bulimia nervosa treatment programs for adults and adolescents

At Galen Hope, we believe in healing the relationship with food and body image with thorough, compassionate care. Our experienced clinicians and registered dieticians are here to help clients struggling with bulimia nervosa in order to live a healthy, happy life.

anorexia vs bulimia nervosa

It can be challenging to understand how anorexia and bulimia nervosa are different, as both include a high drive for thinness and a fear of weight gain. Bulimia, as explained above, involves binge eating, followed by compensatory behaviors such as purging through:

• Misuse of insulin
• Restriction
• Excessive exercise

Anorexia nervosa, on the other hand, encompasses extreme food restriction, a preoccupation with thinness, and a distorted body image, as well as excessive exercise. 

As a result, individuals with anorexia nervosa tend to be at a lower body weight than those with bulimia nervosa. This may be more evident just by appearance and result in others stepping in or confronting the person about being at such a low weight. Additionally, others may be aware of how little the person is eating on a daily basis, which may raise alarm bells. Although there are individuals with anorexia nervosa who purge, they tend to purge relatively small amounts of food.   

When someone with anorexia nervosa says that they binge, it is often a subjective sense of losing control over food and objectively not a large amount of food. For example, an individual with anorexia nervosa may feel like they binged after eating a sandwich or a large bowl of cereal.  While this may have been much more than the anorexia would have wanted them to eat, it is not objectively a true binge.  They may feel great distress over this experience but it is important to differentiate between subjective and objective binges as a part of the diagnostic process. 

As with anorexia, bulimia nervosa is also strongly associated with other types of mental health disorders. Anxiety, depression, mood disorders, substance use disorders, and personality disorders are the most common.

understanding the binge-purge cycle

A binge is defined as when a person eats an amount of food in a discrete period of time that is judged to be more than what is considered normal. For many people who binge, they can eat thousands of calories within a relatively short period of time. Individuals who binge often report feeling “checked out” or dissociated during the binge process and will often eat to the point of being so full that they experience pain. In bulimia nervosa, the binge is followed by some kind of compensatory behavior that allows them to “get rid of” or cancel out the excessive intake of food. This is most typically purging, but can also be intensive exercise, periods of fasting, or use of laxatives.    

Just as being very low weight can have serious medical consequences, so can the binge-purge cycle. In both cases, the behaviors can be hard to stop on your own and often require professional support to help individuals end this destructive cycle. At Galen Hope, we have extensive expertise in the diagnosis and management of eating disorders and help clients do the deep work that will help them achieve a lasting and meaningful recovery.