Not managing the ADHD usually leads to treatment failure. Knowing how the eating disorder is affected by ADHD symptoms, and how it, in turn, affects ADHD symptoms, must be central to treatment. When a sufferer also has ADHD, seeing treatment through an ADHD lens is essential. Treatment requires a team - usually a psychologist, nutritionist, physician, psychiatrist, and, most often, a family/couples therapist. Treatment Game PlanĮating disorders are complicated. Starving the body to keep maturity at bay is an unconscious expression of the wish to delay growing up. Individuals with ADHD, due to executive function problems, find that tending to careers, relationships, and money management are difficult to do. Starvation is an expression of arrested development. It has been widely reported that individuals who struggle with AN often fear becoming adults and taking on adult responsibilities. After hearing that for so long, I started believing it myself.” Everyone thought I was either not trying hard enough or was stupid. Back then, there was no support or recognition of ADHD. I was constantly overwhelmed and getting nothing done. I felt like a headless chicken in my younger years. Tyra, 44, who has struggled with anorexia since she was 15, says, “Controlling my weight is my only success. A hyperfocus on food may be appealing to individuals with ADHD, since it simplifies their thinking about the subject. They read cookbooks and watch food shows. Although anorexic people eat very little, they are obsessed with food. Individuals with ADHD take an all-or-nothing approach in decision-making. Patients with ADHD and anorexia have stated that information on proper portions and healthy foods leaves them overwhelmed. The risk factors for AN are also more significant for people with ADHD. Both binge-eaters and people with ADHD have trouble heeding their internal cues of satiety and hunger. Eating is used as an unhealthy outlet to take control of their lives. People with ADHD who feel inadequate and incompetent turn to food as a source of comfort. Eating is stimulating, so when sufferers feel “empty” emotionally, food fills the gap.
It’s an abusive relationship.”įor bulimics, food is self-medication for anxiety, stress, anger, and boredom. It makes me feel worthless, which makes me turn to food again. I hate what binge eating does to my weight. As hard as I try to prevent a binge, it is like driving over the same pothole that blows out your tires every day. Haley, 28, compares it to a drug problem. This combination sets the stage for binge eating. Many people with ADHD have poor impulse control and find it hard to regulate their emotions. Another empirical study found that 11 percent of women with ADHD, compared to 1 percent of women without, reported a history of bulimia nervosa. A study conducted at Harvard Medical School, in 2007, found that girls with ADHD were almost four times more likely to have an eating disorder than those without ADHD. Research has demonstrated that individuals with ADHD have a greater risk for developing binge eating disorder or bulimia nervosa than their peers without ADHD. Binge eating disorder (BED) is characterized by binge eating episodes without the purging behaviors that are present in bulimia. Due to feelings of self-loathing and anxiety after the binge, bulimic individuals compensate for it through self-induced vomiting, laxative use, excessive exercise, fasting, or the use of diuretics to prevent weight gain. A binge is defined as uncontrollably eating a large amount of food in a short period, compared with what most people eat. Bulimia nervosa (BN) is marked by recurrent binge-eating episodes. Anorexic individuals are fearful of gaining weight, especially in the form of body fat.
Although eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, have been recognized for many years, their association with ADHD is relatively new.Īs most of you know, anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterized by restricting food intake (sometimes to the point of starvation) leading to a low, unhealthy body weight. He swears he will never binge and purge again, something he has told himself for 10 years.Īpproximately 20 million women and 10 million men suffer from a significant eating disorder at some time in their lives. His numbness after such a binge turns into frustration and disgust. Along the way and later at home, he might order and eat four hamburgers, four orders of French fries, a pizza, two bags of potato chips, two gallons of ice cream, and a dozen cupcakes. He makes several stops on his way home from work. David, 35, feels that the only thing that gives him relief from his ADHD chaos is food.