Can You Randomly Get an Eating Disorder?

It is unlikely for someone to randomly "get" an eating disorder without any underlying factors or triggers.

An eating disorder is something that can sneak up on a person, sometimes gradually and sometimes suddenly. An eating disorder often starts long before someone knows that their relationship with food has deteriorated.

Eating Disorders are Complex

Eating disorders are complex. An eating disorder diagnosis in essence is considered a mental illnesses that develops from a combination of genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors.

While there is no single cause of an eating disorder, research suggests that genetics, family history, trauma, societal pressure to conform to a certain body image, and certain personality traits such as perfectionism or neuroticism can all contribute to the development of an eating disorder.

Eating Disorder Behaviors

It is possible for someone to develop eating disorder behaviors like disordered eating patterns, such as restrictive eating or binge eating, which can eventually lead to an eating disorder if left untreated.

Additionally, a traumatic event, such as a major life change or a significant loss, could trigger an eating disorder in someone who may have a genetic predisposition or other risk factors.

Eating Disorders are Serious and Require Help

Eating disorders are serious and require professional help and sometimes eating disorder treatment at a hospital or residential facility. When struggling with disordered eating or an eating disorder, a qualified mental health professional can usually guide you on the journey to find recovery.

Eating Disorder Diagnosis

For those suffering from eating disorders such as binge eating disorder, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, emotions and a sense of self-worth are directly and disproportionately related to body weight, body image, body shape, and food intake.

Eating disorders affect people of all ages, backgrounds, body weights, and ethnicities.

Binge Eating Disorder

Binge eating disorder anlso referred to as "BED" is an eating disorder with recurrent episodes of consuming large amounts of food in a short period of time, accompanied by a sense of loss of control during the episode.

Those who have been diagnosed with a binge eating disorder often are struggling with an eating stopping point. Their eating habits include eating foods and eating meals unable to stop eating while feeling full.

This inability to stop eating when full leads to gaining weight and cause feelings of =sadness, shame, and powerlessness. This type of binge eating is so frustrating because a person knows to stop, feels full and wants to stop, but there is an obsessive feeling and perpetuating pattern that seems unbreakable.

Anorexia Nervosa

Developing eating disorders of any type usually address disorder symptoms around weight loss or weight gain. People with anorexia nervosa face physical health problems and develop anorexia often times as a way to control feeling out of control.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder affecting young women and men characterized by a need to restriction their food intake. Most eating disorders surround weight and body shape. People with anorexia restrict food leading to significantly low body weight, intense fear of gaining weight, and a distorted body image.

People with anorexia often perceive themselves as overweight, even when they lose weight or are underweight. Healthy eating for an anorexic often encompasses eating habits surrounding a preoccupation with food, their body mass index, and at times an obsessive compulsive disorder focusing on diet aids and calorie intake.

Those with anorexia tend to have favorite places for hiding food and when eating with others you might notice excessive chewing, cutting food into tiny bites and only eat from certain food groups.

Anorexia Nervosa can also be life-threatening if left untreated.

Bulimia Nervosa

Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating, followed by behavioral symptoms such as purging, vomiting, using laxatives, fasting, or excessive exercise to prevent weight gain.

Bulimia nervosa can lead to a range of physical symptoms, physical illnesses and health problems, such as electrolyte imbalances, dehydration, gastrointestinal problems and dental problems.

Mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse often accompany this eating disorder.

In Closing

Eating disorders like a binge eating disorder or anorexia nervosa surround food intake. People with anorexia nervosa, BED, bulimia nervosa, or other eating disorders like rumination disorder or ARFID face health complications and eating problems.

Warning signs of an eating disorder include excessive exercise, skipping meals, excessive weight loss, losing weight, weight control, weight fluctuations, and mood swings.

An eating problem is not an eating disorder. If you see warning signs in family members, friends, or yourself, remember eating disorders like anorexia nervosa are treatable.