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Do you have an eating disorder? - a self-test

The EAT-26* Eating Attitudes Test for Anorexia and Bulimia

This well-established medical eating disorders self-test for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa was developed by D. Gardner and is reproduced here with his kind permission. It will help you decide if you have an eating disorder. You can only make a definitive diagnosis of eating disorder through your doctor, but this scale will give a reliable indication. There are four easy steps, below.

Severe health-threatening bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa require specialist medical and other treatment. For less severe forms of disordered eating, the solution-oriented counselling, hypno-psychotherapy and emotional healing methods which I use have the potential to be very helpful.

My approach is sympathetic and human. I emphasise self-love, self-forgiveness and true emotional healing while at the same time helping you take direct control of your eating habits right from day one.

You will find websites which claim to "cure bulema" in a couple of sessions. They are referring to the symptoms only. Yes, if life feels out of control, it is a huge relief to get the symptoms (the actual eating behaviour) under control. But the eating itself is typically indeed only a symptom of inner hurt which these quick-fix methods do nothing to heal.

I don't ignore the underlying thoughts and feelings, but neither do I wait and wait and wait until they are transformed before trying to change everyday eating patterns. I aim to heal both the emotions and the everyday behaviours in parallel, and use the emotional healing to help you begin to take control over your eating habits right from the beginning.

On other pages: hypnosis for habit-overeating, weight loss and simple comfort eating and hypnotherapy for emotional eating and less serious eating disorders

Step 1: Complete the following questionnaire

For questions 1-25, score:
Always=3, Usually=2, Often=1, Sometimes=0, Rarely=0, Never=0
For question 26, score:
Always=0, Usually=0, Often=0, Sometimes=1, Rarely=2, Never=3

I am terrified about being overweight.

I avoid eating when I am hungry.

I find myself preoccupied with food.

I have gone on eating binges where I feel that I may not be able to stop.

I cut my food into small pieces.

I am aware of the calorie content of foods that I eat.

I particularly avoid food with a high carbohydrate content (i.e. bread, rice, potatoes, etc.)

I feel that others would prefer if I ate more.

I vomit after I have eaten.

I feel extremely guilty after eating.

I am preoccupied with a desire to be thinner.

I think about burning up calories when I exercise.

Other people think that I am too thin.

I am preoccupied with the thought of having fat on my body.

I take longer than others to eat my meals.

I avoid foods with sugar in them.

I eat diet foods.

I feel that food controls my life.

I display self-control around food.

I feel that others pressure me to eat.

I give too much time and thought to food.

I feel uncomfortable after eating sweets.

I engage in dieting behavior.

I like my stomach to be empty.

I have the impulse to vomit after meals.

I enjoy trying rich new foods.

*EAT-26 Garner, D.M., Olmsted, M.P., Bohr, Y., and Garfinkel, P.E. (1982). The Eating Attitudes Test: Psychometric features and clinical correlates. Psychological Medicine, 12, 871-878. Copyright (c) D Garner (http://www.river-centre.org) and used here with permission.

Step 2: Answer the following questions Yes or No:

(A) In the past 6 months, have you gone on eating binges where you feel that you may not be able to stop?
(Eating much more than most people would eat under the same circumstances.)

(B) In the past 6 months, have you ever made yourself sick (vomited) to control your weight or shape?

(C) In the past 6 months, have you ever used laxatives, diet pills or diuretics (water pills) to control your weight or shape?

(D) Have you ever been treated for an eating disorder?

Step 3: Check if you are significantly underweight for your height

This table is based on a Body Mass Index of 18 for both men and women. Healthy BMI varies a great deal and this table is a guideline rule-of-thumb, by no means perfect, measure of underweight.

Height in inches	Weight in pounds	Height in inches	Weight in pounds
58	86	68	118
58.5	88	68.5	120
59	89	69	121
59.5	90	69.5	124
60	91	70	125
60.5	93	70.5	127
61	95	71	128
61.5	96	71.5	131
62	99	72	132
62.5	100	72.5	134
63	101	73	135
63.5	103	73.5	138
64	105	74	140
64.5	106	74.5	141
65	108	75	144
65.5	109	75.5	146
66	112	76	147
66.5	113	76.5	149
67	114	77	152
67.5	117	77.5	154

Step 4: Combine your results

If your score in Step 1 is 20 or higher;
OR you answered Yes to any question in Step 2;
OR your weight is below the approximate rule-of-thumb minimum for your height in Step 3,

then you may well have an eating disorder. Only your doctor can provide a definitive diagnosis.

If your score is less than 20, but higher than you'd like, then you may well have emotional eating or less serious eating disorder.

If your symptoms do not to threaten your health, then give me a ring and find how I can help you. It is entirely possible to heal your eating, to feel good about your body and have a happy relationship with food and with your body.

My approach with eating disorders is warm and human, with an emphasis on self-love and self-forgiveness. I use depth hypnotherapy methods to uncover and help heal the hidden emotional roots, and hypnosis and cognitive-behavioural self-help to make sure everyday life changes in the way you want.

Just give me a ring: 0845-3510604 / 0117-968-7307. Leave a message and I'll call you back.

If the intensity or frequency of vomiting or purging, or the degree of weight loss, is severe, then it is essential that you go to your doctor. Full-blown bulimia can be permanently damaging to long-term health; full-blown anorexia has the potential be fatal. Equally, if anyone around you has expressed concerns for your health, then it is essential that you visit your doctor. Such severe eating disorders need specialist help. In such health-threatening circumstances I can only assist as a component part of a person's medical team. (See below: "Stop hassling me! There's nothing wrong!")

"Stop hassling me! There's nothing wrong!" - the voice of anorexia

Routinely, people suffering anorexia nervosa (and also its milder variant, diet obsession) do not feel they have any problem. They like being thin, they like the feeling of being in control and in women a good many even like the cessation of their periods. Far from wanting to gain weight, they feel that if their thinness is taken away they will be losing their dearest (perhaps only) treasure and achievement. There are numerous pro-anorexia websites. Yet underneath all that, there are likely to be profound wounds, feelings of inadequacy, or deep family dynamics.

While I am clear that extreme underweight is medically unhealthy, I don't assume that someone who comes to see me wants to put on weight. Provided their health is not at risk, I am happy to offer a safe and un-pressured opportunity for someone in this situation to explore their feelings and work on whatever aspect of the situation seems important to them, and come to their own conclusions about what to do. That said, if however I were to feel that the person may be at serious medical risk, then I am in professional duty bound to not continue to work with that person unless their doctor is informed of the health danger. Treatment of eating disorders where there is medical danger and the person is unable to see their weight loss (or binge/purging) as a problem, requires specialised treatment and typically a multi-disciplinary team approach. I can help in such cases, but only as a component part of the person's medical team.

My approach with emotional eating is warm, human and sympathetic, with an emphasis on self-love and self-forgiveness. To take the first step to re-gaining control of your eating, please ring me directly:
0845-3510604 / 0117-968-7307.
Leave a message and I'll call you back.

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In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats about twice as much as nature requires.

Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)