Are EDs 'addictions'?

I know that a lot of people subscribe to the 'Eating Disorders are Addictions' idea, but is there anyone (like me) that doesn't agree with this?

I hear professionals and other eating disordered people automatically talk about EDs as though they are addictions, which i find hard to relate to.

Anyone else?

Hmm, just me then

This board is rather slow.

I told my therapist that if it's an addiction I just have to avoid it. She didn't care for that. So I asked her not to say that again. I have yet to explain to her that withdraw happens from eating to not eating, So if anything it's the other way around, everyone else is addicted and I am not. I've found it to be a chemical issue with a behavioral component. I tend to 'relapse' when my bipolar is not under control. So no I don't feel it's an addiction and for some reason it really offends me when they are compared.

I have never seen the word "addiction" applied to ED, but I have seen a lot of mentions of "food addictions".

A brilliant critique of the concept of "food addiction" is provided here:

Food addiction, natural rewards, and self-fulfilling prophecies.

The author of the blog is not only brilliant, but also witty, pretty, and a good writer so I hope that you will enjoy reading her opinion.

The "addiction" concept is over-applied in general to many areas of life to which it should not be applied or even if it should, it should be applied very cautiously and narrowly - sex is another example.

So if you do not like thinking of your ED as an addiction, there is absolutely no good reason you should force yourself into this line of thinking.

Agreed.

To be honest, I don't know what I think my ED is. I know that I have a hell of a time with it. Sometimes I think it must be an addiction, because it's cunning, baffling, and powerful, just like other addictions (alcohol, drugs) that I've struggled with and overcome. But then I have to find a relationship with it because I can't just stop eating. So it doesn't fit the normal addiction 'recovery' scenario.

I believe that you should identify with it in whichever way feels natural for you. There is no right or wrong. Some people find recovery one way, some people find it another, and then there's everything in between.

Thanks everyone for your replies

It's a discussion that my Therapist and I have had a few times, and i think that this is something that we will have to agree to disagree on!

I wouldn't say that the ED is an addiction, but I absolutely believe that sugar is an addiction. I tend to binge on items with a lot of sugar. I know some people also binge on other foods but I believe that if I stopped eating sugar, I would have a better chance of overcoming binge eating. I have heard one person say they would also binge on healthy foods like carrot sticks and celery but I find them too bland to get satisfaction from bingeing on them. But I HAVE binged on granola, bread, quesadillas etc. but those are carb heavy foods. So I think I need to work on cutting out sugar and a lot of carb heavy foods.

Eating's Disorder is a disease. not an addiction hope that helps..

cutting out something may bring out a desire to eat the item(s) you have cut out, and then people interpret this desire, which is completely normal, as a craving, or, worse, a sign of addiction.

Why don't you try eating a balanced diet instead?

Yes, if you are otherwise happy with the Therapist.

If you are not, you may need a new therapist, because in and of itself subscribing to the idea that ED's are addictions, and, moreover, pushing the idea on you, are unprofessional, in my opinion.

I can kind of understand the use of the term. My pain specialist defines the term addiction of the pain medications when you want more & more of the medication because of the feeling that you get from it.

I can sort of apply that thinking to when I start loosing weight from not eating. I love the feeling I get when I see the weight dropping on the scales or when I see my cloths fitting looser & looser. At the beginning, the feeling of being hungry & not eating ends up feeling good because the achievement of weight loss. Only thing is that after a short while.....there is no feeling of being hungry any longer & it becomes the getting that good feeling from looking at the scales & watching the weight go down.

That is really about the only possible connection to the term addiction & anorexia.

I can understand the term for over-eating in some cases....I know that I have a friend who eats because the food gives her a comfort feeling.

Addictions are about doing something that is harmful to yourself over & over because you like the feeling you get from it to the harm of your body.....that's the definition pain specialists give to the term addiction.

There are so many things that go into ED's ......addiction is definitely NOT THE CAUSE but it may be a feeling that one gets along with the behavior.

Thanks everybody,
Its certainly an interesting one isnt it.

i am definitely happy with my therapist in every other way, and will happily over look this difference in opinion.

