Unlocking the Truth about Atypical Anorexia: Insights from an Expert Anorexia Therapist
A Rant about Atypical Anorexia
Understanding Atypical Anorexia: Breaking Down the Misconceptions
If you have anorexia, you have anorexia. I don't care what weight you are. Here’s my rant about it!
Let’s talk about atypical anorexia and the dangers that are associated with labeling an eating disorder as atypical anorexia. I disagree with this diagnosis entirely, and in my professional opinion I believe that labeling an eating disorder as atypical anorexia really is very detrimental for a person struggling with an eating disorder. It also perpetuates the very, VERY misinformed narrative that you have to be a certain weight, be underweight or have significantly low body weight in order to meet the criteria for the diagnosis of anorexia. This is something that I've talked about many many times and it's something that I don't even understand why we still have such misinformation in this world and in the education system around eating disorders. Our society being this misinformed is so so dangerous and that really is where my frustration comes in.
Many of my clients who struggle with eating disorders have gotten to such a bad place in their eating disorder because they thought, all along, that they were supposed to look a certain way in order to have an eating disorder. I have people who reach out to me on social media who say that they have atypical anorexia and if you don't know what atypical anorexia is, it’s typically is described as a person who meets the diagnostic criteria for having anorexia, but doesn't meet the significantly low body weight standard. This is something that's OLD information and is incorrect. Weight being a part of the diagnostic criteria is a standard from the DSM 4, which was a prior Diagnostic and Statistical Manual that was used up until about the point of 2015. In 2015, that's when we started the transition over to the most updated manual, the DSM-5, which is what we currently use. In the DSM-4, there was a standard that you needed to meet a certain low body weight in order to meet the criteria of anorexia. Of course, this was an old and outdated standard. Also, please know that you do not need to meet this criteria in order to get anorexia therapy.
Anorexia: The New Standards
We've learned a lot about eating disorders since the DSM-4 rolled out in 1994. The new and current version of the DSM, the DSM-5, recognizes that you don't have to be of a certain weight to be classified as having an eating disorder, specifically anorexia. We do have what's called “modifiers” in the DSM which is used to indicate the severity of the disorder based on body weight. I also can’t fully get on board with this because I have seen people who, technically, would not be in the severe or even moderate category weight-wise, but who have had significant medical issues as a result of their disorder as well as severe eating disorder behaviors. So, I still have a problem with that. Also, I think it fails to recognize the very basis of an eating disorder - an eating disorder is a MENTAL HEALTH DISORDER that CAN (and often will) have physical consequences. It is still the same mental health disorder despite the physical consequences. This is not to undermine the physical consequences which, of course, are very dangerous and need to be treated accordingly. An anorexia therapist is someone who is qualified to treat the mental health aspects of your anorexia and can help connect you to other professionals such as doctors to help with the physical consequences that may be present.
More than anything, I want to say that I would really caution anyone from using the phrase atypical anorexia since that's a way to invalidate a person’s disorder or suffering. If you have anorexia, you have anorexia. I don't care what weight you are and, in the diagnostic sense, you can still be classified as having anorexia whether you're, according to the BMI (don’t get me started on that), underweight or overweight. Regardless of your weight is, you could still be diagnosed with anorexia, have very severe symptoms and be suffering immensely.
How to Get Help with Anorexia Therapy
Are you suffering with an anorexia or another eating disorder? You don’t have to suffer alone. There is help out there for you! Schedule your free consultation call today with an anorexia therapist to learn more about how I can help you.