Overcoming Judgment and Bias from Eating Disorder Clinicians

When people struggling with eating disorders seek help, they often feel like they are not really seen. Clinicians react so strongly to the disorder itself, they forget to see the actual person.

The focus on body, weight or health overrides the true person who sits in front of the practitioner. This is a human being seeking help for their own personal struggle. First and foremost, they deserve to be treated as an individual who was brave enough to show up for an appointment.

The problem is that eating disorders engender very strong reactions from clinicians or doctors.

Anorexia draws fear from almost all practitioners that this person may get very sick or even die. So almost every response translates into the fact that it’s time to go to a residential program or hospital.

Bulimia similarly brings out fear but also disgust. It can be hard for clinicians not to judge people with this illness and struggle to take the important step to see how and why this person is suffering so much.

Binging or compulsive overeating immediately leads to the inherent fatphobia in our society. Rather than work to understand the reason for the eating behaviors, treatment focuses on weight and potential health risks when many of these risks are fabricated by the medical establishment and diet industry.

Some of these concerns are real. Consistent starvation will lead to significant medical risks. Bulimia has medical risks as well. Binging causes enormous distress.

However, any doctor or clinician needs to temper those immediate concerns. The person who seeks help is searching for answers as well. They are aware that the psychological and physical manifestations of the eating disorder affect their lives. That’s why they came for support in the first place.

Any eating disorder clinician needs to see a patient as a person first. They need to understand the root for the behaviors and thoughts and establish a relationship with this actual person. That means putting away the biases around body, weight and food behaviors in order to establish a therapeutic relationship built on trust.

Any improvement in eating or health is important, but in the end these changes are meaningless unless they come from a foundation of emotional understanding and change. The eating disorder clinical world can embrace compassion over judgment, kindness over bias in order to help people start a path to health and recovery.