Triggering: Just wondering what your thoughts are...

[Vaughndy7]

So I was really thinking about it the other day and couldn't make up my mind, but here goes...

Do you consider an eating disorder to be self harm?

My thoughts: In most cases eating disorders are caused by a variety of things but are usually not to intentially hurt yourself or cause pain. Most people go into it thinking that they are invincible and will not be effected by the side effects. So yes it is hurting you, but is it self harm?

What are your thoughts on this?

[Stargazed.]

I voted yes because my ED developed as a counterpart of cutting.

[Coexist.]

I think it depends on the person, obviously. For some people, I think it is used as a harmful coping mechanism, as self harm is, so then I would say yes. But for some people, it's something completely different. So my opinion is that it can be but isn't always.

[Harlequin.]

From the NHS website:

Types of self-harm may include:
cutting the skin
burning the skin
punching your own body
poisoning yourself with tablets
misusing alcohol or drugs
eating disorders, such as deliberately starving yourself (anorexia nervosa), binge eating or bulimia

So medically, I think that's what it's classed as. Although for individuals, the reasons for developing an eating disorder are different, so I'm unsure

[LiveLongAndProsper]

Like Laura said, medically it is, because you are 'intentionally' hurting yourself. But, sometimes there are different reasons. I use mine to punish myself. It's an unhealthy coping method. But my friend, who was on the verge of developing anorexia, simply stopped eating because she was so stressed. It was nothing to do with causing damage. (Although the irony is she caused more damage to herself than I did.)

[lauri]

If you ate less because you were stressed you dont have a eatting disorder. I never heard of eatting disorders to be considered self harm.

[Loveliz]

i dont think the ed itself is self harm but i feel like it could lead to it. like gaining weight has caused me to sh before but not the actual ed itself

[Toxic Roses]

I voted yes because I think that for a few people it is a replacement to say cutting or scratching, and for those that it isn't, it is still (most of the times) knowingly harming your body. And just like with cutting and other SH, it becomes an addiction to it, and you can't stop, even if you want to, even though you know how bad it is for your body.

[Harlequin.]

One last thing- my friend admitted she engages in eating disorder behaviours to hurt her body. So, for her, it's about self harm

[actingenius]

Hi,

I think it partially depends on the person, how often they binge, purge, etc. So, I would consider this self harm just because it isn't classified as "healthy".

Hope I helped and God Bless,
<3, Nikki

[LiveLongAndProsper]

Originally Posted by lauri

If you ate less because you were stressed you dont have a eatting disorder. I never heard of eatting disorders to be considered self harm.

You can begin by eating nothing because you're stressed, and then it develops into an eating disorder because you begin fearing the food and fearing the weight gain.

[Silhouette]

I believe its a form of self harm because you are intentionally harming your body.

[Tigerlily.]

I honestly couldn't bring myself to vote one way or another, I mean in my opinion it is not just a black and white thing, yes or no, I think that it definitely depends on the person, the reasons behind the eating disorder, how it started and how they view it. I mean to an extent I guess nearly any eating disorder could be classified as self harm, but that's only to an extent. In my opinion the definition of Self Harm is to hurt yourself physically for the intentions of harming yourself and/or making yourself physically and/or mentally hurt beyond normal circumstances. Which to me means if the eating disorder started and is still going on as purely a fear of gaining weight, even if the actions it causes do harm you, that it is not self harm, as you are not doing it for the sole reason to hurt yourself. However if you use it as a replacement for cutting or are doing it not only knowing that it can cause damage, but hoping for or encouraging the damage it can cause, that is self harm via an eating disorder.

And I also believe that it can depend on that very instance in the eating disorder, now I say this because I subconsciously developed my eating disorder by, eating my emotions, then being afraid to gain more weight. At the time, I had no intentions of hurting my body, in fact I was so young I didn't know it could hurt me, I didn't notice signs of it affecting me other than massive weight gain from the yoyo-ing of it. So in that instance, it was not self harm in my definition. However later in the years, specifically in this last year, I would most certainly say that at some points (not all) I did use it as a means of self harm, rather than cutting or scratching, I would purge, fully knowing and hoping for the damage and pain it can cause, therefore making it SH. But there are times when I slip up within the same week and it's not classifiably SH to me seeing as I did not have the intentions of hurting myself with it or doing damage to my body with it, merely the fear of gaining weight.

And that long ass explanation is where my thoughts stand on the matter lolz.

[Soliloquy.]

Like Cheye said, it isn't a black-or-white issue and I certainly can't speak for everybody. For some, it may be self-harm and for others, perhaps not. However, I voted yes because I personally use my eating disorder to cause deliberate harm to my body.