Key Takeaways
- Shared Features: Both conditions involve repetitive behaviours. OCD typically involves compulsions (repetitive behaviours) and obsessions (intrusive thoughts), while Eating Disorders often feature repetitive eating patterns and obsessive thoughts about body image and weight.
- Underlying Mechanisms: Similar underlying mechanisms, such as heightened anxiety and difficulties with impulse control, may contribute to the development and maintenance of both OCD and Eating Disorders.
- Treatment Implications: Approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) have been effective in treating both OCD and certain types of Eating Disorders.
OCD and Characteristics
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a mental health condition characterised by specific behaviour patterns. These patterns involve obsessions (uncontrollable thoughts and fears) and compulsions (subsequent repetitive behaviours). Trying to ignore obsessive thoughts is often ineffective and only increases anxiety and distress in people with OCD. To ease their stress, these individuals perform certain compulsive actions. This results in ritualistic behaviours that may interfere with their everyday tasks.
OCD obsessions are unwanted, repeated, and persistent thoughts, images, or urges. Intrusive thoughts interfere with the person’s daily life, causing considerable distress and anxiety. The most common obsessive thoughts in OCD fit the following patterns:
- Excessive fear of germs and contamination
- Disturbing images or thoughts about taboo topics, such as sex or religion
- Thoughts of self-harm or inflicting physical harm on others
- A desire for perfect symmetry and organisation of items in the person’s surroundings
These obsessive thoughts compel people with OCD to perform certain forms of compulsive behaviour that bring temporary relief from anxiety. Common OCD compulsions include the following:
- Washing hands until they become raw, chapped, and even bleeding
- Checking on things over and over again (for example, making sure the stove is off or the door is locked)
- Arranging objects symmetrically and feeling intense anxiety if they aren’t properly aligned
- Silently or internally repeating a certain word, phrase, or prayer
Eating Disorders and Characteristics
Eating disorders are a group of mental health conditions characterised by an unhealthy relationship with body image and food and often include a fear of weight gain. Individuals may restrict their food intake by indulging in unhealthy rituals, such as bingeing, self-induced vomiting, excessive exercising, and misusing dietary supplements.
People with eating disorders usually struggle with low self-esteem and co-occurring mental health challenges, such as depression and anxiety. Young individuals in their teenage years are the most vulnerable to eating disorders, but eating disorders can impact anyone at any age and of any gender.
Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia nervosa, also known simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder that concerns restricting food. People may restrict food to attain weight loss through activities like strict dieting and fasting. On the other hand, purging leads to recurrent periods of excessive exercise, misusing laxatives, and in some cases, self-induced vomiting.
Bulimia Nervosa
Bulimia nervosa, or bulimia, is an eating disorder characterised by episodes of excessive eating in a short amount of time (binge eating) followed by purging, such as self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise, and misuse of laxatives. Some individuals may also use fasting as a method of purging after a period of eating large amounts of food.
Binge Eating
Binge eating disorder (BED) is a mental health condition involving recurrent periods of excessive eating without any compensatory behaviours. During a binge eating episode, a person may eat large amounts of food despite not feeling physical hunger. After these episodes, people with BED tend to feel ashamed, guilty, and depressed. Like other eating disorders, individuals can develop a binge eating disorder as a way to cope with various forms of emotional distress and trauma.
Overlapping Symptoms
Although these conditions are regarded as separate, eating disorders co-occur with obsessive-compulsive disorder in many cases. OCD and eating disorders have more overlapping characteristics than people are usually aware of. Obsessive thoughts resulting in harmful behaviour patterns are the main characteristic of both eating disorders and OCD. OCD’s cyclical concept of obsessions (repetitive, intrusive thoughts and impulses) and compulsion (ritualistic activities performed as a response to them) can be applied to most eating disorders.
The disruptive thoughts in people with eating disorders are primarily related to their body image and food intake. For example, the individual becomes preoccupied with the possibility of gaining weight and indulges in harmful compulsive behaviours as a response to repetitive thoughts. All in all, obsessive-compulsive behaviours can act as the enforcer of unhealthy eating habits. Below are listed the similarities between symptoms of OCD and the most common eating disorders:
- OCD and anorexia share perfectionism as their vital component. Perfectionism tendencies lead individuals to aim for unrealistically high goals, making their sense of self-worth reliant on achieving them.