Eskielover- i am the same in regards to the euphoria almost, that i get when i see the scale go down, or knowing that i am making it head in that direction.
BUt in my binges, i definitely see the addiction to sugar.
But, as someone else pointed out, your body will crave what you dont give it-thats not an addiction, thats natural.

I believe it's an addiction AND a disease.

When you are in the pure ED mindset, you act the way you know of your addiction (I know for me) relapse is quick to get your mind addicted back 110%..

I have some ED issues. I don't think it's an addiction - I think it's a set of habits, and I need to break them and form different ones.

To me, ED is a broad term. But, more specifically, Bulimia really relates to "food addiction". I don't want the weight gain that comes with it... and I keep doing it. So, that's why many people associate bulimia's loss of control/emotional effects of addiction. If it makes you uncomfortable for them to say this, and if you do'nt believe it, you don't have to agree.

To me, it's not just "a habit", it's something that ruined many things in my life, to me, it's an addiction

You have a point there but there are some cases we can also consider it as an addiction, or shall we say it is sort of a habit. Though we have our own opinion on certain things, but one thing we all know, eating disorder is not good for us.

yeah, i have mixed feelings as to whether or not the food thing is the same as addiction. I got help with my alcoholism thru AA; however when I tried a similar program for ED, it mad things worse for me.

In my opinion this question is similar to the chicken or the egg... there isn't a clear cut answer. There is one very big difference between the two however. With an addiction to drugs let's say, people in recovery need to avoid that substance. With eating disorders, we can't avoid food - we need it to live. An addiction is locking a tiger in a cage; an eating disoder is taking the tiger out of the cage and taking it for a walk three or more times a day.

I would say that food can become an addiction, but I've always felt eating disorders are more of an obsessive thing and to me, obsessive behaviours/ways of thinking are different from physical addictions. Everyone has their own ways of thinking, feeling, describing things to others, so I guess you will always have to agree to disagree at times.
You know in yourself what an eating disorder is to you and that's all that matters.

I definitely believe that it is completely dependent on why someone began disordered eating in the first place, and what type of disordered eating it is.

Personally, I consider my anorexia an addiction. Just as people that go through AA do not drink afterward (most commonly), and may struggle daily to abstain from a drink, I will also struggle every day to not abstain from food.

I do not binge, and I do not have a dysmorphic body image. I did not become anorexic thinking I was fat. I became anorexic as a result of other misery. I am addicted to the way my body reacts when I do not eat, the feeling. Emptiness. Free from the human constraint of having to eat, having to do something. I don't eat when I feel stressed, and I don't eat when I feel like I have no control. Anorexia is often my last subconscious stand for some control, as sometimes that's the only thing left that I have any choice over.

I feel, now, that it is split between this control factor, knowing I like feel empty over full, and over-reacting to stress because of anxiety/depression/mood disorders in a very even way. The feeling is addicting. It is simple. Things are easier in many ways. I'm not controlled by food or cravings. It's not food I am addicted to, it is the backwards high I get from not eating it.

For others, anorexia is not something they have such control over, and therefore I can see it not being an addiction, because there is no choice. In all addiction, there is still choice, even if it's one bad decision after another perpetuating that addiction. If there is no choice, I don't see how one could consider it an addiction. It just depends on your background, your impetus. Just because you do something repeatedly and often doesn't mean you're addicted anyway.

If your eating disorder is a common subject in therapy and you and your therapist don't see eye to eye on this perspective, I would consider finding another one. For example - I really don't have an addictive personality - For about a year or more I smoked probably two cigarettes a day at least, generally around the same time. When I decided I was really not being healthy doing that and was spending a ton of money on nothing, I just stopped. Personally, I was never addicted to cigarettes, luckily, but I simply enjoyed smoking them, taking that break to get away for a second. I never got withdrawal or moody or any of that. I would also be extremely upset if a doctor presumed to tell me that I really was addicted and wasn't facing facts and that now I must avoid cigarettes for the rest of my life. This would denote a misunderstanding of me as a whole in my eyes. That's just me. Everyone is different.