eating disorder, it is never really gone because the symptoms can creep up from one day to the next like it does with me often), I’d like to add to this conversation but I honestly can’t understand the question. OP, do you mind rephrasing so I can understand it a little better please?
Thanks in advance!
I too, have no idea what you are trying to say/prove, but i can tell you this, Blood sugar levels. (ie insulin resistance) spiking and crashing cause anxiety. so if the eating disorder is wreaking havoc on the endrocrine system, as it might, that does cause anxiety. if you are interested in all this i can explain it to you further.
NOMTW -“Good Point. According to the literature I’ve read, Anorexia and OCD are closely related”
OCD is found with Bulimia also. A partial quote from an article:
“These six anxiety disorders defined above have all been examined in research studies aimed at determining the comorbidity of anxiety and eating disorders. However, some have been found to play a great role than others. Social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and specific phobias have the highest rates of co-occurrence with bulimia nervosa, while social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder have the highest rates of co-occurrence with anorexia nervosa (Wonderlich & Mitchell, 1997).”
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