What is an eating disorder?
Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses that are neither a "phase" or a choice. They can be harmful, but with the appropriate treatment, recovery is possible.
Whilst there isn't one single cause for an eating disorder to develop, a combination of social, genetic, and psychological factors can increase the chances of one developing in a person. Eating disorders don't discriminate and can happen to anyone, irrespective of age or gender - but they generally begin between 14 and 25 years old.
Characterised by disordered thoughts and actions, many experts believe eating disorders are a form of coping strategy, leading to compulsions in the person that take over their daily life.
Our specialised services support children, young people and adults with an eating disorder, across 3 mental health locations in the UK.
Eating disorders can present in a variety of ways
Since each individual is unique, there could be any number of factors contributing to their eating disorder. Negative life experiences, such as a traumatic event, might contribute to the emergence of an eating disorder. When overwhelming emotions of worry and anxiety arise, an eating disorder serves to temporarily alleviate those feelings by channelling the individual's energy into an unhealthy obsession with food, eating or exercise.
As a result of these varying factors, there is no right or wrong way to have an eating disorder. And, when it comes to diagnosis you may not "check all the boxes" you might assume would confirm an eating disorder. Disordered eating is usually defined by eating behaviours that are detrimental to a person's mental, physical, and emotional health.
Our approach to treating an eating disorder fully depends on the indiviual and thier own needs.
Eating disorders are serious health conditions relating to persistent eating behaviours negatively impacting your health, emotions and your ability to function in normal everyday life. The most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder.
Most eating disorders involve focusing too much on your weight, body shape and food, leading to dangerous eating behaviours. This can significantly impact your body's ability to get the nutrition it needs and eating disorders harm your body including your heart, digestive system, bones, teeth and mouth and can lead to other diseases.
Our multidisciplinary team of experts at Schoen Clinic Chelsea, help you return to healthier eating habits using specialised one-to-one therapies, which can often reverse the serious complications caused by the eating disorder itself.
How our award-winning eating disorder specialists can help
The sooner you receive help for your eating disorder the better your chances of recovery are. Research shows that early intervention (seeking treatment within the first 3 years of the disorder) can have a positive impact on the effectiveness of eating disorder treatment. Eating disorders thrive in isolation so if you are worried that you are developing an eating disorder, or you're worried about a friend or loved one then it's important that you raise your concerns and speak to someone who can help.
At Schoen Clinic we have developed an innovative stepped care model which provides our patients with the right level of support at different points of their journey to recovery.