Disordered eating program

We at Compass Point have a specialized treatment team to provide outpatient services for children, adolescents, and adults. We help our clients and families find better ways of managing symptoms and discover the issues that underlie and sustain the disorder. Each member of our team uses a different evidence based practice, individualized and tailored to address the specific symptoms and needs of our clients. Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Emotional Brain Training (EBT), family therapy, nutritional education, as well as other proven effective treatment modalities are employed to meet the goals of each client.

​Could you or someone you know have an eating disorder?

In order to answer that question, one has to know what they should be looking for. The word “disorder,” in and of itself is used to draw attention to a pattern in one’s life that causes significant distress, disability, and/or a risk of loss. When one is thought to have an eating disorder, his/her thoughts, emotions, and behaviors surrounding weight, food, and body shape are extreme and likely to cause impairment in their daily lives. Eating disorders are often a dangerous response to stress, and/or the need to control when feeling powerless or helpless.

​Common Eating Disorders

Anorexia

Characterized by refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height.
  • Denial that there is any problem
  • Dramatic weight loss in short period
  • Exaggerated and intense fears of becoming overweight
  • Preoccupation with calories, food and weight
  • Restricting food for prolonged periods
  • Inability to stop dieting even when below normal weight
  • Distorted body image or seeing oneself as fat even with evidence to the contrary
  • Constant weighing of oneself throughout the day
  • Increased isolation from family or friends​
  • Isolative behavior concerning food and exercise – may stop eating in front of others
  • Increased prolonged periods of exercise for purpose of burning calories
  • Increased dishonesty with self and others over eating and exercise habits
  • Frequent arguments with others regarding eating habits
  • Increased mood swings
  • Self esteem and confidence levels drop
  • Increased body hair as thermal insulator for body’s decreasing ability to stay warm
  • Strong feelings of being in control of oneself
Anorexia can cause many health problems:
  • Changes in metabolism
  • Chronic low temperature
  • For women, loss of menses
  • Drop in blood pressure
  • Dizziness and weakness from malnutrition
  • Body begins feeding itself off muscle tissue and storing fat
  • Heart complications
  • Vitamin and Mineral deficiencies
  • If untreated, Anorexia can cause premature death from starvation

Bulimia

Characterized by eating, in a discrete period of time, an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat during a similar period of time and under similar circumstances while exhibiting a lack of control over eating during the episode; during the current episode the person regularly engages in self induced vomiting, the misuse of laxatives, diuretics, enemas, or other inappropriate compensatory behaviors such as fasting or excessive exercise.
  • Episodes of binge eating large quantities of food followed by a compensatory behavior
  • Increasing isolation for purpose of binging and purging
  • Obsessive thoughts of food, calories, weight, binging and purging
  • Periods of restricting food accompany the plan to binge and purge
  • Increase in mood swings
  • Self esteem and self confidence falls
  • Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness
  • Intense fears of becoming fat and feeling fat
  • Body distortion
  • Denial that there is a problem
  • Normal weight
Bulimia causes many health problems:
  • Possible hair loss
  • For women, loss of menses
  • Stomach and digestive problems
  • Dental problems
  • Electrolyte imbalances, low potassium
  • Physical dependency on laxatives
  • Possible irreversible damage to intestines
  • Internal bleeding from purging
  • Possible dehydration
  • Heart complications
  • There can always be the potential of serious complications resulting in illness and death

Compulsive Overeating*

characterized by eating, in a discrete period of time, an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat during a similar period of time and under similar circumstances while exhibiting a lack of control over eating during the episode; no compensatory behavior is performed.
  • Binge eating large quantities of food
  • Constant grazing of food throughout the day
  • Obsessive type thoughts of food, meals, and the desire to lose weight
  • Continued weight gain over time
  • Sometimes obsessive with the scale or weighing oneself
  • Inability to remain on a healthy meal plan without binging episodes
  • Failed attempts to lose weight through various weight-loss diets
  • Marked decrease in self-esteem or self-confident
  • Possible mood swings
  • Increased feelings of hopelessness or despair
​Excess weight can cause many health problems:
  • Strain on the heart
  • Increase in blood pressure
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Stress on joints, particularly knees
  • Increased risk of diabetes
  • Fatigue and decreased energy levels
  • Changes in metabolism
  • Premature death

*not yet recognized in the DSM-IV as a mental disorder*not yet recognized in the DSM-IV as a mental disorder
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