Do you wonder...
Why am I so anxious?
There are four primary ways we develop clinical anxiety – we call these “vehicles of acquisition.“
We explore your vehicles of acquisition to create the most effective treatment path. Then, we get to work.
Anorexia nervosa is a commonly known eating disorder characterized by restriction of energy intake relative to the body’s needs, accompanied by an intense fear of weight gain and behaviors that interfere with weight gain. Those of us with anorexia nervosa are disturbed by our body weight or shape, our self-worth is often tied up in weight or shape, and we may struggle to recognize the seriousness of our low body weight.
Disordered eating is a category of disorders in which behavioral patterns of eating are disrupted and thus considered abnormal, this disruption in behavior looks different for different people.
When our eating patterns are disordered, we exhibit an intense focus on food and experience impairment in important areas of our life. In other words, our world seems to revolve around food, and life gets small.
In a 2004 study of 672 women with reported eating disorders, 64% had at least one diagnosable anxiety disorder. Because disordered eating often arises alongside anxiety disorders, best practices for care demands we attend to this specific flavor of suffering. Ultimately, if your care requires a higher level of care than we can provide, we will connect you with one of our Disordered Eating Specialty partners.
Bulimia nervosa is characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating. Binge eating is a pattern of eating where, over a 2 hour period, an amount of food is consumed that is clearly larger than would be consumed in similar circumstances and similar conditions. A key factor of binge eating is the feeling that one cannot stop.
A diagnosis of bulimia nervosa also requires compensatory behaviors designed to prevent weight gain (e.g. vomiting, misuse of laxatives, excessive exercising, etc.). All of these criteria must be present at least twice a week for a period of three months. Similar to anorexia nervosa, our self-worth is often wrapped up in our weight or shape for those of us with bulimia nervosa.
The DSM-5 lists the following as criteria for a Binge Eating Disorder diagnosis: Recurrent episodes of binge eating, described as both:
These episodes are accompanied by three or more of the following:
There is considerable distress associated with these behaviors, and they occur at lest once a month for 3 months.
We want you to get the treatment you need; if cost for our services is prohibitive, please make use of the free or low-cost resources listed through The National Eating Disorder Foundation.
Please check back at WCA for future development of our low-cost Internship Program.
There are four primary ways we develop clinical anxiety – we call these “vehicles of acquisition.“
We explore your vehicles of acquisition to create the most effective treatment path. Then, we get to work.
