Why do some people “want” eating disorders?

This girl on my Facebook wants an eating disorder and she keeps claiming she has one yet every time she goes to the hospital they turn her away and say she doesn’t have one. I always thought people with eating disorders didn’t seek treatment yet she is constantly trying to get admitted. She is very overweight and I’m wondering if she just has self esteem issues. But I don’t get why anyone would want an ED.

It probably isn't that she "wants" to have an eating disorder. You said she is very overweight? She may suffer from depression and anxiety and is compensating for her feeling empty by over eating where she is gaining weight. She most likely is seeing this as an eating disorder when typically an eating disorder is when a person is not allowing themselves to eat and is dropping a lot of weight.

Of course I don't really have any idea what's going on with this girl on Facebook. However one possibility, I suppose, might be that she has what is referred to as a factitious disorder. Here's a link to the Mayo Clinic's description of this disorder just in case you're not familiar with it:

Factitious disorder - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic

I don’t think anyone actually wants one of those. I have a friend who died from hers in May. It was completely out of her control.
If the girl is very overweight she may have a binge eating problem, which is an actual eating disorder. But if the hospitals are turning her away then maybe she is just very desperate for help and seeking that help in wrong place. I hope one day she gets what she needs to heal.

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Originally Posted by Open Eyes It probably isn't that she "wants" to have an eating disorder. You said she is very overweight? She may suffer from depression and anxiety and is compensating for her feeling empty by over eating where she is gaining weight. She most likely is seeing this as an eating disorder when typically an eating disorder is when a person is not allowing themselves to eat and is dropping a lot of weight.

Actually in the ED treatment hospital I was in they consider overeating & undereating & bulimia to ALL be eating disorders.

There are lots if underlying REAL reasons for all ED's that are the cause. The issue comes that unless you meet the DSM specifications whichever you are dealing with you do not get the DX. It is either diagnosed as as EDNOS (eating disorder not otherwise specifiec) or just called disordered eating.

They will not hospitalize unless the criteria is met because otherwise insurance won't cover the stay.

Sounds like she knows she needs & wants help & knows you usually need a dx to get help sl she is grasping at the label of ED to try to get that help. Sounds like she should try finding a good therapist who can work with her on her underlying issues that are causing her to over eat. Just like those of us who have struggled with anorexia needed to focus on the cause NOT the symptoms.

As @Open Eyes and @eskielover mentioned, binge eating disorder is an eating disorder. There are also eating disorders that are nonspecified. Anorexia and bulimia are not the only eating disorders, just the only ones that get attention a lot of the time. I have an eating disorder but I am not super skinny. I have binge eating disorder, although it's in remission mostly. I developed it as an older teen/late adult after episodes of starvation as a kid.

She probably has some very real problems but doesn't meet the full criteria yet. Or maybe she does, but just doesn't know how to explain her symptoms to the doctor. Again, another reason we need better diagnostic tools, ones developed in conjunction with patients, for mental health assessments.

Hi @Mountaindewed

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Originally Posted by Mountaindewed This girl on my Facebook wants an eating disorder and she keeps claiming she has one yet every time she goes to the hospital they turn her away and say she doesn’t have one.

What makes you think she wants an eating disorder vs being diagnosed with one? Just because she isnt hospitalized doesnt mean she does not have an eating disorder. I do not believe I had the mental disorder that goes hand and hand with bulimia but in high school I couldnt stop binge eating and forced myself to purge. I was fully aware of what I was doing and only trying it so I could binge. I was hospitalized when I was 16 due to bipolar and the docs focused on me wanting to purge vs why I binged. In the end i stopped on my own and was never diagnosed with an eating disorder. I do not think we can base someone having an ED based on whether they willingly or unwillingly get treatment or diagnosis for it.

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I always thought people with eating disorders didn’t seek treatment yet she is constantly trying to get admitted. She is very overweight and I’m wondering if she just has self esteem issues. But I don’t get why anyone would want an ED.

I mean no disrespect here but since when did the criteria for an ED include not wanting treatment? I know many people with severe ED's that want treatment but the mental disorder part will not allow them to get it or they try it, go into remission and relapse-no matter how much they did or did not want help. I do not think anyone with an ED wants it and if she is overweight she has some sort of disordered eating-unless she has a medical condition.

I used to know her personally and in the past she has always wanted a lot of mental and medical diseases and disorders. She’s constantly in emergency rooms and being admitted to the hospitals for vague issues and then being released when nothing is found. Just based on her recent Facebook posts she seems like she wants something to be very wrong with her.

There is a whole sub-culture on the internet which actually encourages young girls to purposely develop anorexia and bulimia. Websites and Facebook pages of the like even explain to these girls the hows to achieving this end. What is happening here is that they are preying on the most vulnerable - those young girls (and occasionally men) already in possession of poor body image, confidence, and self-esteem. These people encouraging such steps rely upon the unrealistic unattainable ideals of body image that hammer women and girls of all ages as being what they ought to appear as. As long as we have waifs of models and celebrities shoved down the throats of the young and vulnerable this is going to happen - that they wish they were sick enough to have an all out disorder. It is my understanding that for a true eating disorder, it is a matter of control. Those that develop them generally have no control in their lives - their eating habits are the one thing they can manage to do so. They don't particularly want to have an ED, for them it is a manner of self-medicating another problem much as any addiction starts out as.

Like others have said she could well have an eating disorder. Having spent time in a clinic for this it's not just about the numbers. Some people don't want to get help initially but that's part of the the disorder. Others do seek treatment. If she wants a proper diagnosis she may need to see a registered Psychologist or Psychiatrist.

Nobody wants an eating disorder.

Now other people are calling her out on Facebook. If she wasn’t doing this just for attention then why is she posting pictures of her liquid diets and Ensures and stuff and saying things like “this is going to be my best friend for awhile?” She’s attention seeking.

And the people getting upset at her are the people who have legit ED’s.