Depression & Anorexia: A Berwyn, Pennsylvania Eating Disorder Therapist's Reflections
- Leslie Ann Glossner, M.S.
- Jun 17
- 5 min read
By: Leslie Ann Glossner, M.S., Graduate of Villanova University
The alarm clock blares its wake up call. As you blink your eyes open, your mind begins to register fatigue throughout your body. Slowly a sinking sensation arises in your chest. Your skin feels heavy- like it's pulling on your bones, and every breath you take is laborious. A familiar numbness wracks your body.
A stream of sunlight peaks through your curtains, taunting you. Faintly and weakly, your stomach recognizes what used to be known as “hunger”. It’s now a vacant, empty yearning in your core that you’ve learned to ignore. To stop yourself from placing your hands on your body and the mental spiral sure to ensue, you pull your blankets up under your chin. “Just five more minutes,” you tell yourself, knowing full well you probably won’t leave your bed for a few hours. But who cares? Certainly not you. The bright, sunny day brings with it too many responsibilities and expectations. You’re too exhausted, depleted, and numb to engage. Besides, if you sleep, you don’t have to worry about “hunger”, food, food noise, fighting the negative thoughts in your head, and experiencing what it's like to exist in a body you hate. And maybe you can return to the warmth and safety of your dreams. Where there’s no expectations to meet, no people to let down, no goals to fail to reach, and no disappointments awaiting you. Maybe, if you sleep long enough, nothing will matter anymore anyway…
Maybe you’ve had an experience like this, maybe you haven't. This is just one of the many ways Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) can work together to make life feel impossible to live. Numerous studies have been conducted over the years linking AN and MDD so if you’ve lived with AN, you most likely have experienced depression as well. Anorexia and depression are a toxic pairing. They feed into each other and can make your situation more painful and complicated to treat. But guess what? Acknowledging that anorexia and depression are connected is the first step in healing both. In this post, I want to gently explore with you the links between depression and anorexia, and let you know that it’s not your fault.
So let’s review (or learn)! What is Anorexia Nervosa? It’s a serious eating disorder marked by extreme restriction of food, intense fear of weight gain, body image distortions, and a strong desire for control satisfied through restrictive eating behaviors. It’s not a choice, it’s not just a phase. It’s an intense mental health condition that usually forms as a way to cope with difficult situations, emotions, stress, or trauma.
Now, what is Depression? Depression is far more serious than sadness. It’s technically a mood disorder characterized by persistent low moods, feelings of emptiness, hopelessness, and worthlessness, fatigue and lack of motivation, difficulty sleeping or oversleeping, and apathy. Depression takes away the joy in your life and replaces it with feelings of pointlessness.
Dealing with just one of these conditions can be debilitating, but two?? They’re like the Joker and Harley Quinn, Bonnie and Clyde, Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass. (Yes, Blair and Chuck are a toxic pairing!) Here are a number of ways depression and anxiety build off of each other:
Restriction affects brain functioning
When your body isn’t being adequately nourished, it impacts the chemistry of your brain. A hungry brain is more prone to low mood, difficulty concentrating, emotional numbness, irritability, memory issues, and brain fog. These issues can form or exacerbate depressive symptoms
Anorexia encourages perfectionism and self-criticism
Where are my perfectionists at? People with AN can be chronic perfectionists. They often try to seek control of their lives through perfectionism, self-judgment, and words of constant criticism. “I don’t deserve to eat… I’ll never be good enough… If I can just lose more weight, I’ll feel better,” you might hear yourself say. Though it never makes you feel better, only worse.
Coping through numbness and control
Anorexia and depression are two conditions that can maladaptively work to cope with overwhelming emotions. Anorexia often serves as a distraction from pain, anxiety, and trauma while depression numbs and shuts down those feelings altogether. While distracting and numbing can help in the moment, it can easily get out of control and become the problem.
Shame and Isolation
Eating disorders on the whole-not just anorexia- are isolating disorders that can cause you to keep secrets, hide away, avoid social interactions, and feel deeply ashamed of your body. From there, isolation and loneliness form a slippery slope into depression.
So now that you're aware of the connections, I’m sure you’re wondering what the path forward is. Since depression and anorexia share such a deep tie, that means they often must be treated together. Here are a few ideas of where to start healing:
Connecting with a therapist to explore beliefs about self-worth, identity, and control
Seeking nutrition and medical support to make sure your brain and body are functioning properly
Looking into antidepressant medication options with the help of your primary care physician or psychiatrist
Exploring body image work to reconnect with yourself and your body with less judgement
Practicing self-compassion activities to change the way you talk to yourself and experience life
Before I wrap this blog post up, let me leave you with an important and lasting message: You deserve to feel better. If you're struggling with both anorexia and depression, please hear this:
You are not weak.
You are not selfish.
You are not alone.
You are responding to deep pain in the only way you’ve known how. But healing is possible, and you don’t have to choose between recovering from one or the other. They’re connected, and your healing can be too. One gentle step at a time, with support, safety, and kindness, you can begin to feel more whole again. For further information, check out the following links discussing depression, anorexia, body image, and self-compassion!
Other Mental Health Services Offered in PA, NJ, DE, SC, MD, CT, VT, and FL
We offer a wide variety of services related to eating disorder recovery including trauma therapy! We offer Weekly Support Groups, Nutrition Services, and Family and Parent Therapy as well as Coaching, all tailored to meet the specific needs of the individual. We offer our services for Anorexia, Bulimia, Binge Eating, and Orthorexia as well as Maternal Mental Health, and eating disorder therapy for athletes online in New Jersey, Delaware, South Carolina, Maryland, Florida, Vermont, and Connecticut! We are here to offer our support and understanding in a safe and non-judgmental environment.
We have immediate openings right now for eating disorder therapy in:
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Recovered and Restored is an eating disorder therapy center founded by Gabrielle Morreale, LPC. We specialize in helping teens and young women heal from eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, orthorexia, and binge eating disorder and treat disordered eating, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. We provide eating disorder therapy in the towns of Horsham, Upper Gwynedd, Lower Gwynedd, North Wales, Lansdale, Hatfield, Blue Bell, Doylestown, and nearby towns with eating disorder therapy. Also providing virtual eating disorder therapy in New Jersey, Delaware, and Florida. Some towns served virtually but are not limited to Pittsburg, Lancaster, Harrisburg, Center City, Cherry Hill, Haddonfield, Mount Laurel, Cape May, Avalon, Brick, Dover, New Castle, Bethany Beach, Marydel, and Oceanview
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