- OCD and bulimia both revolve around ritualistic behaviours. The OCD-related tendency towards ritualistic actions gives way to the repetitive eating behaviours linked to bulimia. This is the basis of the binging and purging cycles of individuals with bulimia.
- OCD and binge-eating disorder share the concept of compulsion. In their binging episodes, people with BED may feel like they lose control over the amount of food they consume. Compulsive behaviour also serves as a coping mechanism for emotional distress in people with OCD.
Overlapping Behaviours
Similar to OCD, obsessions caused by eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia, and BED cause intense anxiety that can only be relieved by certain compulsions. In people with anorexia and bulimia, compulsive behaviours are characterised by a ritualistic approach to food intake, such as carefully selecting, preparing, and eventually consuming food. These activities are driven and strengthened by specific personality traits, such as perfectionism, rigidity, and low self-esteem.
People with OCD and eating disorders often experience cognitive distortions, such as thinking in extremes and overvalued ideations. For example, individuals with bulimia feel intense guilt and shame after their periods of overeating. Therefore, they compensate by purging the food they have consumed, which continues the cycle of unhealthy eating habits. With the right support, people can overcome OCD and eating disorders, transforming their life.
Psychosocial Factors Contributing to the Co-occurrence of OCD and Eating Disorders
The factors leading to unhealthy eating patterns can lie in internal or interpersonal issues. Psychological triggers for anorexia, bulimia, BED, and other mental health challenges related to eating habits include low self-esteem, social isolation, feelings of incompetence, and anxiety. Interpersonal triggers involve difficult relationships with family members, bullying, and a history of physical or sexual abuse. In the case of eating disorders, people experience food-related obsessive-compulsive cycles of behaviour as an attempt to cope with certain overwhelming emotions. Actions like bingeing, purging, and excessive exercising can serve as a way to compensate for mental distress and seemingly establish control of one’s life. Eating disorders and OCD are closely linked and are both complex mental health challenges. OCD symptoms, such as compulsive behaviours, are similar to symptoms of an eating disorder.
Social and cultural influences shape a person’s perception of their own body shape and weight. For example, Western cultures promote narrow definitions of beauty and glorify thinness. Teenagers are at the highest risk of internalising this message and developing a distorted body image.
Treatment Approaches and Strategies
Treating OCD and eating disorders as co-occurring conditions can be a complicated process. Fortunately, humanised treatment methods for OCD and eating disorders are accessible. Individuals can also benefit from prescribed medications and mental health counselling.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most popular treatment methods for eating disorders and OCD. CBT encompasses a combination of talk therapy and mental exercises outlined by a specialist. This type of therapy encourages people to unlearn obsessive thought patterns and harmful behaviours.
Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is another standard therapy method. This type of therapy exposes the person to stimuli causing obsessive thoughts and then prevents them from engaging in compulsive behaviour. Through exposure and response prevention, the individual becomes more comfortable with not acting on their compulsions. Our trained clinicians at Unique Community Services can help people with eating disorders and OCD in their journey of recovery.
Find Support and Humanised Care with Unique Community Services
At Unique Community Services, we aim to reshape the approach to supporting people with eating disorders and OCD by dismantling stigma. Our clinicians deliver humanised assistance to individuals with OCD and eating disorders in their own homes. This way, we avoid the stressful instances of hospitalisation and help individuals stay in their familiar surroundings, close to their family members.
Our impact-driven team works closely with family members and healthcare professionals to discern the individual’s needs and preferences. We create person-centred care plans focused on preventing health risks and medical complications while respecting the individual’s privacy, dignity, and personal boundaries.
If you need a high-standard home care provider for a loved one with obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorders, Unique Community Services is the right place for you. We provide CQC-regulated support across the UK, with offices in Manchester and Bristol.
Contact us now, and we will outline a personalised care plan catering to your specific needs.
