How to Take a Self-Test for Eating Disorders

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Dr. David Thomas. I'm a practicing psychotherapist with the Whitford Thomas Group in Tampa, Florida here to discuss how to take a self test for eating disorders. When we think of eating disorders at least I think of two basic eating disorders. You have anorexia which is where one starves themselves and probably the more famous anorexic certainly that I'm familiar with is Karen Carpenter and there is another young lady who used to star with Paris Hilton in some sitcom unfortunately Lionel Ritchie's daughter, I don't know her first name, can't remember her first name, but she is another one that we have kind of noticed in the media so this anorexic is one type of eating disorder. The other eating disorder is bulimia and that is where often times individuals will eat excessive amounts of food kind of, and then purge it and go to the bathroom or the restroom and throw it up so those are the two basic types of eating, major types of eating disorders. So what's a self test? I'm not really sure as far as self tests but I think more than anything else people around you begin to notice either the weight loss or the tendency to eat very large volumes of food and then leave the area fairly quickly to purge it. As far as a self test I think often times your first self test is really noticed by other people. Other self tests is that you tend to become very moody based upon your appearance, your own self image, that you tend to have some equations such as the only way that I can be accepted or loved by others is if I look a certain way, often times this kind of perfect shape. One other self help test you can begin to use regarding eating disorders, I think if you find yourself losing a significant amount of pounds, becoming almost obsessed with the idea of eating or not eating are probably pretty good indicators regarding an eating disorder as well. An eating disorder is really a disorder related to your own self acceptance. It is not about your looks, it is not about your weight, it is about your own ability to accept yourself and I think that is the area when you are talking about eating disorders that you want to be most concerned about. If you have some questions make an appointment with a therapist, my preference is a cognitive behavior therapist but certainly go talk to somebody about that. I hope this information has been helpful. From Tampa, Florida I'm Dr. David Thomas."