Body's pain is not an alarm, but a distress signal

An eating disorder is not a weakness, but a battle between the left hand and the right hand.

Eating and purging are, at their core, the body's ways of processing emotions. Humans begin to establish a sense of security through eating from the oral stage of development. When real-life pressures cannot be resolved — whether academic stress, family conflicts, or self-doubt — the body may convert anxiety into a response to food.

I had a patient who was a middle school student who felt immense guilt due to her mother's smothering devotion. Her mother frequently said, "My entire life is for you; I divorced and will not remarry for your sake."