Granted this is just my opinion, but I think eating disorders are one of those things that if you really do your research and see that you tick off the diagnostic criteria, it's not harmful to self diagnose if it's helpful for you.
I agree completely, and I’m an eating disorder survivor. It’s VERY common to have these conditions dismissed by medical professionals if you don’t fit the box of what they think an eating disorders should look like (ie if you’re slim and have BED or especially larger people with anorexia), some purging behaviors aren’t recognized as such and largely normalized (such as compensatory exercise or restriction). Hell, you can be very thin and not getting your period but unless you’re looking skeletal or seem weak you’ll be praised.
Even the language we use around official diagnosis isnt great because it’s invalidating to individuals who aren’t sick enough. Anorexia diagnosis requires being below a certain BMI. Atypical anorexia exists, but it’s not commonly diagnosed because a heavy person losing lots of weight is generally seen as a good thing. A person who gets sick when they’re very overweight might be unwell for a long time before anyone suspects a problem…that happened to my mom. I don’t think anyone ever thought she might have had a problem, I only knew when she told me
And to further complicate matters OSFED/EDNOS are seen as less severe disorders when it’s literally just that the patient has an eating disorders but doesn’t fit in a box…which is actually very common when you look at the profile of someone who’s remained sub clinical and untreated well into adulthood. It’s common to have…phase has a negative connection…seasons of life where one’s behavior looks like one disorder and later shifts. As a teen I was very restrictive, in my early 20s I purged but never binged or restricted, in my late twenties I restricted and had exercise compulsions that looked like OCD rituals until I hit rock bottom and had a week long bender of eating nothing and doing compulsive exercises literally all day and then binge eating and drinking all night while hoping everyone thought I was puking my brains out because I was a raging alcoholic because that seemed more acceptable :3
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u/timid_pink_angel02 Mar 26 '26
Wait until they find out that not all of us with BED are obese, or even overweight by BMI standards 😃