Eating disorder patients can form 'strong attachments' to their diagnosisĬlaudat said many eating disorder patients like Doyle have a strong attachment to their diagnosis, because eating disorders are chronic conditions that often start during adolescence – formative years for identity-shaping. To meet the criteria for an anorexia nervosa diagnosis, patients must have a significantly low bodyweight, Claudat said, because treatment and recovery focuses on increasing weight. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental health disorder, and can lead to long-term physical health conditions like anemia, osteoporosis, and heart failure.

In her bestseller Untamed, Doyle said she had been admitted to a mental health hospital in high school where they diagnosed her with bulimia.Īnorexia nervosa, another eating disorder, is typically associated with restricting food intake, but patients with the eating disorder can binge and purge as well, Claudat said. (Claudat was not involved in Doyle's diagnosis or treatment.)Ĭlaudat told Insider many patients experience 'diagnostic migration,' or changes in diagnosis, because eating disorders are usually chronic conditions that persist throughout the lifetime.īulimia nervosa is a mental health disorder characterized by cycles of binge eating and purging through forced vomiting or taking laxatives. Though Doyle said on the podcast she may have actually been anorexic her whole life despite her initial diagnosis, her diagnosis may have simply changed over time, according to Kim Claudat, the director of the Adult Treatment Program at University of California San Diego's Health Eating Disorders Center for Treatment and Research. So confusing.' Patients with eating disorders can experience changes in diagnosis over time 'Anorexia is a totally different thing,' Doyle said. Doyle said she did not believe her doctor at first, and had trouble speaking and eating immediately after the visit.

The Untamed author described her new diagnosis as a 'shift of her identity' after she had seen herself as bulimic for decades. After a series of blood and bone density tests and reviewing her medical history, the doctor diagnosed Doyle with anorexia.

Libera by Glennon Doyle