Therapy Toronto Psychotherapy Definitions

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Beth Stevenson (midtown Toronto)

Chris Rookwood (midtown Toronto)

Christine Werbski (the Annex)

Susie Costello (the Danforth)

Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are complex conditions that arise from a combination of long-standing psychological, interpersonal, and social conditions.

While eating disorders may begin with preoccupations with food and weight, they are about much more than food.

People with eating disorders use food, and the control of food, in an attempt to compensate for feelings and emotions that may otherwise seem over-whelming.

Eating disorders are a collection of symptoms with varying degrees of severity. It includes obsessive thoughts about food, weight and body size, self-starvation, binging, purging, use of laxatives and diuretics, compulsive exercise. People with eating disorders can go undetected for years because of the veil of secrecy that surrounds the person's relationship with food and their body. They are unlikely to speak to anyone about it for fear of judgment or intervention.

Eating disorders include Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Compulsive or Emotional Overeating.

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