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What Is An Eating Disorder?

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In most cases of eating disorders, the struggler is dealing with a two- fold problem.

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The first is an emotional hurt and the second is the manifestation of that pain in the form of not eating (or binging or purging). By becoming so obsessed with food and not eating, the struggler can focus on something aside from the deeper, inner pain that she can think of no other way to deal with. While this is obviously not a healthy way to cope with emotional problems, to the struggler, being anorexic/bulimic serves as a narcotic as her true pain is negated considering her new obsession. Therefore, when treating an eating disorder, the recovery process must be two-fold. The fact that a young woman is not eating, is a symptom of emotional pain. Since the symptom can lead to death, it is important that the symptom be ministered to even before the actual cause- the emotional pain- is located and treated.