Eating Disorders and OCD

Most people have obsessive thoughts and/or compulsive behaviours at some point in their lives, but that does not mean that we all have “some OCD.”   For a diagnosis of OCD to be made, this cycle of obsessions and compulsions must be so extreme that it consumes a lot of time (more than an hour every day), causes intense distress, or gets in the way of important activities that the person values.

Symptom of eating disorders include performing rituals around food and obsessing about what or how much to eat and being preoccupied with body image.  Since the behaviours that result from both OCD and eating disorders may appear similar, it’s crucial for the clinician to closely examine the specific behaviours that are being observed and the motivations behind these.  Individuals with eating disorders are primarily driven by concerns of physical appearance, and consequently alter their eating patterns to lose weight, whereas individuals with OCD may be restricting their eating for reasons very different than body image concerns.  Furthermore, for cases in which an individual qualifies for both diagnoses, such as an anorexic or bulimic who also experiences non-food related OCD symptoms, like checking or contamination, it’s still imperative to consider whether their symptoms are being motivated by both disorders simultaneously. 

The recommended treatment for both OCD and eating disorders usually involves some combination of cognitive-behavioural therapy, antidepressant medication, and family counselling.