Introduction to Eating Disorders

A very warm welcome to the course, thank you for joining!

Here we explore definitions of eating disorder, have a think about that term in relation to your professional experiences.

Sounds like a strange question to ask, but its an important starting point for beginning to understand how things can go wrong.

There are a number of myths about eating disorder, which can prevent a constructing working relationship with clients. Its important to dispel those unhelpful myths.

Even more myths about eating disorder, have a think about any additional myths that you have heard of.

Here we look at some of the signs and symptoms to look out for, which may suggest that a person has an eating disorder.

If you are a professional working with clients who have an eating disorder or if you are a family member with a loved one who may have an eating disorder, here are some of the signs in the environment to look out for.

People from all ethnic, cultural backgrounds, people of all nationalities, income brackets and ages can experience eating disorder.

Yes its true, men also experience eating disorders, it's not just young females!

A number of myths about dieting exist which can be very unhelpful and in some cases lead to unhealthy eating practices to lose weight.

A look at the basics of how the body gains weight, loses weight or maintains weight at the current level.

So getting down to business, what is an eating disorder?...what does it consist of?

This is a picture of a young lady who had experienced anorexia nervosa. She shared images of herself so as to try and help prevent other people from experiencing eating disorder.

This is a narrated diagram of the human body which outlines all of the damage that can be done to our body by eating disorder.

So what is Bulimia Nervosa?...here we begin to explore what the diagnosis is and what some of the symptoms are.

Here we look at when binging becomes a 'disorder' often having disastrous impact on the patient's life.

Client's diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder often experience a number of other mental and physical health issues...what we refer to as 'correlates'

Here we describe purging, when a person tries to 'undo' the binging that has taken place by inducing vomiting, diarrhea or other means.

This is a task for you to do either on your own, in pairs, or as a group. You are asked to start thinking about possible causes for eating disorder.

Here are what clinical evidence tells us are some of the causes of eating disorder.

Often used by General Practitioners and health professionals to measure a person's wight in relation to their height to see whether they might be underweight, OK, overweight or obese. In this video we describe how this is used.

Another exercise to help you as an individual, in pairs or in a group begin to explore some of the professional challenges you may have experienced in working with a client/client's experiencing eating disorder.

Here we look at what clinical data tells us about the demographics of eating disorder, how many people experience it, what backgrounds are they often from etc.

Pause the videos at this point for a case study, discuss your answers with colleagues or a family member of appropriate.

Here we look at some of the advantages (pros) of having eating disorder diagnosed by a relevant specialist.

In contrast, here we look at some of the possible disadvantages of having an eating disorder diagnosed. Can you think of any additional pros and cons of diagnosis?

Clinical research tells us about some of the major risk factors for developing an eating disorder. It doesn't mean that if we have any of these risk factors, we will develop an eating disorders, but the higher number of risk factors, statistically, the likelihood of developing eating disorder increases.

Here we look at the basic group of factors related to risk assessment.

There are times where a client with an eating disorder may need to be hospitalized for urgent care or their own health and safety. here we explore some of those indicators to look out for.

Another case study where you are asked to look at the details of a fictitious client who 'may' have an eating disorder. Discuss this case study with a colleague or a group of colleagues and write down your thoughts.

Here you are asked to think about the top 3 challenges you have faced in working with the client group. If you have not yet worked with clients with an eating disorder, have a think about what some of the challenges might be.

Here we discuss the cycle in relation to anorexia and bulimia. many clients with an eating disorder often say that they feel 'trapped' in a vicious cycle. part of the task of helping professionals is to help the client break out of that cycle in a healthy and safe way.

Here we explore helpful and constructive ways to help and support a client or family member who has an eating disorder, based on evidence from clinical practice.

In terms of your professional input in helping and supporting the client towards recovery from eating disorder, here of some of the 'dos'. Have a think about any additional things that you feel are helpful in this regard.

In terms of supporting the client towards recovery, here are some of the practices we need to avoid. Evidence suggests that these [practices often have a negative imapct on the client and their recovery.

Here we explore some of the evidence based interventions for client's with an eating disorder. Its always important to remember that only professionals who are experienced in the treatment of eating disorders should provide treatments and interventions.