Eating Disorders: disturbances in eating habits or behaviors that stem from an intense fear of being overweight and a preoccupation with the perception of one's weight & shape 

Binging: overeating

Purging: self-induced vomiting

• "28.8 million Americans will develop an eating disorder in their lifetime" (Deloitte Access Economics, 2020).

• "Prevalence increased from 3.5% to 7.8% between 2000 and 2018" (Galmiche et al., 2019).

• "Hispanic/Latina/o, Black/African American, and Asian Americans are more likely to engage in disordered eating behaviors than their white counterparts" (Simone et al., 2022).

Economic costs of eating disorders report. (2020). Deloitte Access Economics. Retrieved October 16, 2024, from https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/striped/report-economic-costs-of-eating-disorders/. 

Galmiche, M., Déchelotte, P., Lambert, G., & Tavolacci, M. P. (2019). Prevalence of eating disorders over the 2000-2018 period: a systematic literature review. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 109(5), 1402–1413. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqy342 

Morin, A. (2024). Eating disorders. [PowerPoint slides]. Microsoft PowerPoint. https://kodiak.wne.edu/d2l/le/content/114052/viewContent/1695940/View 

Simone, M., Telke, S., Anderson, L. M., Eisenberg, M., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2022). Ethnic/racial and gender differences in disordered eating behavior prevalence trajectories among women and men from adolescence into adulthood. Social Science & Medicine, 294, 114720. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114720 

Audience: Client 

Diagnosis(es)/Condition(s): Eating Disorders & Body dysmorphic disorder 

Age Range/Population: Young Adult & Adult

Purpose: As a form of cognitive behavioral therapy, perceptual retraining allows the client to acknowledge the skewed perceptions they have and retrain the thoughts to demonstrate a more positive reality that would shift distorted behaviors to be healthier. The need for hyperfixation and avoidance will be confronted and exposed to break the cycle, thereby teaching acceptance of the thoughts. The recording allows the client to see themselves as an out of body experience to notice any truths or misrepresentations to get a new view of themselves and how their thoughts are being translated into behaviors.

Instructions: Standing in front of a full-length mirror, record yourself describing your body from head to toe using neutral, objective vocabulary such as colors, shapes, and textures. The description should be able to help someone build a model of your body so subjective words such as fat or ugly would not be used. Time assessing each body part should be equal for each area. As you are working through, consider any urges to avoid any particular areas and when practicing, slowing down on those areas while preoccupied areas should require less focus to have equal pacing throughout the entire scan of the body.

Rationale & Impact on Function: Much of the challenge is having the mental block distorting views of body image; this method will challenge those mentalities to allow the client to form more realistic ideals of their bodies that would in turn, reduce the unhealthy behaviors without the drive of the negative thoughts.

Reference(s): Jacobs, S. (2023). Addressing body image concerns using mirror exposure. Behavioral Psych Studio. Retrieved October 16, 2024, from https://behavioralpsychstudio.com/addressing-body-image-concerns-using-mirror-exposure/ 

Audience: Client 

Diagnosis(es)/Condition(s): Eating Disorders, Body dysmorphic disorder, Anxiety Disorders, Mood Disorders

Age Range/Population: Young Adult & Adult

Purpose: This thought record will allow the client to have documentation of their thoughts and notice the negativity and wrongfulness of the thoughts in proportion to the situation. This will allow clients to look back and notice patterns in their thoughts to attempt to prevent behaviors from occurring when the thoughts are first presented.

Instructions: Following the guide on the instructions sheet, the client will work through each step every time they notice a negative thought presenting itself, the situation in which it occurs, how they are feeling, identifying the distortions, finding ways to transform the negative into positive, and lastly, what result did the process yield.

Rationale & Impact on Function: This intervention will allow clients to notice their negative thoughts and eventually recognize the connections to start to prevent and avoid the negative behaviors that impact their functioning and allow healthier habits to form once the negative distortions are limited/eliminated.

Reference: Ackerman, C.E. (2017). CBT techniques: 25 cognitive behavioral therapy worksheets. PositivePsychology.com. Retrieved October 16, 2024, from https://positivepsychology.com/cbt-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-techniques-worksheets/#9-essential-cbt-techniques-and-tools