Seems like a theme in sessions of late, and in the weekly group I’m running right now, has been  disordered eating as a multi-purpose problem-solving tool. Feel sad, bored, lonely, or scared? Experience success or failure that challenges your beliefs about yourself? Experiencing any discomfort in any realm of your life, be it professional, interpersonal or existential? Just do your food thing! Problem? Solved.

Well, except not exactly. But, when you’re in the throes of disordered eating patterns, that’s how life starts to look. The problem with this problem solving technique is… well, actually, there are several problems.

Problem number one: it works. In the short term. Most eating disordered behavior, be it restricting, binge eating, obsessive exercise or purging, does cause a short term change in your state. The behaviors are so addictive because they unleash a volley of neuro-chemicals that can temporarily shunt you out of whatever uncomfortable…