Psychoeducation on eating disorders

If you’re a therapist looking for a handout with psychoeducation on eating disorders, including psychoeducation on anorexia, you’re in the right place. 

This guide to psychoeducation on eating disorders gives mental health therapists a brief overview of anorexia, diagnostic information, and a list of benefits of providing psychoeducation on eating disorders. 

You can also download a free worksheet on understanding anorexia to save to your electronic health record (EHR) and share with clients. 

Understanding anorexia

Anorexia nervosa is one of several eating disorders. 

Others include binge-eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), and other specified feeding and eating disorders (OSFED). 

Prevalence of anorexia

Anorexia affects 0.5% of people assigned female at birth (AFAB) over their lifetime, with typical onset between the ages 12 and 25. 

While most common in females, anorexia also affects individuals assigned male at birth.

Diagnostic criteria

The main diagnostic criteria of anorexia nervosa are:

• Extremely restricted eating leading to low body weight, which may be achieved through dieting, fasting, and/or excessive exercise.
• Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, or persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain.
• Distorted body image, which may involve behaviors like excessive weighing, measuring, or looking in the mirror.
• When severely underweight, individuals with anorexia may have depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). 

Clinicians may specify the anorexia is:

• Restricting type (ICD-10 code F50.01): The individual has not engaged in binge eating or purging during the last three months.
• Binge-eating or purging type (ICD-10 code F50.02): The individual has engaged in binge eating or purging behavior in the last three months.
• Mild, moderate, severe, extreme, or in remission or partial remission. 

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Health risks of anorexia

Eating disorders are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality among adolescent females and young women, making psychoeducation on eating disorders especially important.

They can cause significant medical and psychological impacts, including osteoporosis, anemia, developmental delays, mental health conditions, delayed puberty, muscle wasting and weakness, slowed breathing and pulse, heart damage, fatigue, organ failure, and infertility.  

Suicide is also a leading cause of death for people with anorexia nervosa. 

Risk factors

While there is no definitive cause of eating disorders, it is thought that anorexia occurs as a result of biological, environmental, and social factors. 

For example, studies have shown eating disorders may occur in families, and research is underway to determine a genetic factor. 

When providing psychoeducation on anorexia, it’s also important to note that precipitating events like trauma, illness, and loss may trigger the onset of an eating disorder. 

How are eating disorders diagnosed?

Given the medical and psychological risks associated with eating disorders, it is critical to spot the warning signs of eating disorders and to provide clients with psychoeducation on anorexia. 

It can be difficult, however, to spot the warning signs as not every person will have all the symptoms at once. 

Common signs and symptoms of anorexia include:

• Dramatic weight loss
• Wearing layers to either hide weight loss or to stay warm
• Pre-occupation with weight loss, body size, food, calories, dieting, and body image
• Making comments about being “fat”
• Excessive exercise routines, regardless of weather, illness, injury, or fatigue
• Difficulties maintaining body weight 
• Gastrointestinal complaints such as constipation, acid reflux, and nausea
• Secrecy about eating habits
• Abnormal menstruation 

While clients may hide their eating disorders, knowing the signs and symptoms can provide clinicians with the information to assess clients and reach an appropriate diagnosis. 

Clients should also be screened by primary care doctors, who receive psychoeducation on eating disorders and know the signs to look out for. 

Benefits of psychoeducation on eating disorders

Providing psychoeducation on anorexia is critical to help clients understand the diagnosis and receive effective treatment. 

This involves providing critical information about what anorexia may look like, its causes, symptoms, and treatment options. 

The key benefits of providing psychoeducation on eating disorders are:

• Increased understanding of eating disorders and their effects on physical and mental health
• Enhanced self-awareness of behavioral patterns and early warning signs
• Reduced shame and isolation by normalizing the experience and encouraging individuals to seek support
• Early detection and treatment reduces the potential long-term impact of an eating disorder
• Improved coping strategies by teaching clients practical skills to manage stress, difficult emotions, and unhelpful thought patterns, like keeping a thought record and distress tolerance skills

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What is included in the eating disorder worksheets?

The free worksheet can be downloaded at the top of this article and includes psychoeducation on anorexia and other eating disorders—signs, symptoms, risk factors, health impacts, and diagnostic criteria. 

The printable psychoeducation on eating disorders handout can be provided to clients in session to discuss together. 

You can also share it with parents and caregivers of clients to take home and learn on their own.

Sources

• Deliberto, T. (2021). Are you missing eating disorders in your practice? Pollen. 
• American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5-TR. American Psychiatric Association Publishing. 
• Baker, A. (n.d.). What is the difference between disordered eating and eating disorders? National Eating Disorders Association. 
• John Hopkins Medicine. (n.d.). Frequently asked questions about eating disorders.
• National Eating Disorders Association. (n.d.). Warning Signs and Symptoms. 
• National Institutes of Mental Health. Eating disorders: What you need to know. 
• Pritts, S, D., & Susman, J. (2003). Diagnosis of eating disorders in primary care. American Family Physician.

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